Further Escapades In Austin

Yesterday's adventure was, happily, to Austin again. This time it was with Amy. Among the day's activities: We toured the capitol building, ate puffy tacos at El Chile, and wandered around the Blanton museum for a while. The coffee shop we were looking for apparently no longer exists, and she eventually dissuaded me from going to the Zilker Botanical Garden in the rain, but it was still a great trip.

I learned a number of interesting factoids. I'll spare you most of them, but the capitol connects to an addition built below ground level to accommodate everyone who needs to work there, keep the original building in a relatively pure form, and not obstruct anyone's viewing corridor. Only rows of skylights penetrate the surface, letting natural light in over concourses and down the 65 feet to the bottom. It didn't feel underground, other than the knowledge you walked down too many steps.

The Blanton didn't have any impressionists in its wide-ranging collection, but I found no shortage of thought provoking pieces. My favorites were modern art, but I was glad to get to see the exhibition of Japanese prints from James A. Michener's collection, from the Honolulu Academy of Arts, as well.