Marian & Harry
Things To Do
San Antonio
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Walk around King William, the beautiful historic neighborhood where the party will take place! Walk or cycle along the Riverwalk, which extends for miles from the city center out to the city's historic missions. Grab some Tex-Mex at Tito's, Maria's Cafe, or Mi Tierra (open 24 hours with mariachis on duty). Don't miss out on breakfast tacos. If you like meat, check out Carnitas Lonjas for carnitas and shrimp tacos. For a nice meal in the neighborhood, we alsolike Maverick or Bar Loretta. Check out cultural offerings at the McNay, SAMA, The Contemporary at Blue Star, ArtPace, and Ruby City art museums, or do some shopping for folk art and vintage finds at Blue Star Arts Complex. Have a beer at a local ice house like La Tuna or the Friendly Spot. Experience Texas barbecue - try 2M Smokehouse (if you’re down for a drive to the east side) or Pinkerton’s downtown. If you like fusion, try Curry Boys for a Southeast Asian take on BBQ.
Texas Day / Weekend Trips
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Natural bridge caverns - one of the state's largest underground cave formations. 45 minutes outside San Antonio Bracken Cave Preserve and Camden Street Bridge - if you'd like to watch a whole load of bats fly out to feed at sunset, you're going to the right place. Texas has the most bats in the U.S., and Bracken is home to the world's largest bat colony; 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats live here during the Spring and Summer. Bracken is 30 minutes outside of San Antonio, and must be pre-booked at batcon.org. Camden Street Bridge, a smaller, more urban bat home, is public and a few miles from downtown. Houston - all the incredible food, culture, and urban sprawl you could possibly want. Vonlane luxury buses has a Houston - San Antonio route. 3 hours from San Antonio Marfa/Big Bend - funky art/cowboy town featuring site-specific work by Donald Judd and other Minimalist masters; near Big Bend National Park, a stunning hiking destination in the Chisos Mountains and Chihuahuan Desert - 6 hours from San Antonio
London
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We'll be hosting in our neighborhood of Clapton, in Hackney, which has lots to offer: Explore the Hackney and Walthamstow marshes, walking along Regent's Canal. On Sunday you can catch the Columbia Road Flower Market for lots of great antiques and flowers. Stop by Broadway Market or Chatsworth Road Market on the weekends for food and other nice things - Ridley Road Market is also a fun experience. Dalston Lane has great Turkish and Vietnamese food, and House of Momo is great for takeaway Nepalese dumplings. For local pubs in the area, if you'd like somewhere riverside, Princess of Wales and Anchor and Hope are good options. Shakespeare's Globe Theater will have its summer season in full swing in July, and Regents' Park Theater is also fun. Theatre on the West End is fantastic and more affordable than Broadway. Outside of the famous museums and tourist spots, some of our favorite cultural spaces include the Museum of the Home, Leighton House, Sir John Soane's Museum, Studio Voltaire, South London Gallery, and Kew Gardens.
UK Day / Weekend Trips
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Brighton - fun, gay-friendly seaside town featuring the 19th century Prince of Wales' wild pleasure palace. Easy day or weekend trip from London, 1.5 hours from London Blenheim Palace - massive English Baroque palace designed by Vanbrugh, where Churchill was born. 1.5 hours from London, and close to Oxford if you want to make it a weekend. We went here on our second date (Marian convinced Harry to pretend he was sick and skip work - he got caught). Bath - if you like Jane Austen, Georgian architecture, or the Romans, you'll like Bath. Explore the Roman baths, assembly rooms, Jane Austen centre, and a feast of historic houses. If you're a fan of niche museums (we are) they have a postal museum, a medical museum, and a museum of bath stone. 1.5 hours from London There are lots of other great National Trust and English Heritage properties in easy train distance from Hackney, with maps available on their websites. Scotland - if you're traveling to the UK from the US and want to make the most of it, consider taking a train up to Scotland. Edinburgh is beautiful with lots of great history and museums, and from there you can rent a car and explore around the country. Just note Edinburgh Fringe starts Aug 4, so accommodation in the city may start to get full with the influx of people. Glasgow is another nice option with fewer tourists - great architecture, interesting history, and well located to explore the beautiful surrounding area like Loch Lomond. Around 5 hours from London