USA

Well I've just spent the past few weeks in the US travelling around and seeing people, and just got back home today. (Pictures to come)I arrived at New York, then went to Dallas, Sedona/Grand Canyon, and the San Francisco bay area. My overall impressions of America were that it's people are incredibly friendly, the food portions are humongous, the geography is vast, and despite what people say, you can't get anything you want in America :)

New York
Literally a city that never sleeps. There was a constant flow of people and some impressively huge sky scrapers. In mid and uptown you could forget that Manhattan is surrounded by water, and the atmosphere is very much like London and a big city feel. I much prefered downtown where the sea (and statue of librty!) were visible from, and the different areas seemed to have a bit more character.

Dallas
I didn't see much of the actual city of Dallas, but of what I did see it was kind of...non descript! (sorry Dallas!!) Big buildings in a big space - the JFK museum was pretty interesting though. Plano where I was staying with my cousin was pretty and spaced out with lots of restaurants, and the cultural district of Fort Worth was very much like an old western movie! I had a lovely time here, but my overall impression was of emptiness and mahusive food portions. There were hardly any people on the streets (everyone drives everywhere).

Sedona/Grand Canyon
Sedona is a beautful town nicknamed 'red rock country' which is apt as it is basically full of beautful scenery , a lot of which consists of red rock formations! The Grand Canyon was absolutely awe inspiring, I've never seen anything so vast and immense in my entire life - made me realise just how powerful and beautiful nature really is.

San Francisco bay area
The weather in California is almost perfect, not too hot or cold which immediately makes the place likeable! We drove to Montery and did a 17 mile scenic drive along the ocean which was absolutely beautiful. The next day I took a train into San Fran (I was staying with relatives nearer to San Jose) and did a whirlwind tour, seeing most of the main sights including the Golden Gate Bridge and generally got a feel for the city - I think my favourite of the 3 big cities I saw as it had a really relaxed and friendly atmosphere. On my final day we went to Muir woods which is one of the last of it's kind on earth. This was full of gigantic redwood trees that thrive on the San Francisco fog that rolls in from the ocean.


And then I was home :) Back to reality...