MattW

Off to the Lone Star state on monday for 10 days. Anyone been and recommend things to do. Especially involving Shopping (as the £ is $1/85 and beer!!

TopBanana

The fattest city in the US!

comic cuts

I spent a few weeks there a year or three back........the big shopping mall then was Galleria which had superb food court........we went to several sports bars, played shuffleboard and got a shock seeing the customers hang up their guns on the way in.....went out into the sticks and tasted real country music without a tourist in sight! Don't think we came across any genuine American beer.......it was all Bud type stuff but it must exist somewhere!

We also zoomed off towards the Mexican border and tried real mexican food, visited the huge memorial at San Antonio........etc etc etc. The folks are very friendly.........go enjoy!

CC

The Chief

If you get chance get yourself over to San-Antonio, and see the Alamo and the riverwalk - absolutely fantastic

The Chief

You could also do the Shiner Brewery tour (in Shiner) which is very good.

You think yanks do crap beer - not true, try Shiner Bock, or Shiner Blonde, you'll be hooked.

Why dont you head up to Austin, i can give you loads of tips about there, fantastic place, loads of live C&W and if you love mexican food then try Chuey's

JackClark

Galveston is worth a day trip.

wrx-ian

Shiner Bock spent a lot of time drinking that in San Fran in April. If you can find it i recommend San Francisco Anchor Steam.

unclebuck

Hot and humid and full of 'bums'.

At least Austin is.

davyboy

You can't say a whole state is fat just because some bloke called Austin is!

MattW

Good info, keep it coming

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

i was working in the cayman islands a few years ago and the person we were living with said 3 women from texas were coming over to visit one of them was the same size as four and the other 2

The Chief

No they're just weird or so they think

as you see everywhere in Austin tons of posters and stickers saying

'Keep Austin Weird'

MattW

Well been back a week or so and thought I'd update this thread.

Stayed out on Westeimer Rd, near a place called Sherlocks. Big Union Flag on the sign so had to worth a try . They sold all the usuals, Bud, Coors etc but also Shiner and some stuff from this side of the pond like Boddies and Guiness. 3 pints $7.50 :thumbs:

Went up to the Galleria shopping mall and tried The Cheesecake Factory for dinner, very good. Also tried Maggiannos, Ruth's Chris Steak house, both good plus Outback, Chilis and a local Indian and Italian.

After the first night I realised you didn't have to order starters and a couple of days later understood that there was no point in trying to finish the whole plate

Went out to the Katy mall and spent a few quid there. Also visited Lyndon Johnson Space Centre which was utter rubbish. Tour was supposed to show training facilities but it looked very staged to me.

Toured the elecy shops, Best Buy etc Nice weather, spent some time by the pool

2000TLondon

Sounds like you enjoyed it! What made you pick Houston as a destination? Sorry I didn't see your post before you came over.

I moved over to Houston last October. I'm enjoying the big house, V8 Jeep HEMI, 100f evenings, the warm sea, cheap clothes, big TV's and the huge portions, but missing home at the moment. Mainly the feel of a real car, windy roads, roundabouts, public transport, pavements / sidewalks and meeting people with common sense! Shouldn't be too down on it! I can't stand Best Buy, bought my TV there and what a shambles, had a shouting match with the manager and got 10% refunded. The service industry works on a basic premise that staff are given a script to learn and they can't / won't deviate from the script. Iniative is not encouraged, anywhere!

Did you try the Bass Hunting Shop at Katy, like the sign saying please leave guns and bows at desk?

We haven't really done the touristy stuff yet, we've done Sea World and the beach, but want to start venturing further afield. There are casinos at the Louisiana border about an hour away we're going to try, and the rollercoasters in San Antonio and the european feel of Austin. The problem is everything is so effin' far away, popping out to get bread takes over half an hour!

Mark Miwurdz

Houston sucks - company HQ is there so I go about 6 times a year. In terms of eating, drinking and shopping you covered the best places with the exception of Fogo De Chou (sp) on Westheimer which is a Brazilian meat feast - awesome.

Sherlocks is OK. I usually stay at the Hilton so end up getting hammered there most nights. There is another place called Treasures on Westheimer where an awful lot of my colleagues go. I have no idea what goes on within but they always turn up for work with overdeveloped right arms, hairy palms and poor sight.

Cheers
Kav

MattW

lol @ Treasures.

Some great live music at Sherlocks if you like Rock music too.

2000T London - Had to attend a course at BMC HQ, so work related.

Miles

Like Mark, I commuted to Houston on a regular basis for a period of three years. Best thing I ever did on a trip over there was go on a week end road trip to New Orleans (before the great diasater). NO, like NY and Boston are great cities.

Sorry, but Houston is a large smoggy city with no real focus or heart. Like a big version of some horrid new town.

Food's good, though!

2000TLondon

Yep, that's something I noticed straight away was the lack of soul and character. The whole place is just like driving round the north circular or an out-of-town shopping centre car park endlessly!!

Reality

LOL - Spot on

New Orleans @ Mardi Gras - Hard to think of anywhere better .

ps I'm sure it will recover fully - maybe already has ?