Some of our excursions:
Indian Temple – the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir
This is the first traditional Hindu Mandir to be constructed in the United States – it is made entirely of marble from Italy and limestone from Turkey. There is no iron or steel anywhere in the structure. The stone was shipped to India where it was hand-carved and about 33,000 individually marked pieces were then shipped to Houston and assembled like a giant three dimensional jigsaw in just 16 months. It was opened on July 25th 2004. We were in awe of the workmanship and the special atmosphere we experienced here and of course enjoyed a visit to the adjoining souvenir store…..!
Harwin Shopping District (Asian and Indian flavour)
Harwin is the place to purchase look-alike brand name merchandise like handbags, luggage, sunglasses, watches, perfume, clothing etc etc. We spent an interesting couple of hours here – totally overwhelmed with ‘stuff’ – certainly could spend a whole day here (and a whole lot of money!) – if of course I needed any more stuff in my life………
La Carafe
The La Carafe building is listed on the National Register for Historic Places and is believed to be the oldest bar in Houston and is the oldest commercial building still in use in Houston. It was built in 1847 and is a very popular bar located in the Old Market Square in downtown.
The Fabergé Exhibition – Museum of Natural Science
The McFerrin (a local Houstonian couple) Collection has become one of the world's most important private collections of Fabergé and this is the first time that the McFerrin Collection has been presented for public display. Carl Fabergé, a master goldsmith and Imperial Jeweler to the Tsars is still celebrated for his inventive design and meticulous craftsmanship and is particularly known for the Imperial Easter Eggs created for the Russian Royal family. My favorite piece is Empress Josephine’s Tiara - this diamond tiara was created by Fabergé in 1890. The diamonds were a gift from Tsar Alexander to the Empress Josephine after she was divorced from Napoleon Bonaparte. I could see it sitting nicely on my head………
Following the exhibition we had lunch at The Black Labrador pub in front of an amazing wood fire - so unusual to experience an open fire but but it's been so cold lately in Houston (and the whole of Texas) - it was wonderful to smell that smoky aroma and soak in the heat - definitely a rare occurrence around here.
Artist David Adickes – Studio SculpturWorx
David Adickes, a Houston based artist, is now 82 years old and will definitely be remembered for his 67 foot statue of Texan legend Sam Houston on Interstate 45 near Huntsville and also for making busts of presidents’ heads. 43 giant presidential busts are now in Presidents Park near Deadwood in South Dakota including his latest sculpture of President Obama – which we were lucky enough to see before it made its way north to its new home.
He has also created 36 foot tall statues of the Beatles. All in all an amazing artist and just proving that everything in Texas is bigger…….
Butterfly House and Rice University
John and I spent a wonderful day together walking to Hermann Park (about 5 miles from our house) and visiting the Butterfly House. What a wonderful place – so peaceful and wondrous – we just walked among the butterflies and sat and watched as they flew by…..just awesome. We then wandered through Hermann Park, past the Reflecting Pool and the sculptures to Rice University grounds and just marveled at the buildings and the energy of the place. Walking home we met up with Lydia and she joined us for dinner– such an inspirational lady and such a great way to end the day.
Last week John and I also had dinner with Dawn – we hadn’t seen her for such a long time and it was great to reconnect and catch up. She has just finished writing another novel – I just loved her last novel "Hot Chocolate" and am excited about reading her latest masterpiece "The Last Dog".
We also had a wonderful breakfast with Judy and Patrick - definitely a great way to start the day!
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