Tony Hatfield's Retired Ramblings

Austin Ramblings

I visited a family wedding in Austin Texas last week.

In sorting our accomodation it's tempting to play safe and book into a Holiday Inn, Ramada, Marriott or the like. But the US has a flourishing Bed and Breakfast organisation. We booked into the Austin Folk House.

The Austin Folk House

Have a look at their website. It was difficult to find fault. The decoration and furnishings were unique to each of the nine rooms. A high proportion of the guests, staying whilst we were there, were from Europe. It was usual to hear French and German being spoken over the wonderfully freshly cooked breakfasts of blueberry and pecan pancakes, quiche, fritatta and bacon strips!

The “stoop” was a great place where we could chew the fat with friends and relations who had made their way to Austin, like us, to celebrate my brother in law's wedding. Thanks Sylvia for the hospitality. And a special thanks to Adam for the breakfasts!

Austin is a university town. The University of Texas, or UT, has about 40,000 students.

On the campus are two fascinating museums, The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, and the Harry Ransom center.

When we visited the LBJ there was an exhibition “Signs of the Times: Life in the Swingin' Sixties". Click on the link and you'll get a flavour of it.

This is one of the exhibits!

Anybody admits to buying one of these?

I don’t remember much about the Johnson Presidency except the black and white image of LBJ swearing the oath of office on Air Force One at Love Field Dallas, after Kennedy’s assassination, with Jacqueline Kennedy standing next to him, still in the blood-stained coat she was wearing when her husband was shot in Dallas.

But pushing through of his “Great Society” program, often clouded by his Vietnam policy, is one of LBJ’s real achievements.

The Harry Ransom Centre includes one of the few Guttenberg Bibles in the United States.

Enough of the intellectual stuff.

It’s impossible to spend any time in Austin without visiting a bar, and that bar is likely to have live music.

The Rambler sorting out lunch at the Shady Grove. A chilli dog "over a foot long" ended up on my plate! The first evening we went there, the former Resentments singer Jon Dee Graham was playing.

Most bars and restaurants have live bands .

The Broken Spoke

This is allegedly the oldest dance hall in Austin! Though no line dancin' allowed. Brush up on that two step!

That evening Dale Watson was playing at Ginny's Saloon. Each Sunday is "Chicken Shit Sunday". A cover is placed over the pool table. Five dollars buys you one of the numbers on the table. A chicken is produced and the winner is the number the chicken.....well just guess!

Dale Watson also provided the entertainment at John and Teresa's wedding. Typically Austin, it took place on a paddle boat on the Town Lake. Congratulations to you both!

You can see more photographs at my Flickr site Cheers t

posted by Tony @ Monday, May 09, 2005