Austin…I love you so much.

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Austin, a city full of history, music and retro!

Where: Austin, the capital city of the United States of Texas.

Historical place: One of the most iconic buildings in the state, and a crown jewel in every Texans’ heart, is the Texas State Capital. Visit the upper house of the state government and discover the Senate chamber. Basically the capitol building is almost 15 feet taller than the nation's Capitol in Washington D.C.

Vintage hotspots: Pavement, the expansive modern and recycled clothing retailer and the upcoming true vintage store Leopard Lounge have a collaboration called Guad Vintage Market. Located right outside the two shops at the corner of Guadalupe and 30th Streets. Open every Sunday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. DDTS found some great pieces. So where are you waiting for?!

Music everywhere: Austin is known as the Live Music Capital of the World. It became official in 1991. It was discovered that Austin had more live music venues per capital than anywhere else in the nation. Buy a nice guitar and a booklet of Dolly Parton and dive into the great music vibe Austin has to offer;-).

Cowboy's: Allens Boots and Tecovas on Congress Avenue are THE shops. You can choose between hundreds of cowboy boots in all colors and designs. Experience rows of cowboy boots on shelves in Allen's Boots or wander around in the beautifully styled store of Tecovas. Undoubtedly you won't have trouble finding a cowboy hat as well ;-). So go the Texan way...all the way!

Aba: After shopping on Congress Avenue you can take a seat at Aba. Aba, means father in Hebrew. The style of cooking is influenced from the Mediterranean, including Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, and Greece. Enjoy lunch, dinner or weekend brunch on their outdoor patio or indoor dining room. (And put on your new shopped cowboy boots)!

Retro: The best way to see the skyline of Austin is to go by boat. Meanwhile you can enjoy music from the retro radio. It's a unique experience to cruise through downtown Austin on Lady Bird Lake in vintage fiberglass boats. These boats have been restored to their original jet-age beauty, with mid-century retro colors, fins and chrome details. DDTS had the pleasure to cruise with the lady in red! We rented red Alice at Retro Boat Rental.

Instagram spot: I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. Thanks to Instagram, this is now officially the most famous street corner in Austin. Located on buzzing South Congress Avenue, on one side of the popular Jo's Coffee. It's a green painted wall bearing a simple message in elegant red text: "I love you so much". You don't need tickets, but you will almost certainly need to wait your turn in line for a few minutes to have a photograph taken.

Watch our Tiktok video of Austin!

Houston, DDTS has landed at DSW, Starbucks, Marshalls & The Container Store

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Houston

DDTS landed in Houston for a short layover. Sometimes we don't have the time to do a lot of things due to the time of arrival. We took a taxi and went to an outside shopping area near the Galleria Mall and had three hours to shop before closing. DSW is one of our favorite shops in the States, shoe lovers as we are ;-)! In this store all kinds of shoe-gems can be found, row after row. DSW offers a wide selection of current brand names and designer shoes and casual and athletic footwear for women and men. DSW carries some of the same styles found in department stores but with savings that range up to 50 percent below department store regular retail prices, everyday. We tried fashionable flip flops in all kinds of models and basically had a great time in the Designer Shoe Warehouse.

The Container Store is a favorite of Desiré. The Container Store is specialized in storage and organization solutions. We also visited Marshalls. This popular store offers current-season, brand-name and designer goods for men, women, teens and kids at incredible prices everyday. Marshalls traces its history to 1956, when Alfred Marshall gathered a band of innovative entrepreneurs on the East Coast to collectively start up the 'Brand Names For Less' concept. You can find all kinds of articles in this store. You have to search for the hidden gems but if you find them you are 'on top of the world'! 

Starbucks is the coffee shop to be in the States. Starbucks was founded in Seattle, Washington in 1971. Today it operates 23,768 locations worldwide. Do you use a fake Starbucks name when you order, to avoid confusion about your difficult real name? If not, it's time to start brainstorming. At Starbucks, the name misspelling is a very funny experience. No matter what your gender, religion or creed is, a barista will always get your name wrong. Even if you spel out each letter as slowly as possible (and several times over), you're going to get a surprise when you see your cup. So the Starbucks name of Margré in the States is Sophie, but they will spell it like Sofi, Soofie or Sofee...very funny!

It was a short commercial break in Houston. No musea, no culture, no tips for hip restaurants. But big American brand names of stores like Marshalls, Designer Shoe Warehouse, The Container Store and Starbucks were on the list this time! The all American way of shopping!

 

Watch our vlog of Houston, DDTS has landed at DSW, Starbucks, Marshalls & The Container Store!