Set off on my travels about half 9, headed north to the State Capital Building and Visitors Centre which was half museum/half gift shop. Blimey, it was warm, had to do a Harry Styles and unbutton half my shirt. Then went south down Congress Ave, stumbled across The Old Bakery Shop and Emporium, it once was a bakery, hence the name, now the city owns it and the OAPs of Austin make stuff to sell and volunteer to work there, like every Austin person I've met so far they were super friendly so I bought some of their handy work. Needed a coffee, wanted to try places that weren't Starbucks but all the locals were carrying cups so it made sense, got a compliment on my shirt so I can't complain...
I like that Wholefoods is on the tourist map in Austin, it is worth the visit though, the Eco-friendly store was born in the city and represents it well, the HQ is huge, like massive, everything looks delicious, even the outdoor eating area is cool, worth the trek west.
Took a stroll down to SoCo, checked out the shops, bought some cool clobber, received more love for my get-up then had amazing beef brisket tacos at Guero's, they were as good and I'd read about, timed it well to enjoy happy hour, beer for $2, cray! Head back to the hostel to chill, reenergise and shower.
It was back down to Congress Ave Bridge in the evening for bat watching. Over a million bats reside in the arches of the bridge over Austin's main river and every night at sunset they set out for some grub. This animal instincts are a must-see when in the Texas capital so I headed down early evening. There was a crazy man and his pals trying to flog water to the bat watchers with proceeds going to preserving the area. About an hour went by until the bats made an appearance and when they did it was pretty cool but they weren't as visible as I would have hoped, the buggers weren't playing.
All this wandering about tired me out so I returned to my home, the Firehouse hostel.
Hyped for Paolo tomorrow!
