My Vacation (post 2) - Houston

The 2nd part of my trip took me to Houston a city I've never been to before so it was always going to be a new adventure. I arrived from Chicago mid-day on Thursday and was delighted when I got to my hotel in the downtown area to find how friendly everyone was.
I was staying at the Magnolia Hotel in the downtown area and I must admit this is one of the best hotels I've stayed in, they really know how to look after their guests. A free breakfast each morning and I was delighted to find both hot & cold food, it was a excellent breakfast. Facilities included a excellent equiped fitness room & a roof top swimming pool.
They also had a free drinks hour (5.30 to 6.30pm) in the bar which was good for meeting people & if interested they even provided cookies & milk at about 10.30pm. They also had a free shuttle bus that would take you to tourist sites although I didn't use this service, prefer to walk.
Well after sorting my clothes out and a bit of ironing I made my way down to the bar for the complimentary drinks, been alone I sat at the bar. It wasn't long before a nice young lady came and sat next to me. We got talking and she turned out to be a lawyer called Tina from Austin in the city for a case. To be honest I reckoned she was slightly drunk & a bit crazy but we were soon joined by her legal secretary Monica. We chatted for ages they were a good laugh but eventually I decided to go for a walk to find out the lay of the land.
I was hungry and wanted something to eat, luckily around the crossroads near my hotel (one block) was loads of bars, restaurants & clubs. I got the crossroads and looking down Main street to my right I saw a little Irish pub and as I fancied some Pub Grub I thought I'd give it a try. I got in and it was quiet, ordered my drink then asked about food. Sadly they weren't doing food as the bar had just reopened under new management. I chatted awhile with a gent & lady at the bar who were very nice but I soon moved on looking for food.
As I left the Pub directly opposite was another bar called Molly's so I crossed the road and was delighted to find they did food. I fancied something basic so ordered a bacon cheeseburger, the young lady behind the bar who was called Teresa asked if I wanted a large one or "Sliders". I didn't know what Sliders were so I asked and apparently they are minature burgers so I decided to give it a try. When they came I got 5 burgers (little bread bun size)and to be honest they were gorgeous really tasty but the unusual thing was they served them with Strawberries (I expected chips). I asked Teresa about this and they did it to make the meal healthy they either serve Strawbs or pineapple, well thats a first to me baconcheeseburger been a healthy meal. The beer was good so I stayed in that Pub until returning to my hotel for some shut eye.
The following day it was time to explore Houston so I set off walking but by around 2pm it was getting too hot so I made my way back to the hotel and spent the rest of the day by the Pool. This was the pattern most days it was bloody hot for a white skinned Englishman.
As a City centre Houston was a little bit of a dissapointment, I think its a City you need a car maybe go down to Galveston or the Space Centre. There are a few museums I visited the Natural Science one but it was nothing special.
Each night at the hotels free drinks hour I met someone different, Friday night I got talking to a bloke who was with his family and they were in town because it was his sons 21st birthday and they had booked a room at a local club. They actually invited me to the party but I declined, thought I'd be out of place not knowing anyone.
Another night I got talking to a local lady called Crystal, apparently she passed the hotel on her way to work every day and decided to treat herself to a stopover, she seemed a bit strange to me although friendly I moved on.
Each night I went out to a different place to eat one I remember was a restaurant that had live music on, a young lady was signing really old stuff sort of from the Sinatra era she had a real good voice.
Another night I found myself in a bar called "The Flying Saucer", I'd just eaten when a couple in their mid-forties came and sat next to me. I heard the chap talk and he had a european accent so I asked where he was from, he was Italian and it turned out is girlfriend was English. The bloke was called Alberto and the lady Debbie. She wasn't only English but was brought up in Sheffield (Yorkshire) but now lives down south, she'd met Alberto when he worked in England and he now worked in Houston. She had been over 5 weeks visiting him. Apparently in her younger days she had been a good athlete (800 metres) and trained in Sheffield with former Olympic Champion Sebastian Coe. When she left school she had been in the RAF and was British Forces Champion. Even more surprising was that her coach had been John Sherwood who won bronze in the 400metres hurdles at the 1968 Olympics, she was surprised I knew who he was. I explained John was actually one of the most famous people to come from the small town I live in. Anyway they were a smashing couple and we had a good laugh, the pub had around 100 beers from around the world on draught and Alberto thought it a good idea we tried a few we hadn't heard of. I think we were all well intoxicated when we left in the early hours and I've an aweful feeling me & Debbie gave the locals a version of the Yorkshire National Anthem "Ilkley Moor bah'tat".
One of the highlights while in Houston was I attended the "Texas Music Festival", I did that on the Sunday. I sussed where the venue was and walked it from my hotel, it took about 40 minutes. Gates opened at 2pm and gee it was hot in fact its the first time I've been to a festival where people didn't crowd the stage, everyone just sat a long way back in the shade of the trees.
They had two stages going, problem was they seemed like a mile apart so I just settled at one stage. The acts were quite good but nothing really spectacular through the day but to be honest the one I wanted to see was Marcia Ball who I'd seen in Memphis in 2005. I've now got a few of her CD's and really like her music she is brilliant on the keyboards. She came on at about 7pm and didn't dissapoint, it was a really good performance.
I eventually set off to walk to my hotel and it was a little shady, it was through a real quiet part of town, nothing was open and there were many dodgy looking groups of people about. Also for the first time in a American City, not a sign of a taxi. I remember thinking I've chose a bad day to wear a bright white England shirt, I may have well tattooed tourist on my forhead. Anyway I walked fast and got back safely, was pleased about that.

So thats what I remember of Houston, it was then meant to be New Orleans but that was cancelled so I relocated in San Antonio which I'll tell you bout in my next post.