Quote:
Originally Posted by
Piobaire 
I actually spent about three months there, around 2001 or so. I thought it was a not bad city, and would be nearly perfect if it housed the U of T vs. Austin. I liked the River Walk (stayed in recently refurbed art deco place on the walk, very nice...company dime), like the feel of the place, this one older area getting gentrified but with a hispanic flair, and the hill country. All in all, I thought not a bad place.
I guess if you live here you get tired of all the stuff downtown. Whole Foods is at the Quarry and that's about it. Unless you like Jos. A. Bank.
The Italian place is Paesano's and is quite good. Cafe Paladar and Silo are also good. For steak try the Barn Door.
King William District is nice.
Frankly, the bars suck. Plus smoking is legal in TX, so this may influence my opinion. I RARELY go into them.
I've railed against the drivers before- mostly a bunch of SUVs or Ford 150s on their cell phones paying NO ATTENTION to the traffic around them. Extremely dangerous.
And Fiesta is so overrated it's laughable. As is the Rodeo. First Fridays are passable- Joe's Blues (sp?) is the only bar I've found here that I like.
Shopping is only OK. Satel's is pretty trad and recently consolidated into one location. Great service though, and I almost always like something when I go there (which is why don't go that often
). La Cantera is first rate (esp. the Nordstrom), but some crazy bastard made it an OUTSIDE mall. There used to be a great store in the North Star, but it went out of business a while ago.
The Mission tour is supposed to be good. Brackenridge Park is nice- especially the Japanese Tea Garden.
But I refuse to go out unless it's 95 or below. Which leaves out about 6 months of the year. And golf, unless you want to play at 5AM. That's not relaxing to me.
Gimme CA anytime- and I can name you 10 other places I'd rather live as well.
^^^^
