Opera? Yes. Houston boasts a renowned opera, ballet, and symphony orchestra.(houstongrandopera.org, houstonballet.org, houstonsymphony.org, and sixflagshouston.com). The Museum of Natural Science, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Contemporary Arts Museum, and the Menil collection are conveniently close to each other in a pleasant neighbourhood between downtown and the Medical Centre. Houston's museums follow the disturbing trend of hosting less than scholarly touring shows, but past the crowds for the wonderful world of chocolate or whatever, you'll see laudable collections and exhibits (hmns.org, mfah.org, camh.org, menil.org). At Sam Houston Race Park, thoroughbred season runs June through September and October through April. Quarter horses race June through September. (Beltway 8 between Hwy 290 and I45, samhoustonracepark.com) Toyota Centre is a multi-purpose arena for concerts, women's basketball, hockey, and, thanks to Rocket's centre Yao Ming, Houston Chinese population makes up a large part of the crowd atching basketball (houstontoyotacenter.com). Texan football is played at Reliant Stadium, which shares a parking lot with the old Astrodome. The annual rodeo and a variety of monster truck and motocross events are also held here. (hchsa.org/reliant/reliant.html) The Astros play baseball in Minute Maid Park (Crawford at Texas).