'A man fired several shots on the south steps of the Texas Capitol on Thursday afternoon, minutes after one lawmaker said he entered his office acting strangely. Nobody was injured, officials said, and the suspect was quickly apprehended.' (from the Austin Statesman, 1/21/09)
Because today was such a GORGEOUS day (75 and sunny), we decided to forgo deconstruction and do a walking tour of the city. We started at the Capitol Building Visitor's Centre around 1:30pm. The receptionist casually mentioned that the Capitol Building was closed today, due to an 'event.' Niaeve tourists that we are, we wandered out on the grounds, strolling along, taking pictures, barely noticing the cops on bikes and news vans around the building. Come to find out, from a random passerby, there had been a shooting on the steps of the Capitol Building less than an hour before! Crazy huh? And we walked into several nearby businesses and NO ONE mentioned this to us. Austin-ites are definitely chill... even when it comes to random shootings in the middle of a sunny Thursday afternoon.
Botched assassinations aside, we had a GREAT day! We toured downtown and saw some neat architecture and landmarks including The Driskill Hotel (where the bartender of 28 years took pictures of us with bull horns), St. Mary's Cathedra, not the governor's mansion (it was under construction). Afterward, we hit up Whole Foods for free samples and the Tiniest Bar in Texas for $1 margaritas. Then we strolled through a little gallery of photos commissioned by Jamie Lee Curtis and down to the park by the lake. We sat on a bench and watched people and their dogs run by, stalk squirrels, etc. People who stalk squirrels are weird folks! ;)
We made it back to our hotel for a drink a the FREE happy hour (tamales, nachos, goldfish crackers, wine, beer and a live band on Thursdays!). And had more than enough time to eavesdrop on this crazy guy selling this girl on joining his Skidmark Underwear business. Sounds like a real winner - maybe we'll join that bandwagon!
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