Now that things are pretty much in a transitional state as far as work is concerned I took the liberty of indulging myself a bit more than I would have usually done if things were even a little bit more demanding at work. I have spent a weekend before in Austin, TX and I must say I liked what I saw. I did want to see some more.
The fact that my host stays alone does really help matters and add to that a great group of friends he is surrounded with makes things go WOW. This time around another friend of mine also entertained me and he sure knows how to entertain guests. That was the out and out surprise element in the entire trip.
The sole motive to decide the length of my stay in Austin was nothing but the air tickets. It so transpired that I got myself tickets spanning 6 days between them and that was how it came to be a week in Austin.
Now let me see what all I did here. Guess it will be better if I list it down.
Thursday evening:
1) A kick ass pizza at Home Slice with Sagar for company. That was after we downed a couple or so margaritas.
Friday evening-night-early morning:
2) Near authentic Indian food at the Clay Pit. The Goat Curry was to die for. It was 'Desi Hot' as it should be
3) Trudy's - Guess only the name is enough
4) Then we did what is referred to as 'Bar-Hopping'. All it involves is hopping bars and trying the shots on offer. 4Sq came in quite handy as I turned to those recommendations just for the heck of it.
Saturday Afternoon-Evening-Night:
5) The Lord of the Rings - Return of the King in HD on a kick-ass projector. Nothing more will be written about it
6) An attempt at Go Karting which was aborted cos there was a wait time of over 2.5 hrs. I aint complaining as I already got my checkin points ;)
7) Hukka
8) Beach Volleyball happened for many hours. I was dog tired by the end but I did surprise myself not by being fleet footed but atleast by returning quite a few serves and the works. I dont really remember if I ever played an serious volleyball all my life.
9) Beer.
10) End Game
Sunday Morning-Afternoon-Evening-Night:
11) A bit of Pulp Fiction again on the kick ass Projector
12) EURO 2012 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME with beer, wings and pizza
13) More Beer by the Lake
14) Drunk Dead
Monday Evening:
15) Firearms shooting at the range
16) Decent Dinner. No Alcohol. BLISS
17) Ohh yes the MacBook Pro also happened here..
Tuesday Evening
18) TED - the movie
19) Broken Spoke - To listen to some Texas Honky Tonk music. Listen to this track and this is what honky tonk music is like. Have been listening to this all day today and boy am I in love with it or what.
The track is called : My Baby Makes me Gravy!!!
As things turn out when you have beer flowing and absolute BS been discussed and you let slip out how heading back home would be boring and how you will still be working from home and that you really wanted to see the 4th July fireworks, I have changed my flight tickets to show the travel date of July 15th.
Well that is a whole 11 days. But then when I got about rescheduling the flight it was not the date but the price that matter and it was only 11 days later that I could get something cheaper. The best part is that the next day when I informed the same guys with whom over a lot of beer I made this decision to postpone my return journey they were should I say surprised!!!! But then now they gotta live with it.
So coming back to cataloging what all I did/am doing in Austin all these days, this will surely turn out to be the lengthiest blog I have written ever.
Wednesday
20) Visited this awesome breakfast place Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse for brunch.
21) Barton Springs Pool - This pool is fed by the Main Barton Spring which is the fourth largest spring in Texas. It was refreshing and fun to swim after a long time. It was good to know that I could still get my dives going after so many years without hurting myself a bit
23) 4th July fireworks - As things would have it, I witnessed the 4th July fireworks last year at Manhattan and this year I happened to be in Austin. I know they are the same each year but I just cannot skip the chance!!! We did not wait until the very end as we thought of beating the traffic by leaving early but did catch the show while we were moving towards to the car parking. It was fun as always!!!
Extended Stay Austin (4th July-15th July):
By the 4th July I had already done what was expected off a tourist to be done in Austin. So the next 11 days were more about just being there. I am not saying that it was boring but at it did feel like an overkill. At the end, it was not only me but also the folks there who started thinking that even I was a part of their lives. I mean what more will you expect when you go out and do groceries and cook dinner for 3 consecutive days. LOL!!!
Predictable as it may sound but we boozed till the dawn (precisely till 3AM) on the morning of 15th July (when my flight was at 6:30AM) and the notable thing about this binge was the 'Devil's Cocktail' at Peche. This shit had Jalapeno in it and it was fiery.
Such long was my stay in Austin that when I finally left, a friend coyly remarked, "So Advait, finally you are 'vacating' Austin." Never has the word 'vacate' been more appropriately used I say.
Not to mention that I did get a call from Anuj in the evening saying that he kinda felt out of sort now that I wasn't there.
Its only a matter of getting used to, as I have always maintained.
The End
1 comment:
awesome borate!
*Jealous*
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