: Wall of Water :
There is a skyscraper near my apartment called the Williams Tower - you can see it from my apartment parking lot. But since it's more than 70 stories high, you can pretty much see it for miles. At the time it was built (it was called the Transco Tower back then) it was the tallest building in the world that wasn't located in a central business district (it's in the Galleria area, which is about five miles outside of downtown Houston). The building is about as tall as a oil supertanker is long.
Anyway, years ago, we used to go to the observation deck on the 51st floor, where you could see for miles towards the west. After 9/11, I tried to go up there once, and was told that the observation floor was permanently closed due to security concerns.
So today, just to test that theory, I snuck past the security desk and took the express elevator to the 51st floor. Sure enough, they have turned the space that was the observation area into the building's leasing office. I did snap this picture out the window though - the main street you see down there is Westheimer Road:
Afterwards, I went to the roof of the parking garage and snapped this photo of the recreation area adjacent to the tower, commonly known in Houston as the Wall of Water. This three-acre site is open to the public, and once I started a little improptu cricket game here with some Indian fellows. Today, as the weather was humid and overcast, I just sat on a bench for a while and read my book.
I went back into the Galleria via the skywalk tunnel that connects it to the tower, and watched workers assemble the Christmas tree in the ice skating rink - I guess it's that time of year, despite the sticky weather outside.
I can't wait to move to a colder climate - it shouldn't be in the 70s in November!
Anyway, years ago, we used to go to the observation deck on the 51st floor, where you could see for miles towards the west. After 9/11, I tried to go up there once, and was told that the observation floor was permanently closed due to security concerns.
So today, just to test that theory, I snuck past the security desk and took the express elevator to the 51st floor. Sure enough, they have turned the space that was the observation area into the building's leasing office. I did snap this picture out the window though - the main street you see down there is Westheimer Road:
Afterwards, I went to the roof of the parking garage and snapped this photo of the recreation area adjacent to the tower, commonly known in Houston as the Wall of Water. This three-acre site is open to the public, and once I started a little improptu cricket game here with some Indian fellows. Today, as the weather was humid and overcast, I just sat on a bench for a while and read my book.
I went back into the Galleria via the skywalk tunnel that connects it to the tower, and watched workers assemble the Christmas tree in the ice skating rink - I guess it's that time of year, despite the sticky weather outside.
I can't wait to move to a colder climate - it shouldn't be in the 70s in November!
