Reply #30: More stuff... [View All]

Austin is a friendly city. Despite the preponderance of conservatives outside a few enclaves, Texans generally are famously friendly.

Below are the current proposed light rail lines. It might give you a better idea. This or something very like it will likely pass this November. The North to South line is in progress and will start this year.

http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/local/04/23/6340645_0423CommuterRailFront.html

The purple line is about to open. The red line is the next phase awaiting approval and financing.

Kyle and Buda are quite a bit further South down IH-35.

It is possible to get to most of the places you will want to go by bus. Here's the Cap Metro site where you can get info. http://www.capmetro.org/ The bus lines are confusing and have odd schedules. It's very hard to figure out just looking at the signs at bus stops. If you do want to use the bus lines I highly recommend you go to the CapMetro site and check which lines go where you want and what times they run.

The Austin Zoo/animal sanctuary is pretty basic. Don't expect a big-city, state of the art Zoo. It's worth checking out and the drive out there will give you a good look at how the city is expanding out to the West and SW. Good call on not driving to SA for the zoo. Unless you have some reason to go to San Antonio, I'd suggest sticking around the Austin area. There are cool places to visit on the way and some attractions in SA, but you won't run out of things to do in Austin in the time you have.

The are "Mediterranean" restaurants that cover the full range of Med cuisines. Check the Austin Chronicle online for listings. For superb upscale go with Louie's 106 -- An easy walk from your hotel. For cheap but great, get in the car and go to Sarah's Mediterranean Grill or Tino's Greek Cafe. There are also great Middle Eastern places. They have their own listing on the Chronicle site.