Austin by Night: Episode 1
A lovely evening tonight out on the town. While I have yet to connectt with my couchsurfing contact her advice has proved to be spot-on. After settling in at the San Jacinto Residence Hall I headed out for the evening with a stroll down Congress Ave. Mexican dinner at Manuels was mostly excellent. The Enchiladas de Mole were perfect, but the Chilie con Queso was nearly congealed even though it arrived quickly. It was also very stringy (in a stretchy cheese sorta way) that made it nearly impossible to eat gracefully.
Finished dinner in time to make it to the Congress Ave. bridge in time for the bats to come out. It didn't seem like much at first until you looked up from the bats coming from under the bridge and realized that there were now visible clouds of bats darting to and fro. Needless to say they were moving to fast to get a good picture with my camera. I did snag a not-so-interesting movie clip. (ask if you're really that interested. A bunch of people had paddled up under the bridge in kayaks and you can also take a river cruise. This fact alone has put Austin over ever living in Denver again. At least there's substantial water here, enough for a large paddle boat. In Denver, maybe you'd see a few kayaks, but that's about all the Platte could support.
I ended up strolling down E. 6th St., just to see what was there. Not much going on. The Chronicle suggested that there was music at a place Couchsurfing contact recommended, so I headed up through the Red River district, east on 11th to the Long Branch Inn. Perfect neighborhood dive bar. Great juke box, good music. Nice big old style bar-back. Unfortunately they can't get the Chronicle to stop publishing the fact that they have an open mic night on Mondays. It ended months ago. So no music. But a great bar. Bartender as friendly as Michelle from the Esq. Interesting people have interesting conversations. (though getting there on foot may not be for the faint of heart. I was street accosted three times on the way there. Granted, street accosted in the friendly unthreatening way they do it out west, but still might make some folks feel uncomfortable. Take the #2 Rosewood bus instead.)
Waiting for a bus back downtown (btw, the Austin public transportation has been great so far. Except for the crazy automated computer hotline that makes you say out loud what you want. I hate that. Just let me push the damn numbers. I don't want to have a dialog with the CapMetro scheduling computer, esp after several Lone Stars). I digress. Waiting for the bus back down town I looked up and saw...a "moonlight tower." Before Austin had street lamps they were one of the few cities to install these tall towers with big arc lamps on them. They still exist, dotted all around town. The Long Branch just happened to be under one of them.
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Morning update. Just a quick stroll down W. 6th to Waterloo Records. Great if you are used to what we have in Champaign and probably as good as Twist & Shout (maybe...)
Meeting Couchsurfing contact for afternoon sightseeing.
Finished dinner in time to make it to the Congress Ave. bridge in time for the bats to come out. It didn't seem like much at first until you looked up from the bats coming from under the bridge and realized that there were now visible clouds of bats darting to and fro. Needless to say they were moving to fast to get a good picture with my camera. I did snag a not-so-interesting movie clip. (ask if you're really that interested. A bunch of people had paddled up under the bridge in kayaks and you can also take a river cruise. This fact alone has put Austin over ever living in Denver again. At least there's substantial water here, enough for a large paddle boat. In Denver, maybe you'd see a few kayaks, but that's about all the Platte could support.
I ended up strolling down E. 6th St., just to see what was there. Not much going on. The Chronicle suggested that there was music at a place Couchsurfing contact recommended, so I headed up through the Red River district, east on 11th to the Long Branch Inn. Perfect neighborhood dive bar. Great juke box, good music. Nice big old style bar-back. Unfortunately they can't get the Chronicle to stop publishing the fact that they have an open mic night on Mondays. It ended months ago. So no music. But a great bar. Bartender as friendly as Michelle from the Esq. Interesting people have interesting conversations. (though getting there on foot may not be for the faint of heart. I was street accosted three times on the way there. Granted, street accosted in the friendly unthreatening way they do it out west, but still might make some folks feel uncomfortable. Take the #2 Rosewood bus instead.)
Waiting for a bus back downtown (btw, the Austin public transportation has been great so far. Except for the crazy automated computer hotline that makes you say out loud what you want. I hate that. Just let me push the damn numbers. I don't want to have a dialog with the CapMetro scheduling computer, esp after several Lone Stars). I digress. Waiting for the bus back down town I looked up and saw...a "moonlight tower." Before Austin had street lamps they were one of the few cities to install these tall towers with big arc lamps on them. They still exist, dotted all around town. The Long Branch just happened to be under one of them.
*********
Morning update. Just a quick stroll down W. 6th to Waterloo Records. Great if you are used to what we have in Champaign and probably as good as Twist & Shout (maybe...)
Meeting Couchsurfing contact for afternoon sightseeing.
posted by odd at 11:00 AM
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