Day 15: Houston

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After a breakfast of Dora The Explorer cereal we set out on foot to find the Menil collection, an art gallery near hear with a collection of ancient and modern art (but nothing in between). We got a little lost on the waywhich would have been OK, if it hadn;t been ridiculously hot and nearly 100% humidity. When we arrived we had to hide in the loos and wipe all the mud spatters off our legs, which got a few odd looks. There were some nice exhibits from the Pacific and Africa (we got told off trying to take photos with the weirder ones), and a few of Picasso and Warhol, although also quite a lot of the 'profound blank canvas in one colour' genre which I never really understand. Their temporary exhibiton showed photographs of the civil rights movment which were pretty evocative, although I must admit I don't know much about the subject.

We then power-walked back to the house as the rain came pelting in and sheleterd indoors until it stopped. As it started to clear late afternoon (and with the internet still broken) we went on a quick tour of the local shipping mall (Galleria - can't really recommend it) and then came back and played with the children. This evening we all went out to dinner to Hugos, the local Mexican restaurant. I'm getting used to the food (as in, I'll eat it, but I still think I'd prefer the taste of a bread and butter sandwich or something) so Mum you should be proud. I also had one of the strongest magaritas I've ever tasted, so I think we can conclude I'm not really kitted out for life in Mexico.

Afterwards Christian took us out to a swanky wine bar called Boheme. On the way we saw several cockroaches on the pavement which was a bit creepy, and the mosquitos were out in force. It was a nice bar though, and we stayed and chatted a while. When he found out I'd never played a pinball machine before he took us back to the Poison Lady and we had about 10 games, hogging the Simpson themed one. I was pretty rubbish (as you can probably imagine) but it was a Valuable Life Experience.

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Photos

Rowing!
Brooks Brothers in Galleria

Chess: Alice vs Alex
Never realised how competitive ALice was until she found me losing and completely took over, eventually winning

Charlotte at dinner
(She felt left out without a margarita so the waitress poured her some lemonade!)

Cockroaches
Deep fried, apparently