Water Wall, Williams Tower and a walk like in an American movie
The Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park at the foot of Williams Tower is one of Houston’s most iconic landmarks. The massive, semicircular wall of water creates a natural amphitheater, and the roar of the cascade effectively isolates you from the hustle and bustle of the city.
But before we reached the Water Wall itself… Houston gave us a bit of a cultural knockout.
We strolled through the residential area. Accustomed to British realities – small gardens, houses next to houses, spaces kept to a minimum – we suddenly found ourselves in a world of:
huge driveways, lawns the size of football fields, villas that could easily have starred in Hollywood productions.
And since it was Christmas time… everything was awash in thousands of lights, illuminations, and decorations. Trees draped in light, reindeer on the lawns, light arches over the driveways.
This wasn’t a modest decoration.
This was a Texas Edition of Christmas power show.
Throughout all this, there were frisky squirrels, completely unconcerned by our presence. One practically jumped onto our shoulder, as if to say, “Relax, everyone’s home here.”
The views? Gorgeous.
The scale? Definitely bigger than in the UK.
The feeling? Like walking on a movie set.
A short stop in the world of minimalism
On the way, we stopped by an Apple store.
And here was a slight surprise.
A huge, perfectly designed store… and almost no staff.
I saw maybe one person.
Perhaps it was the charm of the location, or perhaps the wrong time.
But the contrast was amusing – the festive splendor outside, and the minimalist silence and technology inside.
Water Wall
Returning to the Water Wall, as we stood beneath the cascading water, with the Williams Tower in the background, we felt that Houston manages to combine everything:
luxury
nature
modernity
American scale
It was one of those walks that stays with you for a long time.
And that’s exactly why we love traveling – for moments that break our habits and show us that the world can be bigger, brighter, and… more luminous than we expected.