Filling Time in ATX: Arts & Edibles

Perhaps a pessimistic person came up with the expression "killing time", however, I'm in an optimistic mood and have decided to title this post "Filling time". One could even call it living time, because that's what I did. I had two hours to kill er spend - ha, see that negative phrasing is catchy. So I decided to take a look at what was around me one Friday afternoon. It happened that I was near Zilker Park, so I was about to wander the trails on foot when I came across a sculpture garden & museum [http://umlaufsculpture.org/]. I decided to pay the meager $3.5 and see what this place was all about while filling ;) some time. Inside (the museum part) are some art pieces. I liked the one to the left and how it would look nice in my entryway if the entry way had a nice stair case. The inside part was interesting, but I was more curious to check out the outside. The park is kinda similar to the sculpture garden at the Walker in Mpls, however, the art pieces are smaller and not as spread out. Plus here they have a little stream/waterfall near the entrance. There was also a staircase with a path to walk to the top and look down the stream.

Looking Up

Looking Down

The artwork was interesting. Here's a little sample of what I saw. If the human body offends you scroll down fast. But remember this is art, folks.

I believe this piece was called Eve. or lady in the woods not sure.

This "lovers" sculpture was in the middle of a pond...i thought the detail on the man was quite un-necessary.

They had a circle of animals, I thought I'd take a picture of my Chinese-restaurant place mat animal.

 Was the entire park full of erotica? No and why those were the only three photos I have of the artwork, I'm not sure. I didn't aim for a dirty theme it's just those were the ones that grabbed my attention. Let's end this part of the venture with a little peaceful innocent waterfall. Shall we.

=)

Now after walking around there for an hour or so including some time sitting on a bench staring at a piece of art (no, not one of the photos above, it was an interesting piece, however I didn't photograph it) I felt like I was in that movie "The Thomas Crowne Affair" where the guy sits on a bench at the museum and ponders his thoughts while eating a pear. Restless as I am and with out a pear to chew, I could only sit and stare for about 10 minutes. So then I decided to drive a bit further towards downtown when a rooftop patio caught my eye. I remembered Whole Foods downtown had one, but I had not yet explored. Now, Whole Foods in Austin, is unlike any other grocery store. It's huge, has samples of food and drink and you can purchase almost every ethnicity of food ala carte and eat it in or above the store. (There are people who share a bottle of wine in the grocery store while eating some food. Quite an interesting way to grab groceries). Since I've been craving chicken off the bone, I went for the wings and then grabbed a beer to wash down that deliciousness. Now let me tell you, its a fun experience to pick up edible items at a grocery store and then go to their roof and enjoy each bite and sip with a nice view of the sky. The roof has plenty of seats and tables and even a playground for the young-ins.

So there you have it. If you have 2+ hours to fill why not visit the sculpture garden and then grab a quick bite/happy hour at Whole Foods. Post complete.