Another bus adventure downtown Austin.

Published by Chris | Filed under Austin, Food & Drink

It seems like the smart thing to do if I’m going out to have some drinks. I shouldn’t drive if I have public transportation that will pick me up and drop me off almost by my doorstep. Well last Friday I hoped on the bus and headed downtown with no agenda. I wanted to get some food and beer and if I happened to meet new people that would be great.

I decided to get off the bus at the Capitol so I could walk down Congress Ave and check out everything on my way down to 6th street. On my walk down Congress I noticed a couple of storefront shops for lease. Not that I’m in the market to lease a building or anything, I just like looking. Most of the building on Congress, and downtown Austin are very old and were built in the late 1800’s through the early 1900’s. So the architecture of these buildings are very cool. Lots of old brick and some buildings even have the tin stamp ceilings. The 2 storefronts For Lease that I peaked in the window of were no exceptions. They were both very long narrow spaces with lots of exposed brick and high ceilings. Either building would make a cool art gallery.

After I walked down Congress I went east on 6th street. I stopped at a Vietnamese restaurant called Mekong River so that I could get something to eat. The menu had lots of different noodle dishes and all of the usual Pho dishes all for under $6 and most for around $5. I decided to try the Pho with fried tofu. It was excellent. The wait staff was friendly but I don’t think my waitress understood what I was saying. The Mekong River restaurant was also in a old building that was very cool. The ceilings must have been 25’ tall. The next time I go back I’ll get some better pictures of the interior and exterior.

My next stop was a bar called the Library. The only reason I went in was they had a happy hour special till 11:00 for $2 “you call its”. The bar was your typical 6th street bar with all of the normal bells and whistles but it didn’t matter because they had pints of FatTire for $2. Oh yea, they were also showing the X-Games Skateboard vert finals: hell yea bro. So I was sitting at the bar having a few cigs and a few beers watching Pierre Luc and Shaun White duke it out for X-Games gold. I guess Sandro Diaz landed a 900 in his run according to the guy at the bar with his “business casual” appearance. It’s pretty sad that the fucking dude knew that Sandro Diaz landed a 900. Whatever.

My next stop was The Side Bar, where I threw back several Lone Stars and played Run21 on the touch screen video game thing. This bar seems to be pretty cool. Nice girl to guy ratio also.

After I spent my budgeted amount I headed back to the bus stop where I came across this guy who wanted me to take his picture. He was all smiles but with no front teeth. Turns out he rode the same bus that I did.

Hopefully my next down town adventure will be a little more interesting.