Raphael Kessler

I have now visited the USA on several occassions, for ease, I have put the photos in reverse chronological order.

These photos are from Manhattan, that principally seem to be of one kind of memorial or another. The Freedom Tower which overlooks the pools showing the footprints of where the World Trade Center towers 1 & 2 stood, the NYC Police Memorial and the memorial for Irish immigrants.

I went with Melanie to a friend's wedding in New York City and this afforded the opportunity for Melanie to show me around some of the places she knew, some of which she had lived in. I was also introduced to the American friends. Almost every day, I was introduced to more of them, it was quite an experience.

We started off in Manhattan, famous for its skyscrapers and skyline. Though the characters on the streets are sometimes just as interesting.

From New York we went and saw friends in Mount Kisko, then from Mount Kisko, we headed further North to Boston, where Jane had made a welcome sign.

Friends allowed us to use their lodge in Copake, upstate New York. It is a lovely quiet spot, with a tranquil lake. Whilst there, we also visited Bash Bish falls on the New York, Massachusetts border.

We returned to Boston and its South Shore. More specifically Scituate, where Melanie had previously lived.

We visited another friend in Cohasset, who has a beautiful lake front home and several little dogs.

Colonial Williamsburg harks back to the time when independence was fought for, in order that wealthy people got to keep more of their money.

Arlington National Cemetary is a memorable place to visit. The number of graves and memorials is extraordinary. There are also several members of the Kennedy family buried there.

We particularly enjoyed walking around the various memorial sites in Washinton DC, of which it has many. I personally find the Korea Memorial particularly evocative. The FDR memorial shows a chronology of what happened during and after his presidency and has a serenity to it, lacking at some of the others.

The first bit of the USA I went to was Florida, famous for its theme parks and beaches. My friend David came out to join me there and we went to the various Disney parks (photo 1) to Universal Studios (photo 2) and the Kennedy Space centre (photos 3 & 4). It was all good fun and some of it was even interesting.

When I visited the Grand Canyon  (photos 1 - 4) I was very impressed by the scale of the thing. It was also nice to be there in winter as the snow made it seem more dramatic in parts and really brought out the red in the strata  (photos 3 & 4). I did a scenic flight around the canyon which was well worth while and gives a better look at the magnitude of the hole.

The Seguaro cacti (photo below) in Arizona make the desert seem like it is from a Spaghetti Western.

The Joshua Trees (photo below) as I drove from Nevada through California were particularly attractive when I was there as they had snow on them. A little further down the road in the Mojave desert, the trees and desert were clear.

In Monterey I saw a few cute Sea Otters (photo below).

San Francisco seemed to me to be one of the more attractive cities in the USA, with its famous landmarks: Alcatraz (photo 1), the Golden Gate Bridge (photo 2) and its resident sea lions (photo 3).

I wanted to visit Yellowstone park (photo 1) properly but could not due to the amount of snow, the park rangers would not let me go much beyond the ranger station, despite it being a rental car. For some reason there was a warning about some people  (photo 2).

Mount Rushmore  (photo below) in South Dakota was moderately interesting to see. The sculpting is undeniably impressive. It is the work in progress down the road at Crazy Horse Mountain that really impressed me though.

Washington D.C. is quite an odd place and I enjoyed it. The Capital area is nicely planned out and there are some excellent Museums to visit. Most of the sites have good information and are well maintained. The whole thing seemed slightly Disnelylandish to me though (not necessarily a criticism). Even things like the Supreme Court and FBI headquarters have guided tours and leaflets. Some of the neo-classical architecture is quite imposing particularly the Capitol building  (photo 1) with its huge rotunda. The White House  (photo 2) surprised me at how small it is.

I enjoyed my time in New York, although I still don't understand what all the fuss is about. It's quite odd that the symbol of the city is a French tart in a toga  (photo below).

At the beginning of my Pacific trip, I spent a bit over a week with my friend Annie in California. We went up to Lake Tahoe to visit some friends of hers and take in some of the picturesque scenery.