I've been in Austin for a meeting of the Mobility Measurement in Urban Transportation working group. I also got to spend some time with Toby, who picked me up at the airport Sunday afternoon and treated me to a delicious homemade meal that he made from scratch. For lunch Monday, since we were on the University of Texas campus he suggested the Sao Paulo restaurant. I had never been to a Brazilian restaurant before, and the chicken in Brazilian cream sauce was delicious.
Monday morning I toured the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. Monica had recommended it when we were in Austin in March, but we didn't have time for it then. The museum has three floors of exhibits and dozens of small areas where short films are shown to illustrate critical episodes in Texas history. It also has a 200-seat "Texas Spirit" theater in which the 15-minute film Star of Destiny is shown. The audience sees the images and also feels rain from above, smoke and wind from the sides, and vibrations from the seats. This star in front of the museum is a large sculpture, not just pasted onto the snapshot.
Our meeting hotel had this early evening view of downtown Austin from the 17th floor, facing west.
The weather was mostly hot, but not as humid as Tallahassee. The flights were uneventful, except for one strange thing: on the second leg coming home, from Charlotte to Tallahassee, there was an empty seat next to me! First time that's happened in a long time.
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