Day 24: 29 March - Last day in Austin

Today I had to say goodbye to Lloyd and Goldman at about 5am, which was way too sad and not just because they woke me up! They are brilliant and I can't wait to come visit them as soon as I'm back home!

Even though they had left and I was in the hostel when I shouldn't be, I was dead tired, so I slept until about 10am. Thank goodness I had made friends with the wonderful girls in the room - Melanie, Michelle and Susanna - so they were cool with it. Before gathering up my luggage and walking out the door with no plans, I managed to book a room with another hostel in the city, right off of 6th Street - the Firehouse Hostel. This hostel was incredibly funky and unique, with awesome art work scattered all through and lovely features here and there. They had saloon doors into the shower rooms, cool, cubby-like dorm beds so you had privacy and, the best part, it was upstairs to a speak-easy bar. A bar that had been opened during the prohibition, the entrance to the bar was a bookshelf which slid into a cavity wall.

Just a normal bookshelf? I think not!

Once I dumped my bags at my new hostel, I headed to the Mexic Arte Museum down the road. This was a very small and very cool museum with some amazing pieces by the Mexican communities in Texas. After the museum, I went in search of a good BBQ place, but it was getting late (for lunch) so it was difficult to find an open restaurant. In search for a restaurant, I incidentally explored the city centre, and I was impressed!

Some very cool street art outside of the Mexic Arte Museum

And some cool art in the museum

Art is everywhere in this city!

After lunch, I went back to the hostel, went into my cubby and skyped my family for my sister's birthday. This was my first skype date and it made me realise how much I missed them!

In the hostel common room, I met Reggie and Ratchit. I convinced them to come with me down to Castle Hill, a famous spot in Austin for graffiti art. A building that had been there previously was mostly demolished, leaving several walls there for artists to come and do whatever they want. A local had said that the walls are painted almost everyday, so there is always something new to see. At the top of the hill, on the highest wall, there are breath-taking views of the city,

Austin City

View from the bottom of the hill

Some ridiculous talent

The night continued briefly when we met Zoe and Awa back at hostel. We all hung out for a while and checked out the speakeasy bar, but we were extremely tired. The last few nights had caught up with me, so it was an early one for me.