Graffiti, Mosquitoes, and Bats

Wondering how these three terms in the title fit together?

This is roughly how our day went.

After getting some rest today, we drove to Austin Downtown. Upon arriving, we first visited the Capitol.

Then we walked through what felt like half the city to get to the Hope Outdoor Gallery. If you think you're lost, you're actually in the right place.

In this park, everything, and I mean everything, is covered in graffiti. From the walls to the ground, even the plants. Funny phrases blend with beautiful works of art. A must-see when visiting Austin.

Near the park, we had lunch at a inconspicuous restaurant called Counter Cafe and were impressed by their freshly made club sandwiches.

Afterwards, we felt like we walked through half the city again to get to Lake Metropolitan Park. A large green space in the middle of Austin. Here, sports enthusiasts on bikes meet dog lovers and tourists like us. The park is situated on the Colorado River, which makes the atmosphere even more relaxed. But here comes the big BUT. It's swarming with mosquitoes. These little pests lurk everywhere and bite whenever they can. We had a good division: one of us didn't get bitten, the other got bitten even more...

We spent the time in the park until evening.

We had heard about the bat bridge in Austin. Under the Congress Avenue Bridge, more than a million bats are said to call it home and come out in swarms shortly after sunset.

Ridiculous! We waited for 2 hours with hundreds of other tourists. In the end, it was so dark that we could only imagine the bats. Only from a boat, from which the bridge was specially illuminated, could we see the animals.

However, a stroll through the illuminated streets in the evening is highly recommended. We can't explain why they have already wrapped the Christmas light chains around the trees.