San Antonio
The city offers a rich mixture of cultural heritages derived from its historical settlement by persons from Germany, France, Ireland, Mexico, and the Canary Islands. Together with Dallas and Houston, it is one of the three largest metropolitan areas in Texas, is the second largest city in Texas, and ranks as the seventh largest city in the nation. The River Walk, or Paseo Del Rio, with its waterside restaurants, hotels, shopping areas, and cultural attractions, has helped to develop the city into a prime location for conventions and tourism.
The city has a flourishing art community with active theatre groups, dance companies, and music and art associations. Museums include the San Antonio Museum of Art, the McNay Art Museum, the Witte Museum, the Institute of Texan Cultures, the Hertzberg Circus Museum, and the San Antonio Botanical Gardens.
San Antonio is rich in educational offerings with four private universities, a Catholic theological graduate school, a state university, a state-sponsored medical school, and a public community college system. It is also a center for scientific and medical research based at the University of Texas Health Science Center, the Southwest Research Institute, the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, and the Cancer Therapy Research Center. The campus of the University of the Incarnate Word is located in the north-central area of the city adjacent to Brackenridge Park and to the suburb of Alamo Heights, which offers a quiet, well established residential area as well as shopping, restaurant, cultural, and recreational facilities.