MEMORIES OF WINDOWS PAST

 
I told you, didn't I, that Hubby took me adventuring on Sunday? Unbeknownst to be, we were headed to Austin's 2nd Annual Holiday Window Walk. I guess he'd heard me reminiscing about the wonderful Christmas displays of my childhood often enough to know that this would be right up my alley, but he managed to keep it all under wraps. When he parked in the garage next to the Violet Crown theater, I assumed we were going to see a neat art house flick, but then we exited onto 2nd St. (aka Willie Nelson Blvd.).

Once there, John just stood in the middle of the sidewalk, turning in slow circles, muttering "Huunnh?" When he finally told me just what we were looking for, I proceeded to do the same thing. It wasn't until we finally spotted those red Window Walk signs in a few of the windows, that we figured out which ones were actually participating in the judging.

Princess and the Pea

Apparently they had each been assigned a story book theme, and the designers had all gone for "artsy" rather than "Christmassy." Or maybe they were aiming for "inoffensive." The one thing they didn't manage to pull off was MAGICAL.  Well, I guess they didn't manage to pull off "well-merchandised" either, since not one of them even managed to lure my hubby the shopaholic into their store!
 

Jack and the Beanstalk

This Pinocchio window was the only one that might have held a child's attention for a minute or two.

I have to say, we were a bit disappointed, and if I had been little kids whose parents had told them they were going to see wonderful Christmas displays, I would have been a lot disappointed.

While there, we spotted this place called Taverna. It looked so much like the cafes in Europe that we adored, we couldn't resist giving it a try.

It was already packed by 11:00, probably due to the $1.00 Belinis and Mimosas. The decor was quite chic, and the food was pretty good, but John's verdict was "A bit too 'trendy', a bit too pricey, and way too noisy." My feeling was that, like the shop windows we had just seen, it was a bit too artsy -- a bit too "Disneyed-up." Like so much of downtown Austin these days, it was so sanitized and inoffensive that it had lost its magic altogether. Or maybe I'm just getting old, and the Austin I remember has the sheen of nostalgia. All I know is that if we are ever in the mood for a Euro-style brunch again, we will probably go back to the Blue Dahlia over in east Austin. Not only did it feel more "real", it didn't have a parking garage that charges a flat fee of fifteen bucks, even on Sunday!