Did you know that Austin has a light rail system? The Capital MetroRail network is not very extensive, but it’s a nice, clean train that runs between the north part of town (near our house) and downtown. Mariko is using it this week to commute to the convention center where she is helping out at SXSW. If you do live close to one of the stations, you can drive there and park for free, then take the train downtown, and return in the evening. Parking downtown is crazy during the festival, so lots of people end up taking the train.
I took today’s photo at the Lakeline Station, while I waited for Mariko to arrive. It’s a small, but clean little station. 😀
こんばんは。Today I was downtown attending a conference and when I was walking to the parking garage, I took the photo above. One neat thing about the city is that there is cool stuff if you look up!
Today Koa performed with the Region Orchestra, and they sounded great! It’s pretty cool that since Koa is part of the percussion group, you can hear his playing pretty distinctively. 🥁 In the three pieces, he played bass drum, snare, and timpani. I was so proud!
After that, we visited our friends’ restaurant opening. It’s always great to taste delicious sushi 🍣 and other Japanese delicacies, including saké! This time I tried something new: jellyfish sushi. It was ok. Maybe I was a little tipsy, but I thought it would be fun to broaden my horizons. 😆
Today Bay and I visited the LBJ Presidential Library at UT Austin. It’s the first presidential library we have ever visited, and I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know hardly anything about LBJ, but I learned a lot during our visit to the museum. The exhibits were interesting and innovative, especially the telephones which you could pick up and listen in on conversations that LBJ had with all sorts of people, including Jackie Kennedy.
I don’t know how objective the curators and creators of the museum could be when putting the exhibits together, but I feel like they told the story from lots of different points of view. It was interesting to learn about the “Great Society”, the Voting Rights Act, and other initiatives that LBJ championed.
Besides learning about LBJ, the museum really gives a nice view of life in the mid and late 20th century in the US by showing a lot of the culture, music, and television programs that were popular. I’m sure it would be very nostalgic to people in their 60s and 70s!
If you are in Austin and have an interest in US history, I highly recommend visiting the LBJ Museum. For a very reasonable admission fee, you gain a wealth of historical information.
