New Braunfels: The Gruene District

The Gruene (prounouced "green") district of New Braunfels has a strong grounding in the area's German heritage. It is also wildly trendy, and, being just a half hour's drive from a large city (San Antonio is America's 7th largest city!), it is a very popular destination for a weekend outing.

We hadn't realized that, and when we arrived, the streets were as jammed as any tourist spot. We found a parking place, finally, at the far end of a huge parking lot. Forget finding a parking spot on the street!

The funny thing is, we came to see a museum, which we never did find. Oh, well; we decided to just mill around with the crowd. Join us!

This old house is an inn, now.

There were places to get some Texas barbecue and listen to live music.

An antique store, now:

The "general store;" yes, that's Jan in the hat, and yes, the whole place was crowded with souvenir shoppers.

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You can taste some wine if you wish:

Or visit any of a plethora of shops:

The Texas Clay Festival was in full swing (see what I mean about parking?):

A customer in the fly fishing store was trying out a rod, with the Clay Festival as a backdrop.

There were demonstrations:

and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Someone at church said that the Gruene District is also very busy during Christmas shopping season; I can understand that, as there are so many interesting shops.