My plan to visit the MFAH collections at Bayou Bend and walk through the gardens along the riverbank to the Rienzi, another satellite house-collection of the MFAH, was somewhat scuppered by the fact that whole riverside area was likely to have turned into a swamp, let alone that I would get drenched the moment I stepped out of the hotel's porte-cochère (they love these here). Just as I was pondering what to do with my day, Francesca - the curator here - phoned me up and we made a plan to drive up to the Rienzi in her car.
This is a 1950s house in the neo-neo-Palladian style, filled to the brim with a collection of European decorative arts from the 17th and 18th centuries, put together by the Mastersons and given to the MFAH on their deaths. They had a rather fun display in the dining room showing the table laid for an English noble banquet from the 1760s, with all the dishes based on recipes in Elizabeth Raffald's The Experienced English Housekeeper (1769) - I feel I need to obtain a copy of this. The bad weather had kept other visitors away so we had a personal guided tour of the house from one docent, then a personal explanation and discussion of the dining room with another docent - great fun actually.
Since the rain had calmed by the time we had finished, Francesca drove us around the River Oaks neighbourhood where the Rienzi is located, and we gawped at the ridiculously ginormous mansions built by Houstonians with more money than taste. Some of them were in a kind of American colonial style which at least felt like it had some local roots, but many others were attempting to be French châteaux or Renaissance villas of various kinds... But the best thing of all was their extravagant Halloween decorations!
I think this one is particularly creative...
This one lights up at night and even has ghostly sound effects!
Quite amazing. The amount of money they must spend on these decorations! Other places we saw had dozens of pumpkins of various sizes, some of them huge, 'landscaped' around people's gardens - just left to rot...
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Food waste is a major issue here. I mean it is bad in England, but the portions that they serve you in restaurants here are simply gigantic, and too much for a person to consume in one sitting! If you put your knife and fork down for a pause, a waiter will appear and ask if you are "still working?" - like it is a struggle you are forcing yourself through to eat everything on your plate. I guess it is a form of conspicuous consumption (literally) - but for a state as wealthy as Texas, Houston is not a cheap place to eat out. Or perhaps it's just this area.
I haven't ventured particularly far afield. I did not make it to the Space Center, unsurprisingly. The farthest I have walked is up to the Menil Collection - about half an hour from the hotel - and I am getting to know Montrose Boulevard pretty well, where most of the 'nearby' restaurants are located. What is frustrating is that there are no shops. I can't pop out to buy a bottle of water (and I am not paying $6 for a hotel bottle!) or a coffee or snack. The nearest shop is the drive-thru CVS pharmacy a 15-minute walk away.
Walking is the other thing that's weird - though not quite as bad as our experience in Fort Worth (my previous Texas experience) when walking from Downtown, where we were staying, to the Kimbell Museum where we were installing, which was probably another half hour walk, drivers would pull over and ask us if we were all right! There is certainly no disputing the friendliness or hospitality of Texans. But walking to and from dinner the last few nights, I am pretty much the only person I see on foot. The only other pedestrians are people walking their dogs or out for a run in the cooler evening temperatures.
And it is a bit cooler after Sunday's rainstorm. A little less humid as well. Apparently in the summer they can have 100 degree F and 100% humidity - it must be unbearable. In the high humidity of the first few days I was here, papers I left on my desk were damp when I picked them up.
It is slightly weird to be surrounded by so much Spanish. And that the Latino Spanish here is slightly different from the Castilian I am used to - shifts like elevador rather than ascensor for lift. But the entire service industry is Hispanic - every waitor or anyone you see doing any kind of manual labour, housekeeping in the hotel. The Texas economy would surely collapse without the Latino community, yet anti-immigration nutters want to keep them out.
The other thing I always find weird when I come to the US is the enormous size and great abundance of the churches. I think there is one on each corner, opposite the (metaphorical) Starbucks.
The hotel shuttle service, complete with horned buffalo skull. This service will take you anywhere within a 5 mile radius for free and come and pick you up when you're done. It seems to keep the engine running all day to keep the interior chilled and air conditioned for these Texans who seem to be allergic to warmth...
And last but by no means least, the bonkers Hotel Zaza where I am staying. Check out the website - it really does look like that! It is right next to the museum so it is certainly convenient, but this is a self-conscious rockstar hotel. It also claims to be one of Houston's premier night spots and though I am on the 7th floor, the bar is right below my window and there are speakers out on the pavement, which actually means the disco never stops. I am not exactly sleeping well and this might be why! That or the ridiculous number of pillows on my claw-footed luxury bed - one of two in my room!
Well, it has certainly been an experience. The installation is rather stop-start so I have been catching up with quite a lot of work that I brought with me, which is good. But tomorrow promises to be a busy day - when I need to install more than half of the pieces I am responsible for - and then I am travelling back to Blighty overnight on Thursday, so over and out from Houston.
I haven't ventured particularly far afield. I did not make it to the Space Center, unsurprisingly. The farthest I have walked is up to the Menil Collection - about half an hour from the hotel - and I am getting to know Montrose Boulevard pretty well, where most of the 'nearby' restaurants are located. What is frustrating is that there are no shops. I can't pop out to buy a bottle of water (and I am not paying $6 for a hotel bottle!) or a coffee or snack. The nearest shop is the drive-thru CVS pharmacy a 15-minute walk away.
Walking is the other thing that's weird - though not quite as bad as our experience in Fort Worth (my previous Texas experience) when walking from Downtown, where we were staying, to the Kimbell Museum where we were installing, which was probably another half hour walk, drivers would pull over and ask us if we were all right! There is certainly no disputing the friendliness or hospitality of Texans. But walking to and from dinner the last few nights, I am pretty much the only person I see on foot. The only other pedestrians are people walking their dogs or out for a run in the cooler evening temperatures.
And it is a bit cooler after Sunday's rainstorm. A little less humid as well. Apparently in the summer they can have 100 degree F and 100% humidity - it must be unbearable. In the high humidity of the first few days I was here, papers I left on my desk were damp when I picked them up.
It is slightly weird to be surrounded by so much Spanish. And that the Latino Spanish here is slightly different from the Castilian I am used to - shifts like elevador rather than ascensor for lift. But the entire service industry is Hispanic - every waitor or anyone you see doing any kind of manual labour, housekeeping in the hotel. The Texas economy would surely collapse without the Latino community, yet anti-immigration nutters want to keep them out.
The other thing I always find weird when I come to the US is the enormous size and great abundance of the churches. I think there is one on each corner, opposite the (metaphorical) Starbucks.
The hotel shuttle service, complete with horned buffalo skull. This service will take you anywhere within a 5 mile radius for free and come and pick you up when you're done. It seems to keep the engine running all day to keep the interior chilled and air conditioned for these Texans who seem to be allergic to warmth...And last but by no means least, the bonkers Hotel Zaza where I am staying. Check out the website - it really does look like that! It is right next to the museum so it is certainly convenient, but this is a self-conscious rockstar hotel. It also claims to be one of Houston's premier night spots and though I am on the 7th floor, the bar is right below my window and there are speakers out on the pavement, which actually means the disco never stops. I am not exactly sleeping well and this might be why! That or the ridiculous number of pillows on my claw-footed luxury bed - one of two in my room!
Well, it has certainly been an experience. The installation is rather stop-start so I have been catching up with quite a lot of work that I brought with me, which is good. But tomorrow promises to be a busy day - when I need to install more than half of the pieces I am responsible for - and then I am travelling back to Blighty overnight on Thursday, so over and out from Houston.
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