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Top
HOTELS in AUSTIN,TX
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Omni
Austin Downtown
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Located
one block from Austin's
popular 6th Street Entertainment
District, the hotel shares
a glass-walled atrium
with an adjacent office
tower in downtown Austin.
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Check
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Austin
Marriott at the Capitol
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Austin
Marriott at the Capitol is conveniently
located just blocks away from
downtown Austin. |
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Hotel
Booking in Austin,TX
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Austin
has fewer developed tourist attractions
than you'd expect from so vibrant
a city, and that's its real charm.
Although the Texas State Capitol is
impressive and the city's museums
shine, they're outclassed by Austin's
natural attractions: the natural pool
at Barton Springs, the rolling green
of Zilker Park and the nightly flight
of over a million bats from beneath
Congress Ave Bridge.
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Austin
is a city for getting outside, getting busy
and, when the day's done, getting down with
one of the 100 or so bands that jam here nightly.
After a bellyful of that famous mesquite BBQ,
a few rounds of Celis beer and a couple days
living the Austin lifestyle, you'll be hard
pressed to hold the locals' civic pride against
them. Smack in the middle of downtown, the
Capitol Complex is made up of over two dozen
state government offices. Like a pink mirage
in the city center's sea of green, the Texas
State Capitol (1888) is certainly Austin's
most distinctive landmark. Constructed of
sunset-colored Texas limestone, the capitol
is topped with a statue of the Goddess of
Liberty and (as its proud staffers are only
too happy to tell you) ranks as the seventh
largest government building in the world.
Someone actually went to the trouble to measure
the building from the basement floor to the
top of the Liberty statue, and at 311ft (93m),
it's taller than the national capitol in Washington,
DC. Northwest
of the city on a bluff over the river, the
Mayfield Estate and Nature Preserve is the
former home of Texas Secretary of State and
railroad commissioner Allison Mayfield. Mayfield
settled this idyllic spot at the turn of the
century, and for over 50 years he and his
wife built up the estate's grounds with lily
ponds, a gazebo overlooking the Colorado and
a flower garden. The estate is very peaceful
and far less crowded than the overlook at
Mt Bonnell, the much-heralded highest point
in the city. If
there's an epicenter to outdoor recreation
in Austin, it's Zilker Park, just south of
the Colorado River about half a mile west
of Congress Ave.
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The park itself is a
pleasant 8 acre (3ha) slot of green,
lined with hiking and biking trails
and home to a botanical garden, sculpture
garden and museum. It's also the city's
access point to Barton Springs natural
swimming pool, the Barton Creek Greenbelt
and the 60 acre (25ha) Zilker Nature
Preserve. Inside the park, the Austin
Nature Center has exhibitions of native
mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians
that have been injured and nursed back
to health at the center. Buses are available
from downtown. Come visit Austin !
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