mclaurie

The patient is already there (50ish male). His wife and 2 children (early teens, boy and girl) will be joining once school's out for the holiday. I've never been to Houston. Any thoughts on how to make this awful situation a bit more pleasant?

Would appreciate anything you can offer from info on things the teens might like to do/see that I can just pass along for info to ideas for having things delivered. Particularly interested in places that might deliver videos, good food places (esp. Chinese, NY style deli?). A good beauty salon for my girlfriend to get some pampering nearby? Thanks in advance.

If Maxwell is reading this, I saw that your family will also be spending the holidays there. Best wishes go out to you too.

Statia

mclaurie, Rice Village Shopping Center is very close to the med center. Below is a link of the businesses located there, accordig to category (including services, entertainment, salons, etc.). Hopefully that might help you make some plans.

This is a very nice gesture on your part, especially with your friends having to endure a medical crises over the holidays.

http://www.houstoncl.com/shopping/ri...#ENTERTAINMENT

dcespedes

The museum district and zoo are close to the medical center--kids of all ages (myself included) enjoy the Houston Museum of Natural Science and zoo. For more information check out...

http://www.hmns.org/

http://www.houstonzoo.org/

When we're in town we also enjoy walking around Hermann Park

http://www.hermannpark.org/

Hope this helps

rkkwan

The Houston Ballet performs the Nutcracker every year, and it runs from now till 12/26 in the beautiful Wortham Center downtown. You can take the light rail to get there.

bellairegirl

Where to begin...

Statia's right -- Rice Village is about 5 minutes away, with many nice shops and restaurants. Other great shopping isn't too far either. The Galleria (with an indoor ice skating rink) is about 15 minutes away and would be a good diversion for the teens.

The museums mentioned are also great. Older kids (and adults) really like the Houston Museum of Natural Science, with an interesting regular exhibits, as well as an IMAX and a butterfly habitat.

I know my teens enjoy going to the movies -- Edwards Cinema at Weslayan and Richmond is the local teen movie venue (with amphitheatre style seating).

Farther afield is NASA, which makes for a great side trip, if they're up for that.

As to food ideas, Central Market (www.centralmarket.com) is not too far away and has a mind-boggling selection of prepared foods. They also provide catering. Good pizza in the area can be found at Fuzzy's Pizza on Kirby. A good local deli is Katz's on Rice Blvd in Rice Village (which is only open for lunch.) My kids also like Texadelphia (a Texas -Philly cheesesteak-type hybrid popular Rice University students) located in Rice Village. But there are TONS of restaurants in the area. A good website to search in is http://houston.citysearch.com. Fu's Garden is a popular Chinese restaurant in Rice Village (but I don't know if they deliver.)

I don't know of any video place that delivers any longer.

Beautique is a decent beauty salon in Rice Village. There are also lots of spas in town. Urban Retreat is a good one.

mclaurie -- if you tell us what the teens are interested in, I can probably make more suggestions. Hope this helps. Please let them know we wish him all the best.

Susan

mclaurie

Thank you! You are all so great. Lots of good info here. I might check on tickets rkkwan. Do you happen to know if there's any good popular music going on in Houston during the holidays or a good website to check?

As to interests (that I know), teenage boy into history, teenage girl an aspiring writer. My girlfriend is a culture vulture with particular leanings to Sondheim, Cole Porter etc. which is why I asked about other music venues. Her husband, the patient, is an ex-NYer who leans to rock n roll and Mel Brooks. I've been thinking about sending videos and thought a local place might be best. I'll check the shopping center listings.

Great info on the pizza and Katz's deli, movies etc. Susan. How far is NASA? Do you have to arrange a visit ahead of time? I think the kids might really like that if it's not too far. The science museum sounds good too.

Please keep the ideas coming. Good wishes and prayers also happily accepted on their behalf.

bellairegirl

Oops. I meant "Kahn's Deli" in Rice Village. Katz's Deli is also good (and open 24 hrs), but farther away.

Susan

bellairegirl

One more thing I just thought of -- even though many restaurants don't deliver, there is a service in Houston called Takeout Taxi that delivers food from a variety of different restaurants in town. Here's a link to their website: http://www.takeouttaxihouston.com/?

Susan

Statia

mclaurie, NASA's Johnson Space Center is about 30-45 minutes south, depending on traffic. Here is a link to more info.

http://www.spacecenter.org/

They could also go to Galveston Island for a day, which is about another half hour past JSC.

http://www.galveston.com/

Statia

Here's more info on the performing arts and events in Houston for December.

http://houston.about.com/cs/artsente.../aa051304a.htm

http://www.houston-spacecity.com/hom..._of_events.asp

http://www.digitalcity.com/houston/

Another fun place for teens and adults alike is the Kemah Board Walk, which could be combined with a trip to NASA. It's about fifteen minutes away from JSC. You can give gift cards for places on the boardwalk, too.

http://www.kemahboardwalk.com/

bellairegirl

mclaurie -- if your friend would like a resource in town for any questions she might have, here's my e-mail address: [email protected]. You can e-mail me and I'll give you my phone number for you to give to your friend, and she can call me if she needs assistance with anything.

Susan

mclaurie

What an incredibly kind gesture Susan. I will let her know and pass it on. Thank you so much.

spunki

mclaurie--So nice of you to do this for your friend(s).
Here are a few other websites that might be helpful:

The Texas Medical Center's website has a visitor info page and a "houston" page:
http://www.tmc.edu/

I found this houston guide helpful when I first moved down here:
http://www.houston-guide.com/

This somewhat alternative weekly paper has info on music venues (that might be good for the teens) and a dining section with a good collection of online menus from a variety of restaurants:
http://houstonpress.com/

These next 2 websites have listings of restaurants along the Metrorail that rkkwan mentioned:
http://www.b4-u-eat.com/houston/rest...orail_line.asp
http://houston.citysearch.com/roundu..._roundup_2-5_1

Fu's Garden Chinese Restaurant mentioned by Susan, is supposed to deliver --713.520.7422.
So is Jimmy Wok (Chinese & Vietnamese Cuisine) -- 713.668.1016.
I work in the med center and have eaten at both -- decent chinese, nothing spectacular. Gotta go to Chinatown out west to get that. If they'll have a car, I can suggest a GREAT chinese dim sum place.

Also if they go down to Galveston they should go to Moody Gardens out there:
http://moodygardens.com/
Besides the usual pyramids (one has an aquarium), there's a festival of lights going on, and I believe they show a 3D IMAX production of a different take on the Nutcracker.

MaureenB

My Mom was treated at M D Anderson years ago, also over the holidays. It is a fabulous hospital, they will take good care of your friend.
Also, I toured Rice University when our daughter was accepted there two years ago. It is almost across the street from Anderson, and maybe there will be some activities going on there. Rice might be closed for the holidays, but it's worth checking out. Or at least it's a very pleasant walk through the beautiful campus. Lots of impressive architecture there. And their school of music is impressive-- maybe they will be putting on a holiday performance.
Good health to your friends.

LDLee

there should be a lot of activities going on downtown during your visit.
This is a link to a calendar of events provided by the City of Houston
http://cbtcws.cityofhouston.gov/events/Events.aspx

Here are links to various performing arts organizations in town.

www.houstonballet.org, www.houstongrandopera.org www.dacamera.com
www.spahouston.org
www.thehobbycenter.org
www.tuts.com (TUTS is performing Sining in the Rain thourgh the 19th)
www.alleytheatre.org (Presenting A Christmas Carol)

Since the medical center is on the light rail line, it is fairly easy to get to midtown and downtown.

The Houston Chronicle, The Houston Press and houston.citysearch.com have a good list of activites going on in the city.

Best wishes.

LDLee

One other thing, for a nice dinner in the Medical Center proper, try Trevisio.

DebitNM

I know this is old.. but topping for future reference

OneWanderingJew

I'm also topping and hoping for updates (not for me, but for a girl I know who is fighting lymphoma)

onemoneygirl

I have had wonderful spa treatments at the Houstonian Hotel on Post Oak located sort of between the Galleria and Memorial Park. They have a beautiful walking path through the property that I think would be restful and soothing and the grounds were beautiful. I havent tried the pool although that looked nice as well.

dfr4848

The Houstonian is indeed very nice and setting is extremely tranquil. If you wanted something much closer to the Med Center, try the Spa at Hotel Za Za. It's at the interesection of Montrose and Main, a block from the Museum of Natural Sciences and very close to Med Center (taxi or light rail).

Other updates -

comments about the Zoo and Museum of Natural Science still valid. Don't miss the Cockrell Butterfly Center at the Museum - thousands of live butterflies in tropical forest. There have been some new exhibits at the Zoo since this post was started - new more natural settings.

There have been some significant improvements at Hermann Park so enjoy.

Light rail runs from Med Center to downtown - so there's Minute Maid Park (Astros) and Discovery Green (a new park with fountains, gardens, restaurants, etc - very relaxing and fun)