First destination 21 September

We arrived in Quebec City on Sunday pm without too much hassle, having flown standby for the first time. Our auberge was right in the middle of the old city.
Bit of trivia: QC is the only North American walled city north of Mexico City. Overall impression: a prosperous city with substantial looking buildings some with bright red or green painted roofs some made of attractive copper, vibrant floral displays everywhere, people very courteous but all determinedly French speaking.
A very worthwhile visit to a museum brought home to me the diversity of the history of the French speaking people of North America. I hadn’t really thought about the French origins of New Orleans. The early French explorers and, subsequently, the Acadian settlers who were expelled by the English, sailed up the St Lawrence River from Quebec, across the Great Lakes then made their way down the Mississippi.

On the road Tues 22 Sept

Driving along beside the St Lawrence River through a fairly uninteresting agricultural area with a thin strip of housing running almost continuously along both side of the road, we picked a motel randomly, quite late in the evening. Next morning, we found it was across the road from a lighthouse. Nearby was the wreck of The Empress of Ireland - this was the the second worst maritime disaster in history, after the Titanic, with the loss of 1200 lives.

Gaspé Peninsula, Wed Sept 23rd

Next day there was hardly any traffic and the road was good apart from several patches of major roadworks. As we neared the head of the peninsula the terrain became more rugged and forested and as a result the scenery became more colourful.
Wildlife seen: chipmunks, a groundhog, a deer (on the back of a truck!), a fox, and a whale just glimpsed not far off shore as we were waiting at some roadworks.
We stayed in a hostel on the edge of the Forillon Forest Park. It was virtually empty so it was very peaceful.
Local dish sampled (and survived) by P: poutine, which is Quebec's fast food masterpiece(!) consisting of French fries with cheese curds coated in gravy!!

Gaspé Peninsula Thurs 24th Sept

We did a couple of walks in the forest park: one to a tower with fantastic views. The trees blanketing the hills were a lovely mixture of greens, yellows, golds and some reds. The other was to the lighthouse at the very end of the Gaspe peninsula. No black bears seen though we were warned they were around in the park, but we did come across 3 porcupines (on three separate occasions). One taught us something new - porcupines climb and eat in trees.

It's turning a bit chilly. Overcast for some of the day, but by late afternoon the sky was completely clear, which was nice for our evening guided visit to a beaver lake. The beavers became active as dusk approached, and it was a magical end to the day.

Going east

Fri 25th Sept

A long drive through New Brunswick, nearly into Nova Scotia. Attractive colourful forest scenery. No moose seen despite numerous warning signs!





Sat 26th Sept

The northern coastline of Nova Scotia is quite attractive, with more varied use of land than in the parts of Quebec and New Brunswick which we drove through - agriculture, housing, forests, shoreline.

Found a lovely park by the shore, with a view across to Prince Edward Island, in which to have a picnic lunch, watching a variety of birds feeding along the red shoreline.

There is clear evidence in the place names of the settlement at various times of Scots, Irish, French and the First Nation (Indian) people, the Mi'kmak. In some places it seem more Scottish than much of Scotland with the street names given in Gaelic and English. We stayed the night just out of the small university town of Antigonish at an excellent farm B & B.

The Nova Scotians appear to take their Scottish heritage very seriously, though whether largely for tourists is unclear.

Local dish sampled (C) and enjoyed: locally caught and smoked salmon, with eggs, for breakfast.

Heading west again

Thurs 1st Oct
Low cloud or rain most of day. Stopped twice to look at places off the main road:at Grand Falls at waterfall/hydro scheme; at Hartland, at the longest covered road bridge in the world.






As always little traffic, lots and lots of road works. Stayed at a well-appointed, pleasant gite in Kamouraska, beside St Lawrence. The owners were Quebecois and spoke limited English, but were very friendly and provided a delicious breakfast of ham crepes , then bread with four jams/jellies including physalis (cape gooseberry) jam, gooseberry jelly, maple syrup and creme fraiche spread.

Whale watching

Tues 29th Sept
Did two walks in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Beautiful weather. Promises of moose, bear and whale sightings, but none seen, though some moose tracks evident. Only wildlife seen was an eagle by the coast + a few small birds. A lot of dead trees and much recent regeneration of forest after trees devastated by parasite in 1970s. Later to "Whale Interpretive Centre" near hostel.


Wed 30th Sept
Went whale watching from Pleasant Bay. Skipper was a French Canadian from the nearby Acadian settlement, Chéticamp. Saw a large pod of pilot whales including some calves swimming in between two females. They were swimming right alongside and under our stern. Lunch beside jetty in Cheticamp,then we began heading back west. Attractive countryside on drive across Nova Scotia; lots of brilliant autumn colours along motorways in New Brunswick.

Cape Breton

Sun 27th Sept
The reconstructed fortress of Louisburg was windswept but interesting. Actors in period costume, stationed in many of the buildings interacted with the visitors. (Back in the mid 1700s Louisburg was a big and important harbour to the French because of the cod fishing).
Local food sampled: Seafood chowder (C) and hot beef sandwich with mashed pots and gravy (P). The Canadians do seem to like their carbohydrates!

Mon 28th Sept
Excellent museum at Baddeck where Alexander Graham Bell lived in the latter part of his life, had exhibits covering some of his many interests and inventions. Bell initially worked as a teacher of the deaf - married Mabel who was one of his pupils - using an alphabet system called Visible Speech based on how the sounds are produced by the vocal organs. Apart from inventing the telephone, he co-founded the National Geographic Society, was co-designer of the plane that made the first powered flight in Canada, was co-designer of the hydrofoil boat that set the world marine speed record in 1919, and did research on increasing multiple births in sheep, amongst other things!!.

Cape Breton (pronounced 'capbreTAN' by the natives) has a very indented coastline as well as a large sea loch in its middle (which almost cuts the island into two), so there are lots of pretty views out over water. The hillsides in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park are turning colour and would have been very pretty if we had had sun instead of heavy rain on the drive north.

Family time

Fri 2nd Oct
We drove down to Kingston, encountering yet more roadworks and horrendous traffic in Montreal. No fun!

We spent the weekend catching up with nephew Rob and getting to know Leila his new wife, Marnie his lovely 3 year old daughter and Oban his newly acquired 3 year old dog. At various times we did our share of child minding and dog sitting!


Sat 3rd Oct
We had a look around Kingston downtown and took a trip to Fort Henry (closed) to get a great view of the city and the St Lawrence River. Kingston is an attractive, well-heeled city with a lovely location beside the St Lawrence river.


Mon 5th Oct
Pleasant drive Kingston to Ottawa through pretty scenery beside Rideau canal/river/lake system. It was good to see David and Barbara again.

Tues 6th Oct
Went with D&B to Lee Valley store (full of gadgets and hobby equipment for retirees!), then to small village of Wakefield on Quebec side in time to see a steam train arrive, then the engine being turned on the turntable.

From there to Mackenzie King property in Gatineau Park for very pleasant walk in woods (with follies). M-K (a former Prime Minister) was slightly mad -talked to dead mother and dog for inspiration - but created and bequeathed beautiful park to the nation. Culinary highlight: BBQ salmon cooked on cedar board.

Ottawa

Wed 7th Oct
Museums!
Ottawa has some magnificent buildings - some like Parliament with its copper roof

but also many new, not too tall bildings of interesting glass and steel construction e.g the National Art Gallery. Particualrly liked the exhibitions of Inuit art, early colonial paintings, and work by the Group of Seven. We could have done with much more time in The Museum of Civilisation (another magnificent building) - excellent recreation of colonial Canadian development to 1970s + even better installations and displays of aboriginal culture.


In evening Barbara managed to get us tickets to the Diefenbunker a decomissioned Cold War bunker (built to house the PM and top govt officials) that has been made into a museum by the locals in Carp. A chilling reminder of a period of history that could so easily be repeated.

Destination: USA

Fri 9th Oct
On standby, but got on a flight to Boston without difficulty. US immigration takes place in Ottawa Airport, before leaving Canada. Much less problem than we had anticipated, but Philip (as a non-US citizen) had to be fingerprinted and photographed. Getting to Boston and through the airport was the easy part of the day. Next came a long, slow car journey, with virtually nose-tail traffic for 50+ miles north to Manchester, the only place we had been able to book accommodation. When we planned our vague itinerary, we hadn't realised that Mon 12th Oct is Columbus Day and Americans descend on New England (especially Boston), in vast numbers, for their bit of nostalgia. (Memo to The Rough Guide: list Coloumbus Day as a national holiday). So now to Plan B: spend 4 days driving and hiking in the New Hampshire lakes and mountains area, then visit Boston later. However, this was 'Leaf Peeper' weekend when hundreds of thousands of people take advantage of the long weekend to go to ....the NH lakes and mountains to take in the fall colours. Accommodation was in short supply and at a premium. We had found a vacancy for the first night in a reasonable motel in Manchester and finally managed to book 3 nights in a drab but adequate motel in the north of the White Mountains region.


Sat 10th Oct
The drive to Manchester had been training for the drive north - nose to tail and crawling for about 50 miles, iitially along the multilane highway and later through small tourist towns with dreadful, tacky "attractions", intermittently set in attractive wooded and lakeland scenery (a bit like a cross between Ambleside and Blackpool on a bank holiday in the UK). Later, the traffic thinned and we drove the last 30 miles through forested mountains with spectacular fall colours. When we stopped at a National Park Rangers' Centre to pick up information about walking in the area, a flock of wild turkeys wandered through the car park and attempted to get at fruit on the lower branches of a tree, by jumping up, usually missing the fruit before crashing back to the ground.

In the White Mountains

Sunday 11th Oct
After an early breakfast in nearby cafe, then a short drive to a trailhead we hiked up over a ridge, mostly alone, to a mountain club hut where we sheltered for lunch. It was a relatively easy walk (climbing about 600 metres), but became increasingly cold and started to snow shortly before we reached the hut, where there were other hikers stopping either for lunch or an overnight stay. In the afternoon, after a very steep initial climb, we reached a dome at 1473m with good views but bitterly cold winds, before descending on aching legs!


There is a peak in the White Mountains named Imp Face. This isn't it, but it must be the Imp's brother!


The change in the vegetation according to the altitude was very evident - initially a range of predominantly deciduous trees in various shades of yellows and reds, later only a few yellow-leaved deciduous trees among firs, while at the top, there were only low-growing fir trees.

Mount Washington

Mon 12th Oct
Early start to go to the Mount Washington cog railway, the first mountain cog railway in the world (1869), though the technology had been developed earlier in Europe for mines, etc. The mountain is only 6288 ft high, but it is said to have some of the worst weather in the world, in particular reputedly the highest wind speed ever recorded - 231 mph. The cog railway still has one coal-fired steam locomotive - with an angled boiler for efficient heating on the slope (37 deg. max.), but the rest of the engines are biodiesel. Speed ca 5-6 mph, so we made the ascent in about 40 minutes, with 50 others, many very loud French Canadians. Several other trains that day, so probably about 500 people in all. During the summer, many more make the ascent via the railway and there is a road to the summit that can be driven in good weather. However, we had, initially, overcast weather, with the mountain covered in cloud. At the summit, the wind was very strong(ca 70-80mph) and it was bitterly cold (ca -9 deg C.), with freezing fog.


Gradually the cloud lifted to reveal a spectacular vista of the Presidential Range. After visiting the small but interesting museum about the mountain range geology and the establishment of the weather observatory on the mountain, our descent took about 35 minutes into a clear sunlit valley.

The weather was perfect, allowing magnificent views of the mountain and the trains, and in the afternoon we had a beautiful drive around the forest park on minor roads.

Boston

Tues 13th Oct
Another early start, to get back to Boston in good time. Woke to find about 2 inches of snow and still snowing heavily.


Good drive back to Boston on roads that were only moderately busy. Lots of difficulty finding way to Irving House B&B (one-way roads!!). Nice B&B in Cambridge, adjacent to Harvard University. in a very pleasant, quiet suburban area with good subway connection to Boston.


Widener Library, Harvard University

Drove into Boston to return car. (Advice to future visitors: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DRIVE IN BOSTON - even the locals don't recommend it!) Very difficult to find rental return site - it was on 9th floor of a parking building, with no signs or information to indicate the fact! However, it is easy and reasonably pleasant to walk around the city, which seemed less brash and noisy than other US cities. The locals were very helpful and polite. We had dinner in Mr Bentley's Burger Cottage in Cambridge - a Boston institution, renowned across the US for its excellent "gourmet" burgers and its many humorous signs and posters, many politically inspired.

Wed 14th Oct
Lovely sunny day, but extremely cold. Walked on Boston Common and Public Garden in morning - both attractive, restful areas, though not large. In pm went on guided tour of elements of the historical "Freedom Trail" with a National Park Ranger.

The Old State House, dwarfed by tall modern buildings

(Curiously, most of Boston's heritage sites constitute a US National Park). We learned much about the causes and course of the American revolution and War of Independence - the stupidity and arrogance of the British establishment and George III in particular, and the equally arrogant and somewhat fascistic rebellious leading lights in Boston who, amongst other things, didn't want their comfortable lives and privileges (granted by the Crown) to be disturbed. Their concept of democracy may have been revolutionary at the time, but it was carefully circumscribed and extremely limited. The fine words in the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (the model for the later Constitution of the USA) appear to have been honoured more in the preaching than in practice. Tolerance seems to have been a relative concept, as the Salem witch trials and the persecution of Quakers (were they really much different from the Puritans?) suggest. Of course,the Revolution occurred nearly 150 years after the Puritans first established themselves in Charlestown, so perhaps the authors of the Constitution, and those who approved it, were more ready to embrace the lofty ideals, though the continuation of slavery for some years after the Declaration of Independence casts some doubt on that.

Also learned much more about Paul Revere then we already knew about his ride to warn the "patriots" that the British army was mobilising to confront them. As well as being a highly competent horseman, he was also well-educated and was a silversmith and an engraver by trade. He produced an engraving of a drawing of the "Boston Massacre" (of American patriots by the British army) which wasn't a massacre at all. Even the guides and National Park Rangers we encountered graciously admitted that it was a propagandist message which was disseminated widely by printing from Revere's engraving, with the (successful) aim of fomenting revolutionary fervour.

In the evening, we enjoyed a production of Pinter's "The Caretaker" at the Central Square Theatre, though it was a slightly odd experience hearing the English working class language occasionally delivered with an American accent or an attempted upper-class English one!


Thurs 15th
Went across the river to Charlestown on a harbour ferry to the Navy Yard (dockyard) to see USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides"), dockyard museum, and Bunker Hill monument (all 294 steps to get to the viewing platform, though the view wasn't particularly interesting). Later visit to the viewing platform on the 26th floor of the Old Custom House (now largely a Marriott Hotel) was more impressive. We visited a couple more historical buildings (Old State House and the Old South Meeting House, which was the scene of many historically important speeches, after one of which the signal was given for the dumping of the tea in Boston Harbour).

Families purchased box pews in the Old South Meeting House where they sat during religious meetings, or to listen to debates, hear political speakers etc.

Early evening to the Institute of Contemporary Art, the highlight of which was an exhibition of interesting deconstructionist and somewhat subversive artwork by Damian Ortega, Mexican artist (hint of Dali: eg a pickaxe with a floppy handle), in an impressive new building overlooking the harbour in an area undergoing redevelopment.

We have made frequent use of the MBTA ("T") subway - quite good, but stations about a mile apart and no indication of time to next train. Interestingly, the Silver line to ICA and Logan Airport uses electric trolley buses underground instead of trains. Weather still cold (max 9 deg)and windy with onset of showers today. Apparently very unusual for this time of year - more typical of December.

Friday 16th Oct

Walked to Henry Longfellow's house on the other side of Harvard Yard. Again, this is run (in part) by the National Parks Service and we took a guided tour by a Park Ranger (with only two other visitors). The house actually has two claims to fame. George Washington used it as his military headquarters in 1775-76. Subsequently, rooms in the House were let to lodgers, one of them Longfellow, who was an academic at Harvard and a proficent linguist who translated Dante, amongst other things. Later, after marrying into a wealthy merchant family, he bought the house as a family home. It contains much original furniture from the Longfellow family and is full of books, works of art from Europe, and many items from Japan and the Pacific islands (brought back by Longfellow's eldest, adventurous and rather eccentric son). We found the visit to the house also to be very instructive re Longfellow's impact on English language and literature - did you know that he wrote 'beneath the spreading chestnut tree, the village smithy stands' ... in fact we saw the chair made from the wood after THE chestnut, referred to in the poem, was chopped down.

In the afternoon, we left Boston by train for New York. It was an interesting and moderately scenic 4-hour journey, initially along the coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island and later in the more industrial landscape of Connecticut. Arriving in Penn Station, New York, in the rush hour and having trouble finding working elevators and escalators, we decided to take a cab to the apartment of Carolyn's cousin, Ralph, and his partner Micky, in Queens. As they were out at an important baseball game, which went on late, we had the slightly odd experience of arriving in a strange apartment (with the prearranged assistance of the doorman) and going to bed, not entirely certain that we were in the right bedroom!

New York

Sat 17th Oct


After greeting our hosts (Ralph and Micky) on waking and catching up on family matters over a late breakfast, we had a great visit to the Guggenheim Museum, to see an excellent Kandinsky exhibition. Kandinsky is central to the permanent collection of the Museum, as Solomon Guggenheim started collecting Kandinsky's works in 1929 and they were the core of the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, established by Guggenheim and an artist colleague in 1939. This year is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, which is housed in the (truly) iconic building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The stunning building is probably better known internationally than most of the artists' works exhibited in it!

Inside the Guggenhein museum

On to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a monumental institution somewhat akin to a combination of London's National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery and the V&A. Naturally, a single visit can only cover a minute part of the Museum, so we confined ourselves to a couple of excellent special exhibitions - American Stories (paintings of ordinary life from late 17th century to early 20th) and Robert Frank's photographs which he published as "The Americans" - then swept, indecently quickly, through the permanent exhibitions of 19th-20th century European and US painters/sculptors, with their extraordinary collections.

Around all of this, we are trying to keep up, along with most NY residents, with progress in the 7-game baseball series between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels, which is taking place over about 10 days. As we know as much about baseball as most Americans know about cricket, this is not easy. Curiously, the games are often played very late into the night - the one tonight finished at about 1.30am. Surely,this is taking the 24/7 culture too far!

Sun 18th Oct

Late breakfast/brunch (partly because of the late-finishing baseball) with US Jewish specialties (lox, whitefish salad, cream cheese and bagels). In the afternoon, we went to a one-woman show - Carrie Fisher (look her up), which was very funny, but also quite sad in reflecting how celebrity destroys families and mucks up kids. This is not the sort of thing we would usually attend, but it was a memorable experience, as much for the enthusiasm and antics of the audience as for Ms Fisher!

Mon 19th Oct


To MoMA - the Museum of Modern Art - which has undergone a major expansion and rearrangement and, sadly, now has less impact than when we were last there (a view apparently shared by many New Yorkers). Nevertheless, it is still a great museum to visit. One of the special exhibitions was of the work of Ron Arad, a London-based Israeli designer.



Chair by Ron Arad


In the late afternoon we took the free ferry to Staten Island, along with as many other tourists as commuters.


There's not much to see or do on Staten Island, but we spent a pleasant hour in a local bar, watching another Yankees vs Angels game(this time in LA), before returning to NYC as night fell. The illuminated New York skyline is a stunning sight and the ferry is an interesting and very valuable part of the NY transit system, as well as an ideal way for tourists to see New York from the water. After an excellent Chinese meal with Ralph and Micky, we crossed 7th Avenue to the Vanguard jazz club for a great session by the resident jazz orchestra. Near the end of the show we were joined by Carolyn's first-cousin- once-removed, Seth, who is putting cats among the pigeons of the education systems of New York and Rhode Island by setting up highly successful "Charter schools". It was wonderful to see him again, albeit very briefly - we last encountered him as a very streetwise 10 year-old, who confidently guided us around New York.

Tuesday 20th Oct

We may be spending 3 months on this trip, but we're over a third of the way through it and this is our last full day in The Big Apple! As usual, there's never enough time to achieve what we want to do. On a lengthy trip like this, we also have to find time to do laundry, make bookings and pay bills online, deal with emails, edit and annotate photos, and update the blog!

It's not our first time in New York, but it still thrills with its vibrancy, complexity, multi-ethnicity and contradictions. Some things have clearly changed since we were last here over 20 years ago, apart from the huge hole where the Twin Towers stood previously. The cars on the streets are now so much more like those in Europe. The big American models have largely disappeared, except as police cars and taxis, and as older models in the poorer areas. Possibly this is partly a result of the "cash for clunkers" programme. In fact, some European-type cars are now appearing in the taxi fleet and even the police are adopting more modest vehicles!




Much of the hustling which was evident at our previous visit, particularly outside train stations and other public places where tourists are prevalent, has diminished. The city seems to be more controlled, and more sedate, than it was. Is this due just to a concerted effort to crack down on hustling, or partly to the subduing effects of increased security arrangements, the economic slowdown and a growing realisation that the USA isn't the overwhelming military and economic power that it was previously?

Some things haven't changed. New Yorkers of all ages are mostly still very polite and helpful, though we encountered an all-time low in a local supermarket, where the young woman at the till continued to eat her nectarine and virtually ignored us, while putting our few items through the checkout! Gum-chewing remains a popular habit. American TV continues to be even worse (much worse) than that in the UK. The Subway trains and stations, though evidently effective and efficient, remain significantly more gloomy and poorly signed than the London Underground. Directions for onward progress would be reasonably clear and helpful, if only we could work out where we are at the time! By contrast, Grand Central Station continues to impress as a magnificently elegant model for an efficient major rail terminus.

During our previous visit, we stayed on Manhatten, which was ideal for access to the essential tourist sights. This time we are in Queens, which fitted nicely with our intention to see some of New York outside the central business and arts districts. On our final day in the city, after visiting Ground Zero, we walked across the highly feted Brooklyn Bridge which, in our opinion, was interesting, but not particularly attractive.



In this part of Brooklyn, a hispanic element was evident, though not as much as in the Bronx, which required a long subway journey. A lengthy, but interesting walk to the Botanical Gardens revealed the impact of the predominantly hispanic and black residents in the area.

The Botanical Gardens are extraordinarily attractive and restful, with a diverse layout of lawns, formal borders and informal woods. The late 19th century Haupt Conservatory is large, elegant and beautiful. The signage in the gardens is generally both informative and restrained, but does occasionally raise some interesting questions.



The weather has suddenly warmed up - up to 20 deg C today and sunny. Back to wearing t-shirts!

The Capital

Evidence that Americans have a sense of humour, or that their habit of numbering, rather than naming, roads is sometimes taken too far?

Wednesday 21st Oct.

So to Washington DC, city of grand views and grand statements, both physical and verbal.








Travelled by train from NY to Washington - something of a rattletrap, compared with the Boston to NY train, but still compared moderately well with European trains. The industrial decay and poor housing in north Philadelphia gave way to more attractive views and more prosperous neighbourhoods across the top of Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore and North Washington. Because of the high cost of accommodation in Washington, we (like many people) booked into a hotel in Alexandria, one of several dormitory satellite towns, which are well-connected to the Capital by the subway. Alexandria was established as a port at the same time as Washington was built and was part of the District of Columbia for a while. It was subsequently reclaimed by Virginia and is now a large thriving town with strong provisions for tourists, particularly in the Old Town area, with continuous eateries & shops over about 1 1/2 miles, served by a free tram. There is also an attractive dock area, with an interesting large art gallery/workshop, in which about 200 artists and craftsmen have their studios,from which they sell their work. The complex includes an art school attached and there are also regular live music sessions, though one we attended was of dubious quality. We spent the evening walking through pleasant parks along the edge of the placid Potomac river, in warm weather (24 deg.C).


Not quite The Boat Race - two school crews training on the Potomac near Alexandria on the south bank


We've already made use of nearly all the apparently excessive baggage we brought with us, because of the huge temperature variations we've encountered and the widely differing environments we've been in, from snowy, forested mountaintops to smart(ish) restaurants on warm, sultry evenings.

Since we arrived in the US, we've intermittently had significant problems using UK tri-band phones, for calling locally and to the UK. We must get either a US sim card (not possible in Canada, apparently) or a US phone.

Thursday 22nd Oct.


A member of the paparazzi, with his guide book to aid identification of the building behind him.

Washington's neo-classical monuments and the buildings of the Capitol are even more grand than they appear in pictures. They nearly all record well-known elements of the great statements of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, or the utterances of great men (and a very few women) of US history. There are certainly well-preserved vistas on a grand scale, and wide boulevards, which add to the majestic appearance of the Federal Capital. Yet it all seems to be rather overblown and unduly sombre. The picture is somewhat spoiled by the moth-eaten appearance of the mile-long Mall, which should be a splendid sweep of grass, but is worn and churned-up, and the stagnant, dull and murky water of the "Reflecting Pools". The city is noisy with the machinery of transport. Aeroplanes fly low over the city, frequently, into and out of Ronald Reagan Airport, which is the closest of the three airports serving Washington. There are helicopters flying constantly back and forth, presumably ferrying political and business leaders to and from the airport. The avenues are choked with traffic, while the city streets are curiously rather empty of pedestrians. It may be due to the time of year, but we are surprised by the small number of visitors in most of the monuments and museums (with the exception of large school groups in the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials). The relative lack of advertisements and the discreet (i.e. lack of)signage in the streets surrounding the central area add to a slightly sinister impression of a lifeless, bureaucratic world dominated by machines.

Nevertheless, the lack of queues meant that we were able to see a lot with little difficulty. In the Capitol, we struck lucky with our visit to the visitor's gallery in the Senate, where a number of well-known faces appeared and lingered, including John McCain, Hilary Clinton, Joe Lieberman and Robert Byrd. We saw the closing stages of vote counting on an amendment to a bill. It appeared very informal, with senators drifting into the chamber to register their votes in person with the recorder. She called out the senators' names and their votes, while the senators wandered around, chatting and joking amongst themselves. Then 3 speakers gave warm tributes to a senator who had just become the third longest-serving member of the Senate, having represented Hawaii (as the first Japanese American senator) since that State joined the Union. Business then turned to a discussion re funding for troops for Afghanistan during which senator Robert Byrd (oldest senator at 91) from West Virginia gave a stirring piece of oratory, though to a largely empty House. The visit to the House of Representatives was not so interesting - seemed a more formal approach, with timed speech slots. Later outside, in the grounds of the Capitol, we encountered and watched a press meeting called by a group at of congressmen & women, concerning census procedures.

Apart from a complete lack of signs around the outside of the Capitol, the management of visitors was remarkably efficient, low-key and relaxed, with a very well-staffed system of moving people around the various parts of the building, while maintaining security and enabling the work of the Capitol to go on.


A thing of beauty or kitsch?

In comparison with many of the other buildings, the White House is quite modest in size. We didn't see Barack, but we did see one of a number of very well-photographed people, a sniper on the roof of the President's residence.



The people and government of DC are not altogether enamoured with their second-class status as the home of the federal Government. Their resentment at having only limited representation in Congress is clear for all to see.




Friday 23rd Oct.

Early start to get to the Washington Monument to get tickets for a visit later in the day. Despite the small number of visitors, the limited capacity of the monument means that only about 40 people can visit in each half-hour period, so the daily tickets (free as for all the other federal buildings, museums and monuments)are all distributed by about 9.30 am at this time of the year, and by about 6.30 in mid-summer. Walked (and walked!) around several of the mostly impressive war memorials and monuments. The obvious question that arises, however, is what was achieved by the loss of the tens of thousands of lives recorded in the Korean and Vietnam War Memorials, presumably to be joined eventually by memorials to those killed in Irag and Afghanistan. The US, along with its allies and client states, has a nasty habit of going to war with poor communities around the world, citing grand humanitarian and moral motives of dubious credibility, achieving little other than the deaths of huge numbers of people on all sides. Little or no mention is made of the deaths of either combatents or civilians in the countries being fought over. Despite the constantly repeated moral imperatives of democracy and freedom, which a large proportion of Americans appear to cling to resolutely and openly, there is a notable lack of reference to incursions, or logistical or intelligence support, by the US in countries, in Latin America and elsewhere, to dislodge leaders who have popular support. Curious, too, that the "Patriots" of the Revolution were not "terrorists", as are the patriots in the countries in which the US has intervened.


Washington Monument reflected in the name-listing at the Vietnam War Memorial


A volunteer taking a pencil rubbing of the name of the grandfather of a visitor to the Vietnam War Memorial

We greatly enjoyed a visit to the Hirshhorn Gallery, one part of the huge, eclectic Smithsonian Institute. Pleasing circular building, with a collection of many familar pieces of modern sculpture by Magritte, Matisse, Henry Moore, etc, as well as some of Alexander Calder's mobile sculptures, the forerunners of many a nursery adornment and executive toy.





The weather has turned overcast, so the view from top of the Washington Monument was not optimal, but it nevertheless gave an impressive overview of the city.

Finally visited the Ford Theatre, where Lincoln was shot, and the house across the road, where he died. The associated museum includes the pistol used in the assassination.

Saturday, 24 Oct.

Late start after sorting out problems with a rental car booking, not helped by on-going difficulties with the mobile phones (despite having now acquired a US phone). Spent more time in the excellent Hirshhorn Gallery, then visted the adjacent National Air & Space museum, which was the first place we encontered real crowds. Good exhibits including Apollo 11 capsule, Lyndburg's Spirit of St Louis, and an excellent display about the Wright brothers.


Philip in raincoat and hat, showing deterioration in his physical condition due to lack of food and excessive energy expenditure in walking the vast distances between the sights of Washington


Emerged into very heavy and persistent rain, which made a trip to the Library of Congress a little difficult. The interior decoration of the building is extraordinarily elaborate in the European Renaissance style. Unfortunately the 19th century artists were not in the same league as Michelangelo et al, and the inclusion of numerous overblown epigrams by the great and the good from history adds to the overall kitsch appearance, especially in the Great Hall. There are some more impressive elements, however, including the Reading Room and Jefferson's personal collection of books, which he donated to re-establish the Library after the original collection was incinerated by the British.

We were drenched going back to Metro - the worst weather we've had since starting the trip.

The Washington Metro is much more modern, spacious and altogether more pleasant than the New York Subway. The concrete honeycomb lining in many of the spacious stations is reminiscent of some of the Jubilee Line Stations in London. The lines are designated by colours, which is good in principle but difficult to distinguish in subdued lighting. The fare structure is much more complicated than that on the NY Subway, depending on time and distance of travel, and ticketing arrangements are not as easy as they could be. Many escalators for accessing the stations are open to air and hence to rain and snow. About half of all the escalators in the subways, monuments, museuems, etc, were out of action, under repair. With about a third of all subway ticket gates also not working, there were frequent frustrations and missed trains.

Going west

Sunday, 25 Oct.

The day dawned dry and sunny as we left Washington. Picked up a rental car and drove to Fredericksburg, scene of one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War.

The traffic was very heavy and much less well-disciplined than when we were driving in New England.

Interesting walk around the old town, following the course of the battle in 1862.


Diorama constructed by reference to a drawing made the day after the Battle of Fredericksburg.


Despite the devastation wreaked on the town, there are still many attractive buildings standing from that time.

We decided to omit Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown from our trip, so we started west, towards the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley. to go west. Overnight in Sleepy Hollow motel, Culpeper - basic but adequate.


American Lingo

There is some debate about who said of the US and Britain that they are ‘two nations divided by a common language’, but it is an apt description. Even ordering food can be a confusing experience: ‘biscuits’ turn out to be scones, hotcakes are huge griddle scones, sausages are meat patties or burgers. (P: this is from someone who was born in the US and whose mother was American!)


Mon 26th Oct

Blue Ridge Mountains

Had brunch in an excellent and friendly local cafe. It's obvious why so many Americans are seriously obese. The portions given in cafes are huge, at low prices by UK standards. A medium choice for brunch included two sausage patties, two fried eggs and 3 thick plate-sized "hotcakes".

Carolyn wanted a haircut, so we tried a hair salon where, strangely, there was no staff member who could cut hair! So to Walmart supermarket where P did grocery shopping & C got a 'family' haircut including trimmed sideburns!

As we drove northwest on quiet roads through gently rolling green fields interspersed with stands of colourful trees, the hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains really did have a markedly blue hue. We read that this is due to a gas emitted by the trees, but it seems to be an unlikely explanation. We headed for Shenandoah National Park, an area of lovely rolling wooded hills (max height about 1500m) with very pretty autumnal colours, lying along one of the Blue Ridge (part of the Appalachian chain), with views to the east towards Washington and to the west down into the flat glacial valley of the Shenandoah river. Due to an overbooking error we were given an upgrade in accommodation - a suite in a late 19th C. wood panelled cabin that had been the summer home of a noted academic.







Very rustic and full of woodworm (borer for the Kiwis) holes! In addition to the standard furniture, the lounge had two rocking chairs(!) placed in front of the large picture window, which gave an extensive and dramatic view out over the Shenandoah valley (mostly farmland). As evening fell, we sat and watched the beautiful changing colours in the sky. The night view over the valley was equally pretty, with the lights of farmhouses and a village spread out below us. A mist rolled up the valley late in the night.



Dinner was in a dining room in a lodge where we shared a table with 2 pleasant sisters from West Virginia then listened to a competent female singer in the bar, covering various old and new rock and C&W songs, before wandering back through the trees to our cabin.

P can't get Laurel and Hardy’s verson of “Trail of the Lonesome Pine” (the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia) and Robeson’s "Shenandoah" out of his head!

Tues 27th Oct

We woke to find the valley completely obscured by fog, but we were in the clear, with light cloud above. We picked up pre-arranged lunch boxes from the Lodge then went off to walk a trail (6.4 miles). through attractive deciduous forest.



It was mostly cloudy, occasionally misty and fairly mild. A few raindrops started to fall as we got back to the car and by evening the rain had really set in, along with strong winds. The evening entertainment (!) was by a troupe of cloggers (female tapdancers in cheerleader outfits) who ended their show holdng the US flag and leading singing of "God Bless the USA” - "I'm glad I live in America because at least I know I'm free" – and they were dead serious! If we had looked carefully, I’m sure we would have seen tears rolling down one or two cheeks.

Wed 28th Oct

The overnight heavy rain had largely cleared by morning but it was still windy. We drove out in bright sunshine, but we soon entered descended into the thick fog in the valley. Through the Washington National Forest, the previous brilliant fall colours gave way to rich chocolate browns, cinnamons and ochres.



In the narrow but flat -bottomed river valley, the farms were mostly agricultural and appeared to be prosperous. We drove down Highway 220 to Warm Springs , known as the Jefferson Pools because Thomas Jefferson soaked in them in his old age. Some accounts also credit him with designing the buildings (separate for men and women). They are certainly old and a bit decrepit, but the water in the pools was very clear, with the familiar smell of the hot pools of our New Zealand childhood .









We arrived too late for mixed "family" bathing so, as the day was moving on, we decided not to take a soak. Later, rounding. a bend in the valley, we encountered the ugly industrial town of Covington, dominated by the huge MeadWestvaco paper/cardboard and packaging factory. The characteristic sickening smell of wood pulp and paper manufacture is one which we know well and forever associate with Tokoroa and Kawerau in NZ. Entering West Virginia, in a more mountainous and poorer area with a mixture of sheep and cattle farming, we began looking for somewhere to stay near New River Gorge, with no sign of accommodation anywhere by the time evening fell.

A woman in the office in a State Park campground, which turned out not to have any accommodation either, said, with no hint of irony,: "You folks have a nice evening", (This not only seemed somewhat inappropriate , given our circumstances at the time, but it turned out to be a poor prediction for the actualité), . Along with “have a nice day” and “you’re welcome”, (which are now, unfortunately, creeping into Britain).it is one of several routine utterances which are presumably programmed into Americans at a young age.. There’s nothing inherently wrong with these expressions, but as they are delivered automatically at specific points of interaction, irrespective of their appropriateness, and often by people who are clearly bored or engrossed in something else altogether, their sincerity is seriously to be doubted.

A few miles after leaving the State Park, we came across a motel, just short of Hico. The illuminated sign promised “DIRE TV” (could it get any worse?), but we decided to give it a try. At the office, a sign read RING BELL. Thinking that there might have been someone in the office, which appeared to be dimly lit, Carolyn opened the flyscreen then tried the door handle. The door opened and a dog immediately appeared out of the gloom and bit her hand. A woman emerged from the back of the office and called the dog off, but was more concerned about pointing out the sign by the door than about Carolyn’s hand, which was punctured and badly bruised. As our immediate priority was to get medical treatment, we left, leaving the owners arguing between themselves about the adequacy of the sign.

We had to drive about 20 miles to the nearest hospital , where we arrived just before 7.30pm, but Carolyn wasn’t seen until after 9.30pm and we didn’t get out until after 12.30am! The care was very thorough, but the waiting between each stage was excruciating – this in the land of privatised medicine, where they criticise “socialised” medical services, like the NHS, for delays, etc. If this sort of wait happened frequently in a NHS hospital now, the Chief Executive would face some very awkward questions. We’re also hoping that we don’t come down with ‘flu – the casualty department was full of influenza cases, mostly children. Anyone with symptoms was required to wear a mask, so we hope that we weren’t exposed to too much virus!

We got to bed at about 1.30am in a hotel near the hospital .


Thurs 29th Oct

A late start for obvious reasons. We decided to report the dog attack formally to the police, necessitating a 30 mile drive to the appropriate County Sheriff's Department, who had already been notified about it by the hospital staff - something to do with reporting so-called “animal encounters” and ensuring that the dog had been vaccinated.



We looked forward to meeting the Sheriff, though frankly, we thought he should have saddled up his horse and ridden over to investigate the matter, as in the movies!! In the end, it was a bit of an anticlimax. Only a Deputy was available to confirm that the vaccination certificates were in order. He seemed rather unconcerned about the attack and ruled out criminal proceedings. As many Americans seem to think that it is acceptable to shoot a trespasser on their property, perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised that an attack by a dog would be considered as not worthy of concern.










At 924 metres long, the New River Gorge Bridge is claimed to be the longest single-span bridge in either the world, or the “western hemisphere”, depending on what you read. It is an impressive feat of construction, at 267 metres above the gorge floor, but it doesn’t allow a good view of the gorge.

We took the very scenic old road via the gorge floor and the reconstructed old bridge, then followed Route 60 along the Kanawha River. Though quite attractive in parts, it is seriously spoiled by huge coal mining and oil refining plants sited in the valley. After a slow journey around Charleston at peak time, we were happy to reach Kentucky and stop for the night. Carolyn’s hand was already showing some improvement.