Dissapointed with Fredericksburg, TX (San Antonio, El Paso: travel, rent , home)

[Dopo]

I traveled about 70 miles from San Antonio to Fredericksburg to see what all the hype about "The german town" is about.

I drove about 5 blocks through Main St. and saw a lot of small businesses, a few with german names and a couple with german flags.
(Is that about it?)

I grew up in Southamerica about 1/2 hour away from a german town
and I think my expectations were a little too high.



Colonia Tovar, Venezuela (Big pictures)

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/F...nia_Tovar1.jpg
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vIis-B_7IJg/R-...g/DSC01151.JPG
http://revistaprofe.com/intersite/wp...8/Lili1216.JPG
http://www.holidaycheck.at/urlaubsbi...onia+Tovar.jpg
http://vagamundos.net/v3.1/albums/al...3116.sized.jpg

[loves2read]

what did you expect---Bavaria?
Fredericksburg is a TEXAS town colonized when TX was part of Mexico--it does not consider itself German--but German flavored--just as San Antonio and El Paso are strongly Mexican flavored towns...the town you refer to might have been created when Germans fled WW2 and came to South American to escape Allied prosecution for war crimes--so it was 20th century Germans recreating their home town...not the same thing as Fredericksburg at all...
People in Fredericksburg are proud of their German heritage--but the original settlers are who they consider their "creators"--not 20th century Germany...

did you even get out and look?
many of the bed/breakfasts for rent to visitors are connected to the German heritage
some restaurants serve German food and there are curios with German theme items...there are also antique shops with early Texas paraphanalia...some people still speak a form of German that came over with the early settlers and has been transforms in the 2 centuries since...

[NOTAM]

my friend (TexasGirl@Heart) recently visited me, and on the way from the airport in San Antonio, she stopped in Fredericksburg at around 2pm and said she couldnt find a restaurant open. i dont get it!
i have never been there. plan to visit someday, maybe.

[love roses]

I was there a month ago and it was jam packed and everything was open.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by loves2read

what did you expect---Bavaria?
Fredericksburg is a TEXAS town colonized when TX was part of Mexico--it does not consider itself German--but German flavored--just as San Antonio and El Paso are strongly Mexican flavored towns

Don't take offense about my comment,
I just wanted to share what I thought and make sure that I didn't miss anything.
I've also been to a lot of german towns between Kansas City and St. Louis and Fredericksburg looked very much like those towns.
It's a very nice touristy town, but I guess my expectations were too high.

BTW, the german town in Venezuela was found in 1843
roughguides.com

[loves2read]

ok--my bad about the town in Venezuela being built by fleeing Nazis--lots of reasons why Fredericksburg does not look like Bavaria
there are towns in German that don't look like some of those photos either...

[texdav]

It is a Texas geramn town you have to remeber. Most don't like it because it is of geramn heartiage;it is the charm of the town itself.

[TexasHorseLady]

If you didn't get very far off the main drag, you did miss quite a bit. Actually, you should explore the entire area.

However, as said, it's not a "German town", so if you were expecting a town lifted up out of modern-day Germany and set down in the middle of Texas, I can see how you'd be disappointed. It's a town that is influenced by its German roots, which is something else entirely.

[Terri722]

My husband use to hunt up in the Fredericksburg area...he and my youngest daughter loved it there...the best time was Christmas and
all of the lights...a small historic town will be just that....small...and
historic...sometimes you have to look for the charm...we found it...

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by Terri722

My husband use to hunt up in the Fredericksburg area...he and my youngest daughter loved it there...the best time was Christmas and
all of the lights...a small historic town will be just that....small...and
historic...sometimes you have to look for the charm...we found it...

Cool,
I guess I'll go by there sometime during Christmas