window on my world: Houston, Galveston and San Antonio

My train journeys merit a separate entry at a later date, but I will begin my arrival in Houston with a comment on the amazing train journey across the US from LA where we travelled along side Mexican towns, crossed amazing desert and I met fantastic people. I arrived in Houston at the very uncivilised hour of 4.30am but David, Tim’s dad was very kindly waiting for me at the shed that represented Houston’s train station. The Sunshine Limited train between LA and New Orleans is the only train that stopped in Houston and so the old Union station is now the entrance to the football stadium! On the way back to their house David gave me an early morning tour of downtown Houston and I learned that Houston’s main economy is actually in the medical field rather than energy. Located in one area of the downtown area are some of the best hospitals in the world and people come from everywhere to be treated there.
Later that morning Caitriona, Jennifer (Tim’s mum) and I headed to NASA because every trip to Houston must start with a stop to see the rockets. The next stop was a delicious fish and shrimp taco in Galveston which is an hour south of Texas on the Gulf of Mexico, and so I got my first glimpse of the Gulf. A hurricane (Ike) devastated Galveston in 2008 leaving the area under 4 to 5 feet of water and the main victims were the 100s years old Oak trees which suffocated in the salt water. However, the residents of Galveston have created a wonderful tribute to the trees by employing local artists to create sculptures from the trunks of the trees. While walking the streets in search of sculptures we also took time to admire the beautiful old wooden houses and debated which we would like to own ☺ We then headed back to Houston for my first TexMex meal of seafood enchiladas – yum yum.
Saturday was San Antonio day and a whole new history for me as we followed the mission road from the outskirts of San Antonio in stopping at all the missions and ending at the famous Alamo. Although the Alamo is famous for its violent history the mission were in fact a central part of South Texan history for about 80 years in the 18th century; it was here that Mexican Spaniards set out to convert the native American tribes of South Texas to Catholicism. Although the missions were closed when the Mexicans were defeated the legacy remains and the culture is a integral part of life today in the area. We had another yummy TexMex lunch down by the riverwalk before making our last stop in San Antonio at the Mercado or Mexican market. The Mercado was full of colour and all kinds of art that I had never come across before.
On Sunday I had my first exposure to the service at Lutheran church and found that I actually knew all the prayers and routines as they were the same as the catholic church. What I really enjoyed experiencing was the Sunday school talk before the service and the members meeting after – here members of the congregation discussed their ideas and questioned various lessons they learned while also having a big part to play in how the church is run. There is a sense of rather than being there because you should or so you are seen to be doing the right thing, people were there out of choice and indeed curiosity! In the afternoon Caitriona and I strolled along by the Bayou (I now know what they are the songs I hear) and that evening we had the most amazing fish in a local seafood restaurant – yes Texas was very much about the food ☺
Our final day in Houston was also Chinese New Year and so Jennifer took us to the Chinese Community Centre where she teaches to introduce us to her students. I had to practise my Mandarin and then give a full synopsis of myself and my travels to the class – it was a lot of fun. We had lunch in a Lebanese restaurant for a change and then visited Tim’s primary school where he had learnt how to do Scottish/Irish dancing and where his teacher was called MacPhee – a distant reative maybe?! After a fabulous time in Texas with Tim’s wonderful parents Caitriona and I set out in our rented Ford SUV early Tuesday morning to cross the rest of Texas to Louisiana and the city of New Orleans.