The Texas State Capitol
One of the benefits of visiting Austin, the capital city of Texas, is touring the impressive capitol building at 1800 Congress Avenue. It may look familiar – the architect, Elijah E. Meyers, modeled it after the capitol building in Washington D.C., However, because it’s located in Texas, it is 14 feet taller than the Federal…
Laguna Gloria
Laguna Gloria, a sculpture park belonging to The Contemporary Austin, sits along the shoreline of Lake Austin. It consists of an old Italianate villa on several acres of wooded trails and lawns, providing a respite from the city with a view. Laguna Gloria, which loosely translates as “glorious lake” in both Spanish and Italian, is…
AO Tours Gives You Three for One
AO Tours has presented our signature tour “Austin + Hill Country in 90 Minutes” since 2003. For the last decade the tour has been providing a quick and entertaining way to experience Austin and the neighboring Texas Hill Country. One of the hallmarks of the Tour is the amazing mix of veteran guides who personally…
I Might Not be Native – But I Got Here in 1960
In the past 10 years of presenting guided tours for I have many times explained to our guests that I was born in Fort Worth but moved to Austin in 1960. One of the most interesting comparisons between then and now has to be the growth in population. Back then there were about 185,000 Austinites – by today that has exploded to 820,000. If you look at the entire Metro Area (MSA) it includes a whopping 1.7 million folks. When my Mom brought us to the capital all those years ago it was so she could take some continuing education classes at the University of Texas at Austin during the summer semester. My little brother and I were very jazzed to move to Austin – it was so cool compared to Fort Worth. We moved into a dinky apartment across…
Jules Nadeau – Running Around Austin 40 Years Later
Austin. (20 January) – Back in 1962, a young French Canadian hitchhiker enjoyed some good old Texas hospitality from an Austin family. In fact black and white photographs of this generous family are always with Jules Nadeau – and he is back in town and is determined to hook up with the family so he…