Joyce Matthews, an Austin things to do blogger, contributed this post.
Austin, Texas. The city where there is culture, history, and modern fun all in one. You can either choose to make your trip a modern, fun one in which you would visit all over downtown and enjoy the company of the locals, or you can go the historic route and visit the State Capitol. When in Austin visiting the state capital is a must. As you walk in you can see the mixture of the old architecture and the new refurbishments. Although from two completely different time periods, the architecture goes together so well. An interesting fact about it was that the same architect who designed the Michigan Capital also designed the Texas State Capitol.
As you walk in, you go through a brief security checking station, but as soon as you are near the amazing paintings, sculptures and architecture instantly catch your eye. As you walk around you can see various paintings of different city officials and amazing woodwork especially with the furniture. As you walk further you slowly start seeing all of the work being done in there. You see all the men and women in their business suits walking around ensuring that everything that needs to get done is getting done.
When on my visit, I had the chance to sit down and talk with one of the state representatives and it was truly an eye opening experience. We spoke about various immigration laws along with how and why they are in place. Then if you walk in a little further you can get to the dome part that is seen from the outside of the building. This is a room filled with many paintings and a direct opening downward to see the ground floor of the state capitol. If you look carefully at the outer ring around the room you can see amazing pillars with many carvings. If you get the chance you should definitely walk around the circular balcony of the building. Next we went to the circular opening at the back of the where you can go and hang out. For lunch, you can’t go wrong with a picnic on the grass fields in front of the capitol building. All you have to do is grab a picnic basket and spend a few hours enjoying the Austin sun. It’s also a good spot to play games such as catch and frisbee with you friends and family.
Sometimes they have food being sold for the visitors but at other times you have to pack your own picnic basket. I would strongly recommend the picnic for the summer, and to go to a local restaurant during the winter. I also had the opportunity to visit the official front side where there wasn’t much tourism so being back there will allow you to take in the full beauty of the texas state capitol building. For your trip there I would recommend going on a day where there is an event/ gathering happening on the steps of the building. It will really help our get insight to the historic culture of Austin,Texas.
Also in the front of the building is a fountain along with a garden filled with beautiful violet flowers. If you are a flower lover this is the perfect place for you. It takes around two whole hours to explore the whole entire building. So I would recommend trying to book a group tour in which someone experienced can guide you around to see the beautiful building. There is a lot of culture and history to be explored around Austin and the state capitol building is the perfect place to start all of the fun.
