Walking down to Hermann Park from Rice Village (Birthday Walk).

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Yesterday was my birthday, and I knew I wanted to spend it in a quiet way, I just wanted to spend the time doing things that I enjoyed, and in the last year had seldom had a chance to do. It’s not that I don’t enjoy being with people, it is simply that I wanted…the time for myself. To think, to dream, to pause and admire, and not have other people tugging at me saying that it was too hot or saying that they were bored, or wanting to spend very little time just looking at things. Don’t you ever want to just look at things for awhile? The hurly burly of life sometimes aggravates me. So I came up with the idea, perhaps unconsciously inspired by Hywel’s walk through his garden, and the other “walks” that I’ve seen on blogs on GoY, of having lunch in Rice Village and walking down to Hermann Park.

Despite its picturesque name, Rice Village is actually a shopping center, so called because it is close to Rice University, lol. But it has several nice restaurants and cafés, and one favorite café of mine is Croissant Brioche. The owner is Vietnamese, but he lived and studied in France for awhile and his café makes the most delicious sandwiches and french bread and coffee, as well as sells delicious French-style pastries. So that’s where I had lunch and after lunch, started my walk. Even though it was hideously hot and humid, I knew this street is lined with live oaks, and felt that if I walked slowly enough and with the shade of the trees I could make it all the way to Hermann Park. The live oaks are just beautiful, and I especially love the arches that form with their branches, as you can see here:

I also love the tunnel they create visually:

It’s a funny street in the sense that as you walk down and under the trees, to your left you have these fancy homes (not all of them are pretty):

and to your right you have the campus of Rice University, so for awhile you’re walking right by the stadium! This picture shows a classroom building, Brown College:

The kind of patterned brick work you see on the building is something that I (with no real knowledge of architecture, mind you) have noticed on buildings downtown, including UHD’s One Main Building, and think of as uniquely Houstonian. Here are two other examples form the sidewalks at the Hermann Park/Rice University Metro Station:

By the time I got to the metro station I was tired of the heat, and I decided to go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science to cool off for a little bit and then walk around the park once the sun had gone down a bit. The museum is on one of the sides of the park, and looks like this:

The tall building in the back is not part of the museum. The round glass building is actually the Butterfly Center, where you can go in and (hopefully) see all sorts of butterflies flying about…Houston is also a city of fountains and these are the ones at the front of the entrance to the HMNS:

I also like this sculpture, called “Hope for Humanity” it was made by Charles Umlauf in 1972.

At the museum I couldn’t decide whether to see the Fabergé jewels or the exhibit on archaeopteryx (the real archaeopteryx is in Britain, I’ve heard, another reason, in addition to its gardens, that I need to visit!):

This afternoon, the jewels won.

Afterwards I felt sufficiently rejuvenated to go walk in Hermann Park. It is an urban park, of course, set in the middle of Houston. It is perhaps not the biggest (I think Memorial Park is bigger) but it is, I think, the prettiest. On its grounds you have the Houston Zoo as well as Miller Outdoor Theatre, the Japanese Garden, two ponds, a children’s playground, and areas with wildflowers, along with a tiny train ride for children. You can even see some wildlife and birds. Considering that Houston is not really known for its conservation efforts, the fact that Hermann Park exists at all is one of those mysteries the city has, though a happy one for me. The fact that it’s a public park is also a plus (very few things are free in Houston – not the museums (except for the Menil Collection and some concerts at MIller Outdoor Theater), not the zoo…. here are some pictures from my walk yesterday:

The entrance to the Japanese garden:

The Japanese garden is so beautiful it deserves a separate blog but here’s a peek:

Here’s the little train:

And a bunny:

This is one of the ponds and another with ducks (or is it geese?) floating serenely by:

This is a very Southern tree, with its Spanish moss:

Yet the park grounds are also big enough to host a sculpture exhibit by a French artist (last name Vernet, I think), there were 8!! of these gigantic sculptures placed all around the park:

And grow wildflowers:

And yet the city is right at the border of the park…you cross the street and the city with its hustle and bustle is right there. This is the children’s playground area and just beyond it, you can see the beginning of the many buildings of the Medical Center…the hospitals you can see are Children’s Memorial Hermann and Memorial Hermann.

But it is also nice to have the city close by, because afterwards you just jump on the metro and head home!

I enjoyed my birthday walk. I could feel myself relaxing as I walked around and sat down by the ponds, or under the trees, and just looked at things. Nature is just a wonderful tonic! I hope you’ve enjoyed it as well! =)

• 20 Jun, 2010
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