Donnerstag, 18. Januar 2018

Austin, y'all!

Austin is a wonderful city. It has something for everyone some art and music, some architecture and nature. We started our tour of the city with a visit to the Umlauf sculpture garden. One of the best pieces of the collection, in my humble eyes, is Lotus. The Egyptian goddess of fertility is modelled after a hippopotamus with a mischievous smile.

Lotus.
In the Umlauf sculpture garden 1.
In the Umlauf sculpture garden 2.
Next, we headed over to the other side of the Barton Creek into the area of the Barton Springs Pool and took a stroll along the Barton Creek until the creek opens up into the Colorado River. The Barton Springs Creek is home to a huge amount of fishes and some really nice and beautiful turtles who enjoyed the nice short sunshine of the day.
Turtles in the sunshine spa.
View onto Austin from Lou Neff Point.

After the stroll, we were ready for some coffee. The best husband found the perfect place with wonderful coffee and some nice pastries to get warm again, the Apanas Coffe and Bar. Refreshed, we set out to our last educational stop of the day the Texas Capitol. It is a wonderful old building and we were able to experience Texas history. The walls are lined with past Texan governors and we got a glimpse into life in the Capitol.

Looking up to see the Lone Star.
On desk voting system.
In the Senat.
From the outside.
And you cannot say you visited Texas without having had some real Texas BBQ. So K and I took the crowd to the place where we both had our very first Texas BBQ two years ago. We took them to Terry Black BBQ. Their brisket and ribs are very good. If you only have a day in Austin and no time to test around you cannot go wrong with this place and you will for sure have some really good Texan BBQ.

Montag, 8. Januar 2018

Howdy from Texas y'all!

Family went on one last adventure in 2017 and flew out to Austin, TX on Dec. 25th. Texas greeted us with some freezing temperatures and rain. Nevertheless, the grandiosity of the Hill Country was tangible.

TEXAS!

Leaving for Austin with the mandatory Mimosa before the flight.
With this rainy winter weather, we did not feel like hiking. So, we went further south and visited San Antonio for a day. The city is very nice and has definitely beautiful places and is full of history. Since our time here was limited we concentrated on the Alamo for the history junkies and the Riverwalk for the architecture and leisure life folks. The Alamo was very crowded, we got into one of the rooms showing the introductory movie about the Alamo and its history, saw the exhibition of historic swords and riffles and walked the premises. It is very worth the visit and we would have loved to have some more time and better weather to really enjoy it and see everything.
Feeling cold to the bone, we walked over to the Riverwalk which is very close to the Alamo and looked for a nice place to have a snack and some warm drinks, which we quickly found.

Remember the Alamo!

Riverwalk 1
 The Riverwalk features many restaurants and little touristy shops. It's probably crazy crowded in summer, but definitely an oasis in the heat of the summer. San Antonio was very much worth the trip and we would recommend a visit to the city to everyone.
Cowboy/-girl in training.

Riverwalk 2

At the Briscoe Western Art Museum