Walking along the streets of Austin

Oops. I know I should be writing about the last leg of the SILs trip in US (Viva Vegas!). But let me postpone that to the next post. Right now I'm in Austin, Texas. Live music capital of the world. I tagged along on hubs' global marketing kick-off.

I'm sorta stuck in the hotel area cos car rental here is expensive. Fortunately the hotel is located in the downtown district. I could go as far as my legs dare to venture.

My first stop today was Wild About Music, a store that totally blew me away with their selection of music related merchandise. I spent half an hour there and left without buying anything. Not because I didn't find any good stuff. On the contrary, I can't decide what I shouldn't buy so I'm gonna grab hubs here tomorrow to plough through the items with me.

Other than music stuff, I'm quite keen to find quirky artsy items made by the locals. I love their slogan 'Keep Austin Weird'. Yes, be proud of your individuality! Unfortunately for me, non-commercially made items are usually out of my budget. I could only window-shop in the small boutiques along 2nd Street. I wish I have the money to splurge on some of the accessories!

Next up is 6th Street, THE AREA where all the action would be. Pubs lined the street and if I were with a friend I'd have gone in for happy hours. Alas, brave Asian girl I was not and I didn't wanna make hubs worry about me. So I just took a quick walk along the street, passed a lot of tattooed men and women (nobody was taking notice of me seriously - fear unfounded) and scurried back to the hotel.

Other than the singing waitress I encountered during lunch and the numerous tattooed bodies, Austin seemed a tad too quiet, too un-rock. Or maybe I didn't venture deep enough into those places. I kinda liked the street art, creativity-is-in-the-air feel though. I'd love to see more musicians line the streets, more liveliness spilling out from 6th Street to other areas, for Austin to truly live up to its name.

P/S: After going to Wild About Music the second time, I realized that I could ill afford the items I really want. So in the end I only selected two cheap guitar picks as a souvenir. The staff must have took pity on my dejected face cos he said I could just have them. Sooooo nice!!! :') It doesn't cost much but they really, really made my day.