Austin, TX

"James Blakely" wrote in
message ...
Am I reading this right, Gerry? You lived in Austin and moved to
Melbourne,
FL?

Yup.

If so, that is very funny because I now live in Melbourne and may be
moving
to Austin.

I'm envious.

How does Melbourne compare to Austin? In my opinion, Melbourne should be
called Melboring. Anyplace has to be more exciting than Melbourne.

You got that one right.

Do you have any compare and contrasts you can share with me?

Everything is different. People are polite. Parking places are small and
half the people drive Suburbans or big pickups.

First, the average age in Austin is probably 30 years lower than
Melbourne's. That says a lot right there. It is a college town that
doesn't act too much like one once you get a ways away from campus, but the
Longhorn influence is everywhere.

It's a high tech, fast moving culture. A less expensive Silicon Valley, AKA
"Silicon Hills." Big business and little start-ups everywhere. Though
things are a little slower these days.

Central Market is the only supermarket I've seen that could be classified as
a tourist attraction. My wife keeps wanting to take a quick trip on
Southwest just to do some grocery shopping.

Food is one thing I miss. Something with some spice. There isn't a
Mexican/Tex-Mex restaurant in Florida that would survive a week in Austin.
My favorite is Chuy's (pronounced Chewey's). Threadgill's is another
favorite for down home cooking. Finding a BBQ joint is an adventure --
there's only a few hundred.

As for the music/club scene: Compared to Melbourne's Street Party, downtown
on first Friday's -- If you doubled downtown, added in a dozen clubs all
with live music, you'd have 6th Street on a slow night.

As for concerts, there's everything from classical and opera to major rock
tours and Willie's 4th of July party on his ranch.

Lake Travis and the hill country in your backyard. San Antonio is only 1
1/2 hours away.

Plenty for sports fans: UT games, Friday night HS football is a religion in
TX.

Enough.

BTW, I'll be offline until Fri night.

Gerry