Well, we're here in Austin, Texas. Might as well check out the city. We left for downtown around 10 am. It was about a 20-minute hike (by car). We found some parking and went to the Visitors' Center. There were 3 things we'd like to do here: 1) City tour. We chose the hop on and hop off so we could get off at the; 2) Capitol Building; 3) Mount Bonnell.
We purchased our tickets for the city tour. Actually, we were fairly impressed with it. One of the better ones we've done. We went to the hot spots in the city and the guides pointed out a few things so we could go and explore more of it on our own if we wanted to.
This was the "Museum of the Weird". Kinda weird. This is on 6th Street, lined with bars and restaurants in an older part of the city, but not the chic bars and restaurants which are on Congress St., over the bridge in an area called SoCo (South Congress). We went through that section too. Very nice.
Austin's motto is "Keep Austin Weird". By that they mean encourage small business development, one off kinds of businesses. Another word for "weird" would be "unique".
We got off at the State Capitol Building. Austin is the capital of Texas. The exterior is made of a beautiful red granite. Lady Liberty stands at the top with the Texas star in one hand and a sword in the other. Beautiful building and grounds. The grounds are more like a park for everyone to enjoy.
We joined a guided tour of the building. Every door inside the capitol building has 3 hinges, and every hinge looks like this. They weigh 8 pounds each.
This is the dome ceiling with the Texas star in the middle, of course. It's 8 feet across and over 280 feet above the main floor. I almost got caught in the middle of a choir from a school while taking the picture. I'd have missed the rest of the tour, but could have sung at the State Capitol.
When we were finished at the capitol, we continued on our bus tour around the city. This tower is at U of Texas. It was infamous for many people being shot by 2 people using rifles in the bell tower. That was in the 90s, I think?
Beautiful university though, and huge. So much building going on here in the city, both the city itself and on the university campus, which occupies a large portion of the city.
This is a shot of the downtown from a different direction.
When we were finished with the tour, we walked back to a pub we saw for some lunch. We were starving by this point. We chose the Moonshine Bar & Grill.
It's in the original section of the city that was called Waterloo before it was changed to Austin. Stephen Austin moved the capital from Houston to Waterloo, and eventually they changed the name of the city to his name. The name Waterloo was probably in honour of the Battle of Waterloo, Belgium, just like our city at home.
Some craft beer to be had. Cool, eh? This is Gerard's wheat beer. Think what you like.
After lunch, we retrieved the truck and drove up to Mount Bonnell. From there is a view over the City of Austin.
And over the Colorado River.
No, it's not THE Colorado River.
All in all, a great and beautiful day in Austin. And I must say, Austin is a beautiful city with lots of green space. I could live here.