We had a pretty wild ride in the taxi from the airport...racing through railway tracks with the red lights flashing for an example. He seemed to be a devout muslim so maybe he was trying to hasten his journey to heaven and virgins on demand.
It was great to be back in this wonderful Hilton. We loved it the last time too. We have a large comfortable suite with two bathrooms (Rice University gets a good rate) and we look out on a lovely neighbourhood with huge leafy trees and the skyscrapers of downtown in the background. Sunsets have been fabulous and there is hardly any traffic on this side. What makes this so remarkable is that on the other side you enter the concrete jungle of the Medical Centre area with traffic, construction, sirens, etc. Two different worlds.
It's absolutely choc a bloc with medical hospitals and also the University of Texas Medical School where at least you have a little bit of green space. And they're still building more buildings. I was amazed last time by the few services and places to eat around here and it's a little better in that they now have a Subway and Starbucks. I got some excellent sushi yesterday for lunch at a little place and there is a very good place called Chipotle Burritos and Tacos where we ate last year. You line up though and it's always packed.
One good thing is that now you can buy wine and beer in grocery stores. Texas liquor laws have always struck as rather strange expecially after the completely open system in California.
The weather has been absolutely perfect...in the high 70's and not humid. It's going to continue like that for a while then there is a one day "cold front" coming in and the temperature will drop to a shocking 71 degrees! I'm not kidding...they are actually referring to it as a cold front.
Within 2 minutes of my first walk I saw a guy with a cowboy hat and thought I really am in Texas...haven't seen another cowboy hat since. I was surprised to see a Chinese newspaper though I guess since Houston is the fourth largest city in the US that shouldn't be surprising.
View from our hotel room
The lunchtime crowd at Chipotle Burritos and Tacos
