Houston

After a fairly lengthy electronic check in process the bag drop and passport check at the airport was reasonably quick for our flight to Houston. While waiting in the queue I spoke to a family who had been to New Zealand - four days in Wanaka shooting tahr!  They had just spent a week in South America shooting other wild life.  I should have realised that, that was an introduction to the Texan lifestyle. 

We had selected our seats a long time ago for the ten hour flight, but a number of sports teams had decided to sit around us.  They were mainly adults, and reasonably well behaved except they kept standing in the aisle next to us and talking to their mates.  The seat belt signs came on - and the turbulence began.  A number of sportee people continued to stand and chat to the cabin staff (who either knew them or wanted to get to know them), while holding on to seats.  The bumps continued for a while, with no signs of them sitting down or buckling up!   

We also noted there was no requirement to lift the window shades during take off and landing.  On the plus side the meal was pretty good for airline food.  

Our shuttle was on time (an early 6.15 am start for the driver who was obviously a morning person).  Two sleepy eyed travellers arrived at their hotel.  For the first time we had booked the hotel for the night before so we could have a few hours sleep before hitting the big city.  The hotel had everything we needed, towels, toilet rolls, hot water, tea bags, milk and a bed - things we had missed at times during our holiday.  Our expectations were low.

Then we hit the streets in 37 degrees - finding the shade when ever we could, and exploring the underground tunnels and sky walks built specifically for the locals to escape the high temperatures.  We found an amazing deli for lunch and enjoyed a wrap and a banana and took back strawberries, blue berries and cereal for breakfast.  Summer fruits - yum.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the rooftop swimming pool looking at the high rise around us. Not a bad start to the next phase of our holiday. 

I am not sure if it was the heat, or tiredness but Houston didn't seem to grab us.   Wandering around the very wide streets (almost devoid of cars and people on a weekday afternoon), we looked for the historical centre.  Unfortunately, it looked as though the local ancestors did not try and preserve the centre in one place, as the old buildings were scattered between more modern and taller buildings.  The architecture of some of the modern buildings was pretty impressive.   There didn't seem to be many restaurants or cafes lining the streets and eventually we settled for an air conditioned and fairly empty food hall which was open late into the evening.  There was some interesting street art and a tree lined muddy river known as Buffalo Bayou which was once the major trading route to the sea but now felt a bit lonely and unsafe to walk around in the early evening. 

The next morning was sunny and just as hot and with high hopes we climbed on to the bus for our city tour - 80 minutes to see the sights - we surely must have missed some of them the day before.  We saw some more street art, baseball, football and rodeo stadiums and interesting architecture.  Buffalo bayou still looked lonely and the parks looked to be places for those with no where else to go.  Streets still had little traffic, there were plenty of car parks about and people were scarce. 

While waiting for the bus trip to start we met a local Texan who had hopped on his motor bike in June with the intention  of  visiting every country court house in the State -  259 of them (I think).  Wondering if he had a legal background (though a heavy, tall and bearded man isn't the typical lawyer look), I asked him "why?"  He said that the court house is usually the oldest building in each county and architecturally very interesting.  I wondered if we should do a similar trip in New Zealand.  

While we waited the confronting Texan culture was again evident with seats covered in hide, and an enormous and majestic horned steer head looking over us - all I can hope is he died naturally. 

We had booked a tour around the town centre and to the space centre.  Commentary on the city tour was in English (in South America the commentary was available in a number of languages and we were told that in Houston 145 different languages are spoken).  On the ride to the space centre - the driver was silent - clearly a drive rather than a guided tour.  Maybe there was nothing to say, the road was flat, we passed a number of suburbs and advertising for injury lawyers - one even described himself as "very appealing" which gave me the impression his cases might not be successful the first time.

I think my expectations of the space centre may have been raised by our visit to Pearl Harbour (yes we were impressed by what was offered there).  At the space centre we had two tram rides around the centre - we passed a number of grey one or two storey buildings.  We were told what was in them, and what we could not see, whetting the appetite but not fulfilling it.  We did stop at the training centre where there were a number of mock ups/simulations for astronaut training.  I wasn't entirely sure what I was looking at most of the time,  so some information boards or commentary would have been helpful.   The highlight was a walk through a replica of the shuttle and 747, and finding some toys ones for the grandkids.

On the drive back I began to wonder what makes a city a place where tourists want to go back to, which of course isn't the same thing as a great place for locals to live.  I concluded that a city is made by people, for people. People provide the history, the current lifestyle (ie the cafes, restaurants, night life and sights), where most natural wonders are seen outside the cities.  So, cities without much "life" due to say extreme seasonal weather (too hot or cold) may not be seen as vibrant tourist destinations.  Food for thought.  I am sure Google would offer a thousand more reasons.

The shuttle company picked us on time again (another early morning) and the flight was pretty non eventful (window shades still not up, but more respect for safety belt signs).  We have noticed before, and it is still evident the priority given to military at airports in the USA "we appreciate your service" at airports.