19 Mar 2010

R: And I'm back in New York. Starting to feel caged in.

C: We took off for Austin around mid-morning. After spending the better part of the early afternoon searching for parking, we found a spot a good walk from the main area where all of the SXSW (South by Southwest; a music/film festival) events were happening. This is my first trip to Austin, but M reassured me that the number of people and cars was not normal for this city. We had a late lunch away from the most packed areas at Cantina Laredo, a local gourmet Mexican food franchise, and then explored a few shops downtown before heading along Congress where there are more eateries and stores (and crowds). Though Congress stretches six lanes across, it still managed to feel condensed, and every store we walked into had a line.

Even though big crowds tend to exhaust me and put me into a sour mood fairly quickly, the nearly 80-degree temperatures, bright sunshine and just-the-right amount of breezes made it more than worth it. We explored several vintage, home and furniture stores, and M snapped photos of various modern homes and buildings that were interspersed among the more historic neighborhoods. While Dallas is home of the wannabe Barbies and Kens of the Republican variety, Austin seems to attract the liberal, peace-love-and-happiness type of resident.

After many hours in the sun and fighting "the unwashed masses" (as R likes to call them), we made our way to Morgana, my one and only roommate at Wellesley. Unfortunately we had exhausted ourselves by then already, but we have promised to be more enthusiastic visitors tomorrow.