Timeline 8th Dec 2005 to
5th Jan 2006

We had planned to go to New Orleans and Memphis but Hurricane Katrina finished that!

Instead, in the words of Horace Greely, we had to 'Go West' to San Francisco.

San Francisco has some of the most stylish residential architecture I've ever seen. The famous Bay Fog was nowhere to be seen during our 4 days. Instead, we enjoyed gorgeous winter sun. San Francisco has plenty for the visitor; Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park, the 'Flower Power' hippy hang-out of Haight Ashbury and, of course, Alcatraz which is now a fascinating museum.

400 miles down the coast is Los Angeles.

This sprawling metropolis can be summed up in one word: Concrete. Wherever you go, wherever you look, there is concrete as far as the eye can see!

Freeways, shopping malls, parking lots, buildings, more parking lots, more freeways. Even in mega-cities like Mumbai and Tokyo, it didn't feel as over developed -- possibly because in LA, buildings rarely seem to be more than two storeys high which means from elevated points on the freeway you have unobstructed 360 degree views across the whole basin.

And it's all concrete!

LA is a hard city to describe, there are many juxtapositions. It's either incredibly rich or horrendously poor. Sterilely clean or embarrassingly run-down and more simply, black or white. Downtown LA and nearby Hollywood have seen little investment for years. It's shabby and looks dated. Those who could afford to do so, have, since the '50s, gradually moved further and further out of the city, leaving behind them voids of poverty and decay.

POVERTY AND THE RUN-DOWN PUBLIC SECTOR
Poverty is a very noticeable aspect of American society. Outwith affluent residential areas there appears to be little in the way of public spending. Far from being the fabled land of milk and honey, home of the American dream and so on, it is actually a very run-down country.

Nowhere is this more evident than on public transport. Stations are dimly lit and rarely staffed. They are badly sign-posted, and there's often little in the way of advertising, no billboards, just enormous lengths of bare, dull concrete.

Most New York underground stations don't look like they've seen a lick of paint since the day they opened.

Of course, few Americans ever resort to public transport! In America there are more cars than there are drivers, and car ownership equates to 2 cars for every single household in the country. These aren't economical town-cars either -- the infamous gas guzzler is alive and well.

It's hard to grasp the scale of these large vehicles until you're walking through a parking lot and are dwarfed beside them. An almost fanatical cold-war type arms-race has developed between motorists, in which people continue to buy bigger cars than their neighbours in the belief that the bigger the car, the safer you are.

There is probably more written, filmed and sung about New York than any other city in the world. What I like about New York, and what makes it so different from LA, is that it's a living, working city, there's a gritty reality to it. And, as you would imagine, there is an endless list of attractions.

On the downside, the people live up to the stereotype of being rude and abrupt, while the number of additional taxes added on to each and every bill sucks the life from you. In restaurants and cafes a 15-20% gratuity is added whether you like your server or not. On checking out of our hotel we had State Tax, City Tax, Occupancy Tax, VAT and Energy Surcharge all added to our already overpriced accommodation!

Just over two hours north of Manhattan was Harwinton, Connecticut. Here amongst the snow covered hills of New England we stayed with family.

The recharging of our batteries was long overdue.

Connecticut is a beautiful part of the country at this time of year and with the backdrop of snow and festive decorations, it finally felt like Christmas.