Since I grew up around Austin, I've been to the Texas State Capitol on numerous occasions. It was the field trip destination at school for many years, but I never had a digital camera to take pictures. Now that I have one... well, you get the idea.
This is the Capitol building from across the street outside. The true size isn't apparent until you get close to it.
This is the floor below the dome. You can see all the different nations that Texas has been a part of. Spain, France, Mexico, they're all here! That's one big star in the middle.
Most of the building has a very dignified motif. I don't know if that's good or bad, but it definitely fits with what I expect. It was probably modern when it was built, I guess that's how things go.
When you look up into the dome, you can get a little dizzy. It's very tall, and the patterns really swirl around all the way to the top.
A new section of the capitol was built, this is the underground hallway connecting the new annex to the old part of the building. The articles on the wall detail the remodeling effort.
The annex is much more modern than the old part of the building, and it entirely underground. The skylights in the picture are actually at ground level.
Never forget.
Here's a nice shot from outside.
Congress
Avenue in Austin runs straight from the Capitol all the way through
downtown. There's probably something symbolic about it, but I
don't know what it is.