USA Cities Travel Information
In addition to the following 'snapshot' descriptions you can also read further information on highlighted areas using the links supplied on the individual tour pages. Once on tour, the Visitors' Centres, museums and newspapers will be readily accessible for additional information. Combine these with the knowledge of your trek leader and you'll have plenty of background - maybe more than you'll be able to absorb.
And remember: one of the best sources of information is the 'locals'- so don't be shy or afraid about saying 'Hi'. You'll discover that your accent is a marvellous icebreaker to help you experience the real spirit of the USA.
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What other city in the world boasts that its best citizenry dressed up like Indians and tossed teabags into the harbour? Or set aside a 'Common' downtown, where residents could graze sheep and cattle? Or build its library on underground stilts over a city swamp. Where else anywhere on earth can you hear people say "I pahked my cah in Hahv'd Yahd" and find people who understand them? Only in Boston!It's a city steeped in American history. It was one of the first places in the Colonies where the cry "Give me liberty or give me death" was voiced. (The famous colleges as Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to name just a couple).
Locals, who call Boston 'Beantown' (because of the famous Boston Baked beans), are among the most loyal sports fans in the world, cramming into Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox play baseball on real grass underneath the floodlights. Talk sports if you want to get acquainted. If you happen to be in town on a summer weekend and things look quiet, it's probably because the rest of Boston has gone to 'Cape Cahd'!
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"Chicago, Chicago...my kinda town, Chicago is."..........Frank Sinatra..........
Chicago is known as the 'windy City', and most people think this refers to the velocity of the wind off Lake Michigan. This may be partly true, but the original reference was based on the boastful attitude of the residents. And correctly - Chicagoans really have a city to brag about.
On the shoreline of one of the five Great Lakes, Chicago's growth and prosperity are rooted in its massive transportation options, rail lines, shipping and air routes make it the leading distribution centre in the Midwest. It's a city with a blazing history, some of which it would prefer to forget. During the Roaring Twenties, it was home to gangland murders, bootleg booze and many a corrupt policeman and public official. But the days when Al Capone referred to "his town" are over, and now Chicago is a city of skyscrapers, superb shopping and friendly people.
Among its highlights are the 110-storey Sears Tower, which offers a superb panorama of the shoreline drive and the city, and other buildings designed by architecture's 'greats' like Frank Lloyd Wright. The Museum of Science and Technology offers, among other attractions, a tour of a working coal mine, and visitors can go aboard a German U-boat.
Much of Chicago is new, a fact that is sometimes jokingly attributed to 'Mrs O'Grady's cow'. The story goes that Mrs O'Grady's cow kicked over a lantern and began the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which left thousands homeless in the Windy City.
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"Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roamAnd the deer and the antelope play,
Where seldom is heard a dicouragin' word
And the skies are not cloudy all day... "
..........Song Lyric, 'Home on the range'..........
Imagine the town of Cody, with one foot in the present, the other in its illustrious past. And the two, past and present, go well together. Today Cody is known as the 'Home of Rodeo'. So get yourself some cowboy boots, pull on your Stetson hat and settle in for a look at some of the meanest 'critters' and cowpokes the West has to offer.
And if rodeo isn't enough to satisfy your thirst for things Old Western, the Buffalo Bill Cody Historical Centre just outside town looks back at the life of the famous scout, Pony Express rider and buffalo hunter who gave the town its name. The Winchester Arms Company, credited for taming the West with its carbine rifles, has a display of priceless weapons at the centre. And the Native American, get's equal tribute with displays, paintings and artefacts of an era gone by.
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Like so many Western towns, Denver, the "Queen of the Prairies", was born from the gold rush, and rode the economic roller coaster ride of gold strikes. By 1890 the city had been flooded, burned down, connected to the rest of the country by rail, and become the state capital with a population of 106,000. Evidence of the city's wild west frontier beginnings can be found at Larimer Square surrounded by modern architecture, bold contemporary structures, and elaborate Victorian houses."The Mile High City's" setting is truly impressive, abutted against the snow capped Rockies which lunge steeply out of the central plains. Today its role as the industrial, commercial, financial and government capital of the Rockies and Plains make it the single most important metropolis in an area larger than Western Europe. With a median age of 30, over 200 parks, and more days of sunshine than San Diego or Miami, it is a Mecca for those looking for the good life.
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Jacksons Hole was the name given in the early 1800's to the valley bordering the Teton Mountains, it was named after David Jackson who was one of the adventurous mountain men who trapped beaver, traded with the Indians and sold skins at the annual rendezvous. John Colter was actually the first trapper to discover the beauty of Jackson Hole - valleys in the Rocky Mountains were referred to as "holes" - and today visitors still flock year round to enjoy its beauty and the diversity of activities available in the region.The town of Jackson lies nestled at the southern end of the valley 5 miles south of the entrance to Grand Teton National Park and 50 miles from the first National Park, Yellowstone. Whilst its image today is of chic shops, art galleries, white-water rafters and skiers, its wooden boardwalk square reflects its original Wild West image.
Prior to the town's establishment in 1897, the mountain men were attached to the valley because they felt safe there from Indian attacks, and outlaws felt the same safety, this result became one of the most famous hideouts in the west. Even Butch Cassidy is thought to have visited here. This 'old spirit' is captured today with the nightly summer 'shoot-out' on the main street, stagecoach tours around town, and don't forget to mosey into the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar on the square, slip onto a saddled bar stool and rub elbows with today's real live cowboys who may have just been competing in the twice weekly rodeo.
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Imagine a city built just for fun and games. A city that goes full steam night and day, without regard for the hands of the clock. An amusement park for adults on a grand scale: legalised gambling, top-line entertainment and fine dining. Got a mental picture? That city is Las Vegas.Millions of visitors have been attracted to Vegas by its neon boulevards. Pleasure palaces and the promise - if not always kept - of winning a fortune. Yet not so far back in its history Las Vegas was a simple oasis in the desert: two natural springs and a few green meadows. It was then a stopping place for wagon trains and prospectors heading for the goldfields of California. In 1855, Brigham Young, one of the founders of the Mormon church, had a fort built here to protect the Salt Lake City to Los Angeles mail route. He also encouraged mining and agriculture. But within two years the crop and mines failed (they were mining lead in silver mines), and the Mormons returned to Utah. Later, when the mines were re-opened to take out the silver, things began to perk up. The town grew, boasting three doctors, five lawyers and eleven saloons.
Then, as fate would have it, two things happened. First, the great Hoover Dam was started nearby, bringing into the area construction workers who eagerly sought entertainment in their time off. Second, the State of Nevada approved legalized gambling. Casinos offer good food at unbelievably low prices free drinks for gamblers, top-flight entertainment, and the thrill of chance. And all through the night neon billboards light up the desert skies around Las Vegas...the city that never sleeps.
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Los Angeles has been referred to as 'suburbs in search of a city', because of its vast spread of interconnected freeway and 'clover leafs'. It's true that the Los Angeles of today is a 'city on wheels', where the automobile reigns supreme.Among experts there's still a fair bit of debate as to exactly where the centre of LA is located. Most of the laid-back population in and around the city could hardly care less - and can ten million people be wrong? If your image of Los Angeles revolves around neon lights, endless bustling boulevards, beaches, mountains, money and movie stars, you're not far off - for it is all of those things, and more. Visitors can take in Hollywood, Universal Studios, the original Disneyland complex, Knott's Berry Farm or Mann's Chinese Theatre, to mention just a few diversions.
Most likely your first or last exposure to Los Angeles will be at LAX (the term used for Los Angeles International Airport). If you're fond of statistics, you'll be interested to know that more than 33 million people fly in or out of LAX each year, in 538,000 aircraft. Care to figure out how many take-offs and landings that makes per hour? Calculators are permitted!
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"I'm taukin here! When we makes it, weeze gonna go to Miami, that's da good life!"............Ratso Rizzo, from 'Midnight Cowboy'.........
Looking at Miami today, you'll find it hard to imagine that just over 80 years ago the only way to reach it was on foot, along the beach from the north. At one time, Miami was just a twinkle in the eye of a few real estate developers: miles of endless beach, good year-round climate, and palm-trees swaying in the breeze.
Miami has gone through an impressive metamorphosis, to become a haven for the vacationer. Once-empty beaches are now lined with tall resorts and hotels, and swimming pools abound (in spite of the beach just steps away), making the area the most popular American vacation spot. Just offshore lies the greatest sports fishing ground in the world (according to Ernest Hemingway), and inland, the great, ever changing Everglades - complete with alligators, crocodiles, panthers and manatees (once mistaken for mermaids) - are protected by Federal law.
If you have shopping to do or food on your mind, Miami boasts some of the best shopping and eating places on the continent. Interested in a few rounds of golf! The area claims no fewer than 45 courses open to the public, with tennis and other outdoor activities easily located. Others may prefer to exercise their elbows, hoisting island rum punches at the poolside. Spend just a couple of days in Miami, and the seeds of the 'Sunshine State' will begin to take root.
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Would-be Country & Western musicians have a saying:"If you plan to make it in Country, you'd better make it to Nashville".
Nashville, Tennessee, is considered the home of every C&W fan alive. Where else would Elvis's gold Cadillac convertible find a suitable resting place? Thousands upon thousands of visitors flow through the Country & Western Hall of Fame, admiring plush tour buses, listening to C&W great's, immortalized on film, and stopping off at Studio B, where many country music stars have recorded gold disc hits. Nashville, home to many world-famous C&W stars, calls itself the Athens of the South, boasting the only full-sized replica of the Parthenon.
The city is host to the 'Grand Ole Opry', a 22-million-dollar entertainment complex dedicated to presenting some of tomorrow's rhinestone-studded stars to vast audiences. It was not far from Nashville that research work on the "hush hush" Project Manhattan - code name for the atomic bomb - went on. The site is now a Museum of Atomic Energy.
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"New Orleans is a place where people ride century-old streetcars to work, where good food is more important than good looks and where stately old buildings snuggle close to glassy skyscrapers. New Orleans is a place that remembers how life used to be, because it hasn't changed very much."What other city in America would turn its graveyards into tourist attractions, immortalize its prostitutes in song, or spend two weeks celebrating a religious holiday? New Orleans has got to be one of America's most unusual and interesting cities.
Then called Nouvelle-Orleans, the city was founded in 1718 by two French noblemen, who did well to convert the inhospitable surroundings into a thriving town. In its early days, New Orleans was little more than a steamy bog and bayou, full of snakes, alligators and mosquitoes - not exactly the site for a dream city. But it grew, transplanting much of French culture and architecture with it. The city changed ownership on more than one occasion. It was controlled by France, then Spain, then France again, until Napoleon needed money to support his army and sold the entire Louisiana Territory to the United States for the remarkably low price of 16 million dollars, or four cents an acre. New Orleans went with the purchase to sweeten the deal.
Today, the city retains much of its history. Bourbon Street, once the red-light district, now boasts of the origins of jazz (hear it at Preservation Hall, the Famous Door or one of many jazz bars). All varieties of music can be heard in the beautiful old French Quarter. Next door to Preservation Hall is Pat O'Brien's Pub, made famous by the 'Hurricane' cocktail - a mixture of five different rums. Two is too many when you're counting Hurricane consumption!
Few visitors leave New Orleans without sampling some of its ethnic foods. You can't get better Cajun (a cultural mix of Canadian and Indian) or Creole (Spanish/French) foods anywhere in the world. Riverboat rides up the 'Big Muddy' (the Mississippi) aboard the Natchez offer a view of the Delta area from another perspective. Take a ride on the 'Streetcar Named Desire' (the film version of Tennessee Williams' play starring Paul Newman), or stroll along the boardwalk and see Old Market.
Locals talk differently. For example, they say "NooAW-lins", not "New Orleans". They eat CRAW fish rather than crayfish. And they drink 'Dixie' (the local beer). If you're talking to a citizen who say's "I stays by my Mamma's", that means he or she lives at home.
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"That enfabled rock, that ship of life, that swarming, million-footed, tower-masted and sky-soaring citadel that bears the name of the Island of Manhattan... "...........Thomas Wolfe..........
"New Yorkers drink two million cups of coffee every twenty minutes."
"To tell the story of New York would be to write a social history of the world."
Millions of words and thousands of books have been written about New York. The 'Big Apple', as it's known, is perhaps not for everyone - but the only way to find out whether it's for you is to sink your teeth in and sample it. The island of Manhattan has been referred to as one of the best real estate purchases ever made. Early in the 1600s the Dutch bought it for twenty-four dollars' worth of trinkets and jewellery from a local Indian tribe. Later, the British took control of the bustling market city, until it was relinquished to the United States during the War for Independence.
Today's New York offers more of what you might be interested in than any city on earth. Theatres offer the best of musicals, drama and dance. Shopping is supreme in Bloomingdale's, Tiffany's and Macy's to name just a few great stores. Panoramic views abound from any one of dozens of skyscrapers. You can rent bikes in Central Park, or take the three-hour boat ride around Manhattan Island. There are museums and galleries by the score, and eating places by the thousands. And that doesn't even approach the tip of the New York iceberg. New York harbour is host to more than 30,000 ships each year, and its Wall Street is one of the undisputed financial and banking centres of the world.
Visitors and residents alike willingly declare their feelings for the Big Apple (an old jazz musician's label, given to the city in the Roaring Twenties). Stickers, pens, coffee cups and pins all proclaim it: "I LOVE NEW YORK!" It's a city with more vibrant excitement than any in the world - and if that's your cup of coffee, you'll love it too...
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"I went to Philadelphia, but it was closed..."..........W.C.Fields..........
No comment about Philadelphia could be further from the truth. In fact Philadelphia, once the biggest in the Colonies, boasts 'the most historic square mile in America'. Its beginnings were the dream of William Penn, who in 1682 advertised it as 'the City of Brotherly Love', a name that remains to this day. Under his direction the city flourished, and it was here that the seeds of a new nation were planted. Documents such as the Bill of Rights and the Constitution were drafted within its limits, and the Declaration of Independence was signed here.
Most visitors make the Independence Hall Historic Area their first stop, to see buildings from the Colonial and revolutionary era, as well as to take a peek at the famous Liberty Bell. The homes of Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross (the women credited for creating the first American flag, at the request of George Washington) are open, with exhibits and displays about their famed residents. It was at the Pennsylvania Museum of art that Sylvester Stallone's 'Rocky' did his step-climbing exercise. Philadelphians are among the friendliest city-dwellers anywhere, so feel free to approach them in the City of Brotherly Love.
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"And we shall make the desert bloom... "..........Brigham Young, Mormon leader, 1874..........
Try to imagine a vast, barren landscape. Picture a huge blue lake that sustains no life, its shore encrusted with salt. And imagine a caravan of dusty, travel-stained wagons and their weary occupants arriving in this land, often described as being "not very far from hell", and wanting to make it their home. For Mormons - then, in 1847, and today - Salt Lake City is still the Promised Valley.
And for the present-day visitor it's hard to imagine it as once useless desert land. True to Brigham Young's words, the Mormon Church (otherwise known as the Church of the Latter Day Saints) has converted Salt Lake City into a prosperous metropolis. Tree-lined streets, sparkling fountains and patterned sidewalks make it an oasis in the desert.
At the city centre, Temple Square is home to the six-spired temple which took more than forty years to construct from hand-hewn granite blocks. The Temple is also home to the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The nearby Salt Lake is reputed to be four to five times saltier than the Atlantic or Pacific oceans. Its waters support swimmers like a soft mattress - but swimming is discouraged because of the potential for allergic reaction to its saline solution. Just west of the city are the famous Bonneville Salt Flats, where each year competitors try to outdo each other to break world car speed records.
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"I shall never surrender or retreat... Victory or Death..."..........Col. Travis, from the walls of the Alamo..........
San Antonio is considered one of America's most individual cities. Located in the Texas Sunbelt, its attractions - such as the Alamo, last stronghold of Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and 144 other brave patriots - lure thousands each year. The fort is open to the public, with exhibits and artefacts of the famous battle moving even the most uninterested to 'remember the Alamo'. Close by, at the Menger hotel, Teddy Roosevelt recruited his famous 'Roughriders'.
In the city El Mercado, a huge Mexican-style market place, offers some of the best gift-shops in the state. For the thirsty-at-heart, the Lone Star Brewery gives free samples and tours, including a humorous look at the Hall of Horns, the world's largest collection of rare animal horns, hunting trophies and rattlesnake artwork.
In the evenings, visitors can take a stroll along the subterranean Riverwalk, which meanders along the banks of the San Antonio River. Small gondola ferries are also available, offering a Venice-like prospect of the city. San Antonio still reflects its early Spanish and Mexican heritage, with adobe buildings and Spanish missions in plenty.
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Among meteorologists San Diego is known as the city with perfect weather. With average year-round temperatures of 70 degrees F (21øC), more than 70 miles of good Pacific beaches, a casual lifestyle and close proximity to the Mexican border, there's no shortage of reasons for wanting to come here. And many visitors decide to stay.San Diego is home to the largest zoo in the world, exhibiting some rare species of wildlife, and its Sea World draws thousands of visitors each year to watch killer whales and dolphins perform and see staff-members walk in shark-infested tanks at 'feeding time'.
Favourite pastimes include disco-rollerskating along the famous boardwalk, renting bicycles, or surfing. With Mexico so close, hopping across the border for bargains in leatherwork, pottery wood-carving and wrought iron is no problem - and you might as well sample a few Margaritas while you're there. The city still retains its historical flavour, with Spanish-style missions and architecture in picture-postcard surroundings And don't feel at all guilty if you decide just to sit in the shallow end of the pool, open a cool drink and work on your tan. Plenty of locals do it!
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"Sitting on the dock of the bay, Watching the tide roll away..."..........Otis Redding, song lyric ..........
People who live in San Francisco refer to it as 'The City'- as if there were only one! A Gallup poll found that more Americans wanted to live there than in any metropolis in the country. And is it any wonder?
San Francisco is home to the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, Alcatraz and the 'world's most crooked street', to mention only a few of its attractions, and did we mention that, as a city, it is beautiful?
For the visitor, San Francisco offers a smorgasbord of things to experience. Test your skills with chopsticks in famous Chinatown...shop in some of America's most exclusive department stores (window-shopping is perfectly acceptable)... catch the ferry to Alcatraz for a tour of the prison where some of America's most infamous gangsters, including Al Capone, did their time...maybe a ferry ride to Sausalito to rub elbows with the rich yachting set who live in laid-back luxury...try to catch a baseball game under the lights at Candlestick Park...or sip a few drinks while listening to great entertainers at the Purple Onion. And no matter what you do, be sure to take a ride on the famous San Francisco cable-cars at least once before you leave.
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"Walking thru Santa Fe is like stepping into a time machine and being taken backwards in time to a day when?" For some, Santa Fe was a place to re-provision and rest up before lighting out again for the goldfields of California. And for others it was the end of the line. Why go any further?Santa Fe defies the usual description of a city. It is spotlessly clean, retaining its small streets and adobe buildings, and many a movie star and artist have found haven in its shadow. The town centre is a museum, tracing the pueblo's history with Indian artefacts and well-displayed crafts, and a restored street with a working blacksmith and other frontier crafts is easily accessible and free to visit.
Nearby Cristo Rey Church is reputed to be the largest adobe structure in the Americas, with walls seven feet thick. Inside is a museum of Navajo art. Just miles outside town the Taos Indian Pueblo offers an opportunity to see Indians living in traditional settings, baking bread and retaining their old cultural ways. Ask first before taking pictures some people can be offended if you snap away without permission.
Closer to town the famed adobe home of the great frontiersman Kit Carson is open to visitors with interest in the Old West. The mountains around Santa Fe are often snowcapped, and well worth capturing on film.
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Not far back in its past, Seattle was a major depository of gold. It came by water from the goldfields of Alaska, bringing with it prospectors looking to vent a little steam. Lumberjacks, too, sought entertainment and release from the hardships of life in the Northwestern wilderness. And they all came to Seattle's 'skid row', so named because lumber was dragged on skids through the streets. The red-light district was reputed to be unmatched anywhere in the West.Those rowdier days behind it, Seattle has taken on a new and prosperous face. Nestled in foothills much like those of San Francisco, it offers ocean views from everywhere - and even water in its frozen form can be seen atop the snowcapped heights of the Cascade and Olympic mountains.
For a bird's-eye view, go up the Space Needle, originally built for the World's Fair of 1962. And it's only fitting in a city so involved with marine activities to go among sharks, eel and octopus in the Waterfront Park. Inexpensive ferry rides are available from five different locations, and with camera in hand you'll find plenty of great panoramic shots. If you're interested in how internationally-famous soft drinks like Coca-Cola and 7-up are bottled, you can tour the Seattle plants, and for the beer-lover there are free samples on the tour of the Rainer Brewing Company.
In 1889 fire ravaged the city, and a new Seattle was built on the rubble - leaving a ghost city beneath the surface. Five subterranean blocks have been excavated, and tours begin at Pioneer Square, the site of the original town centre. Known as the 'Gateway to the Orient', Seattle is an excellent place to sample Oriental cuisine. And with water everywhere is it any wonder that seafood is excellent and inexpensive? Just be careful of the bones!
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A gravestone in famous Boot Hill Cemetery reads:Here Lies Lester Moore, Four Slugs From a .44, No Less No More
Take a stroll down Main Street and you can feel the history through your boots (or flip-flops). Many of the greats of the Old West lived (and many of them died, too) in this one-time mining Mecca - a town with a nasty reputation, where fortunes were made and lost overnight.
You can walk through the OK Corral, site of the famous gunfight between the Earp Brothers, Doc Holliday and the Clantons, have a shot of 'redeye' in the Crystal Palace Saloon, and another at Johnny Ringo's Bar (Johnny was found with half his head missing from a shotgun blast, and the wrong man was strung up for it). Listen to stories about the Bird Cage Hotel, given its name because of the 'ladies of leisure' who were suspended in a giant cage above the bar to attract customers.
The gallows still stand intact at the Old Courthouse. Boot Hill is minutes away, and you can tour the mines (closed because of flooding in their heyday) for a nominal charge. Before you mosey on out of Tombstone, try to outdraw the mechanical gunfighter at the OK Corral. You might even win - but the song "too tough to die" will live on...
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"When I was young I walked all over this country east and west, and saw no other people than the Apaches."..........Cochise..........
Tumbleweed, huge Western cactus, desert and mountain lands are all within a stone's throw of Tucson, Arizona. And for the visitor, a rare outdoor museum - the Sonora Desert Museum - offers a bird's eye view of the desert wildlife and plants, unequalled anywhere.
The Tucson area is surrounded by history, boasting names like Cochise's Stronghold and Fort Apache. The climate, warm and dry with clean air, has been attracting year-round residents and visitors for many years.
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"Most people in Washington carry either a briefcase or a camera."Washington is a major preserve of American history, ceremony and symbolism. Its monuments, memorials and museums provide visitors with a cultural showcase of America, displaying the very best. As home of the President, the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, the State Department, the FBI and foreign embassies, Washington DC is the heartbeat of the United States, rivalled only by New York City in power and prestige. But it was not always so.
At the end of the War of Independence in 1781, George Washington proposed that a new capital be built in the geographical centre of the thirteen colonies.
This, he felt, would stop disputes about where the newly-formed capital should be -north or south. So, with land donated by the States of Virginia and Maryland, Washington was established.
The city's growth was not always smooth, and early residents had legitimate complaints about the muddy streets and lack of sewage facilities. Today's Washington is much different. The Capital Mall is an unequalled showcase of American history, architecture and artefacts. Visitors can tour the White House, home of the President, see the Hope Diamond and other of Nature's wonders in the Museum of History, or take a peek into America's 'attic' -the world's largest collection of American artefacts - at the Smithsonian Institute.
If that isn't of interest, you can visit nearby Arlington Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, climb aboard a flight simulator at the Air and Space Museum, or sit in on a session of Congress. Visits to the Lincoln, Jefferson and Washington monuments will install a feeling for those who worked to make America 'Land of the Free and Home of the Brave'.
But Washington is also very much a modern city, bursting with life. Don't miss seeing Georgetown, the old and very attractive residential area which now buzzes with activity - shops, bars, restaurants, clubs...
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