The first time I went to Austin, Texas was last summer. The city has the reputation being the Live Music Capital of the World. The first thing one does see upon exiting the plane, is a live band. Music is all around in this city in Central Texas. I was visiting a friend of mine, a musician. It seems that just as almost everyone you meet in Los Angeles is an actor, almost everyone in Austin either is in a band playing music, or has been involved with music at some time in their lives. Purpose of my visit was to spend time with my friend, but it was also a painting vacation. I was to stay at one of the best Austin hotels, and just paint non stop for five days, without my phone, without needing to go work.
When my friend found out that I had booked a hotel room he refused and said that I would be staying with him. So, with that said, he took me on a mini-tour of Downtown Austin. We drove down the famous 6th Street. Here there are venues lining both sides, bars and restaurants with live music every night of the week. Many of the patrons of these bars are from the nearby University, and the nights surrounding the weekends are usually packed with rowdy college students. When my friend was younger he played in those bars quite a bit, and had a very big following. Now though, he plays in the cities surrounding Austin, in bars that are a little calmer.
We hadn’t really planned out the trip, and I thought that we may take in a live show, however the night he had planned was very different. We dropped off my bags at the house, and went to buy some food, for a picnic he said. We took our groceries and a blanket to a grassy area beside the Congress Avenue Bridge. Nice, I thought, the weather was perfect. And as the sun went down, something happened that I was not expecting at all. It seems that the construction of the underneath part of the bridge is perfect for a species of bats, the Mexican free-tailed species. When they come out at night, clouds of them can be seen miles away, and when you are sitting right under the bridge, it is a bit terrifying and also strangely beautiful. The bats provide the city of Austin with the service of eating more than four million pounds of insects throughout the summer. If you are not afraid of bats, and find them fascinating, you must head to Congress Avenue Bridge and witness this amazing natural event.
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