With the Villa Capri and the Terrace are gone and the food at Scholz's not up to "Meals, Ready to Eat" rations, life will never be the same, with Austin a hollow shell of its one laid-back grandeur.

Year in and year out the Renaissance at the Arboretum remains as comfortable as lodgings get in Austin (where rates range from the exhorbitant to the pretentious), with the advantage of a location removed from downtown's 6th St. and political hurly-burly. If it weren't for the traffic back into town, the Marriott Horseshoe Bay would be worth a look.

Meanwhile, I'd just as soon have the top floor suite at the tiny Havana Riverwalk 79 miles down IH35 and commute back to Austin as needed.