Austin! October, 2008

Austin, the cool city known for music, not necessarily the capitol - but, hey, the capitol was pretty impressive - most notably, its size. Of course, this is Texas. In Texas, everything is big. I cannot remember a capitol more big, except for New York's possibly. Anyway, it was a beautiful day after a University of Texas football game, and the capitol was crowded. Its set right in downtown Austin amongst the hip and trendy crowd, atop a couple of acres of beautifully-kept greenery and many war statues.

Inside, the decor was well kept (and no construction going on! Unlike most capitols we visit!) but fairly simple. The flooring is nice pinks and greens marble or limestone, and the whole place is decorated with stars, of course. In fact, at the top of the dome inside, is a star with the letters from Texas in each of the star's corners. Also, in the senate chambers, the lights are in the form spelling "Texas." Stars are on the chairs and even inside the doors, on the hinges. They are proud of their state symbol.

As far as art goes and educational exhibits, the capitol was lacking. They did have the governor's portraits on display throughout the rotunda, and a few sculptures of notable Texans (Sam Houston, Stephen Austin, and Virginia TX volunteer Davey Crockett), and a couple of paintings of war scenes. There were a few scattered notes about how the capitol was constructed, but no war or Texas artifacts or exhibitions besides this.

A "cute" thing they had were pictures of state senator's grandchildren along with the pictures of the senators.

Lastly - who isn't a fan of Dazed and Confused?? Of course it was filmed in Austin, so John and I wanted to see some of the settings from the movie. My brother and sister-in-law reside here, and were nice enough to show us the burger joint where the kids all hung out, Top Notch Burger. Here we are, cool as ever! :)