Not quite the Thames, but...

... a walk along the side of Austin's Town Lake a few days ago did bring back some memories.

The lake is a reservoir on the Colorado River that flows through town. Believe me, no Texas rivers are this wide in their natural state!

The photo above is of the Lamar Street bridge, taken from the brand-new pedestrian bridge that was the object of our walk. It's a very nice, wide, structure, that was being used by lots of Austinites on the pleasant, sunny day. And it doesn't "wobble" a bit!

Here's a look down its solid structure, facing north:


And here are some more photos taken from it:

looking over the elegant spiral ramp leading from the riverside to the bridge, you get a great view of downtown Austin from the west...

I doubt you'd ever see graffiti, or even street art, like this on a Thames bridge, but, folks are a little wacky in Austin (click on the image to see it large enough to read)...

There's a series of bridges across the lake that I, for some reason, neglected to photograph in a row from the pedestrian crossing. But on the right is the underside of one of the most famous: the Congress Avenue "bat" bridge. We saw the bats emerge from here on a trip many years ago, and it's an amazing experience.

Unfortunately, it was the wrong time of day (and the wrong season) for us to see them on this outing. But we think we heard some peeping as we walked under the bridge...

I expect that you wouldn't be able to see anything like the blooming tree (a pear, perhaps?) on the left anywhere near the Thames right now.

But even given all the differences between this jaunt and the many I took along the Thames while I was in London, it did bring back pleasant memories.

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To read about the main reason for my trip to Austin, check my Hometown Tourist blog.