Austin is the capital of Texas, and doesn’t seem to be well known outside of the country or even outside of Texas to most other Americans. I think Austin is one of America’s best cities and probably the second best in Texas after San Antonio. Above on the left is the capitol building in the downtown, on the right is the infamous tower of UT of Austin.

Above are some memorials outside the capitol building in Austin. The one of the left recognizes the confederate sacrifices against USA during the civil war. The memorial on the right is dedicated to the heroes of the Alamo battle in 1836, back when Texas was part of and rebelled against Mexico leading to its independence.

Downtown Austin is always a busy place with lots of protests, festivals, and concerts taking place. Above on the left is one of the nicest hotels in the city, the Historic Driskill hotel has an elegant entrance and full of luxury rooms and restaurants with its outside just as beautiful as the inside. On the right is some type of protest that was going on in front of the capital building.

Since Texas was once part of Mexico, it still carries on Mexican culture even though most of the state is Americanized. Above on the left is a party store that also sells piñatas, something you’ll never casually find on the east coast. An interesting fact about Austin is that one of its bridges is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America. Under the Congress Avenue bridge live over 750,000 bats! Each day at dusk they all fly out at once, eating anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of insects in a single night. Here you can see them streaming across the Colorado river, almost appearing as smoke in the sky.

Most of Austin is nice and clean with bran new looking buildings and is fun to explore. I didn’t get any photos but I did find a lot of homeless people waiting by intersections holding signs for donations. That was the one downside to Austin, other than that its a very nice city that isn’t too big or too small and has plenty to do to keep you entertained, even on the weekdays.

By far Austin’s most popular attraction is 6th street located in the middle of the city. Austin is known as the capital of live music in the US and almost every bar or club on 6th street will have a live band playing. The strip is pretty long with plenty of places to choose from and all types of music. I did go out to 6th street at night but left the camera at home so can only show day shots. For a Wednesday night there were still a decent amount of people out and it wasn’t a ghost town like I expected. Above are two photos of 6th street itself showing some of the bars and billiards and on the upper right a trolley used to take people around. The shirts on the right can give you an idea of people’s attitude from Texas and what the night life is like, especially the shirt that says “I was drunk on 6th street when I bought this shirt”.

Another benefit about Austin or Texas in general is the cheap real estate. I couldn’t believe this sign I saw above, homes for sale from the $40,000s. Good luck trying to find a small condo for $240,000 in DC! Even though Austin is a large modern city stores on the right remind you you’re still in Texas and uphold the ranch and cowboy image that made Texas part of the wild wild west.

I don’t think these houses will be anywhere in the $40s, but are no longer privately owned anyway. These homes are part of a historic neighborhood founded by one of Austin’s first business man who got rich off of his banking business.

Just outside of Austin is one Lake Travis, one of three in the surrounding area. You’ll find some huge mansions out there and some amazing scenery. The statue to the left and palm trees were actually just the gate around one of the nicest houses I’ve ever seen. On the right shows another large house over looking the lake.

Many people know Texas as a hot and dry state with desert like terrain. This is true for most of Texas, but with such a large area there are always exceptions. The surrounding photos were taken not too far from Austin and show some small waterfalls and swampy areas. I’ve never seen the strange caterpillar below before; not sure what species it is.