After I made plans to move to Madison, I kept hearing how much Madison was like Austin. For those of you not from not familiar with the great city on Lady Bird Lake, you're missing out. All the live music you can handle, more bars than some small european countries, killer barbecue and texmex, texas university, the Texas State Capitol; you get the idea. And that doesn't even include the lakes, or the hiking, or the hill country just outside of town. So needless to say, Madison had a lot to live up to before I even got here.
Both have great reputations as judged by people who spend a lot more time writing about these things than I do (GQ, Mens Health and Esquire), but I wanted to at least take a stab at it on my own after the greatness Madison has shown me so far.
Without further ado - Texans vs. Sconnies |
Round 1: State Capitol and <more> liberal outpost than the rest of the state.
Both of these cities have there fair share of liberals (not passing judgement - just saying). But Madison? Holy hell. Blows Austin out of the water. Austin-ites don't hold a candle to some of the people up here I have met. But when compared to the rest of the state, Austin/Texas and Madison/Wisconsin is pretty close.
Don't forget though, the Texas Capitol is taller. Those 24 feet make a difference.
Round 1: Austin
Round 2: College campus
Obviously they both meet this one. But I definitely prefer UW to texas (the university, not the state).
Round 2: Madison
Round 3: Raunchy, reckless strips of bars (aka State Street vs. 6th Street)