Uncle Sam's America

Welcome to the most exciting, thrilling and "educating" holidays of my life- my trip to US of A- and of course compelling enough to share my experience through this travel blog. The trip was enriched with learning about the history, geography, politics, exploring the diverse culture, cuisines and lifestyles practiced in different parts of this huge and vast country. Contrary to my notion about Americans, I found them generally warm, polite (even the cops!), intensely patriotic, and loved their culture of road trips.. 

                            New York City (Manhattan)

Walking through the bustling streets of NYC, gives you the real feel of the fast paced and busy lifestyle of the city.  Rich in history, modern in culture, the city offers myriad places and activities for a first time visitor.

Empire State Building- planted in Midtown Manhattan, is the tallest building in New York after the newly constructed World Trade Centre. The elevator took us to the observatory at 86^th floor in a single quick shot. Covered triple layered, I made my way in the chilly periphery to get a panoramic view of Manhattan. The view was breathtaking (literally), with differently sized skyscrapers forming beautiful skyline of the city.

We hit the city’s most glittering stretch of roads-The Times Square. There is a splendid transition from the dull and gloomy evening to the scintillating colourfully lit buildings in the night. Apt place for dropping the crystal ball every New year’s eve- an event watched by thousands of people in spite of freezing cold. We also shopped (and window shopped) in the country’s most posh and fancy shopping area- the Fifth Avenue.

A ferry ride across the Hudson River took us through the one of the oldest steel wire suspension bridge- Brookyln bridge, briefing on its history and engineering. The main attraction was ofcourse the gift by France- Statue of Liberty, holding torch in one hand and tabula ansata inscribing the Declaration of Independence on the other. 

Ground Zero- Visit to the museum built in the memory of innocent victims of 9/11 twin towers attack was very touching... BUT the good news is, the whole country stood up together and the shining new WTC stands as the tallest building in the world now!

                                          Washington DC

Known as the City of Magnificent distances, ironically houses the most touristy destinations within a small distance. We took a day tour around DC, in "hop on hop off" bus, with live commentary on the history of the city, and exploring places of interest.

Washington monument - dedicated to the first American President George Washington, happens to be the tallest obelisk in the world. Constructed of marble and bluestone, gives
the white stone structure a brilliant look against the dark night background. 

Madame Tussauds Wax Museum- had amazingly real looking statues of celebrities including the American Presidents. Since we have already visited the original Madame Tussauds at London, we didn't spend much time admiring them. But Oh yes, I did meet Tom Cruise! 

The White House- made of white painted sandstone, gives the President's House a magnificent Neoclassical appearence. Unlike India, where the Rashtrapati Bhavan is cordoned by scores of cops, I would say White House is quite "exposed" to the public with no security guards in the near view. 

Holocaust memorial museum – dedicated to the Jews who were subjected to the brutal killings of Hitler. There were pictures, text and short documentaries showing the atrocities of Nazi Party in mass murdering them in the concentration camps, plummeting the Jew population down within a span of 12 years.  I wondered why the Holocaust Museum is in the US, and not in Europe? Apparently, most of the wealthy and powerful Americans today (like bankers etc) happen to be Jews, some of them being survivors of the Holocaust.

National Archives Museum- Original documents and parchements dating 1700's (signed by Lincon, Madison etc) are preserved , made at the time of the formation of America, the most important one being the "Declaration of Independence" from Britain on July 4th- contained in the book held by the Statue of Liberty.

Smithsonian Air and Space Museum – It was a bonus to have a space physicist father to have you explain the concepts and the significance of even trivial events in the history of space science. There was a whole section dedicated to the Wright brothers, and how they came about designing and developing aircrafts. 

            

Thanks to the talk my father had at the Satellite meteorology research institute at DC- the sole reason of us taking a trip here...

                                                        Niagara

This was the favourite part of my US trip- We drove to Niagara (upstate Newyork), which is around 500 miles from Boston. 

One of the must to-do things in Niagara is "Maid of the Mist" boat ride offering an exhilaratingly proximate view of the three waterfalls comprising the Niagara. As it went closer, all I could feel was powerful mist of the waterfalls splashing on my face leaving me gasping for breath. Flying across the falls, were countless fortunate white birds, with their niche carved in nature's one of the most beautiful creations. The river was shimmering in the sunlight forming a beautiful rainbow, which was considered to be the legend of Maid of the Mist.

Cave of the winds is a walk into the waterfalls at different gradients, abutting the cascade. I could feel the momentum of the flushing fall standing directly under it. The water was gushing from the top hitting the rocks, then onto my face, leaving me thoroughly drenched and hands frozen. An IMAX show on Niagara featured its history as to how Native Americans came upon discovering it and how people challenged it by performing life threatening insane stunts, and still managed to survive miraculously!

Montezuma Winery, cheese and wine tasting- There were over 500 varieties of Cheese- some of them being very spicy, went along well with crackers and different varieties of wines. We then hit Cayuga Finger lake, where we did Kayaking to get an amazing view of the countryside America. On one side of the lake were beautifully built wooden houses (with American flags dug) where families spend their summers in, and on the other side were tall trees with recently sprouted green leaves, making the whole view picturesque. 

We spent an enjoyable evening in a cottage near a not-so-tourist, yet so beautiful place-- Skaneatales finger lake. It was serene, green and photographic- simply lying on the grass provided us the much needed relaxation after the eventful trip. The nights were spent playing board games, enjoying with smoked Marshmellos and Hersheys. 

                                                     Boston

The most striking feature in the old fashioned metro stations of Boston is the Graffitis- picturing the history of invasion and formation of the city, its universities, education etc. MIT station has a coupled pendulum which allows us to test our skills in making the rhythmic pattern of the swinging pendulum. 

Duck tours- an amphibian bus ride takes you along the various places mostly of political and historic significance, first on the roads, followed by the same vehicle into the water. I wasn't very impressed with the tour guide's quirky ways of trying to entertain us, in all it was a bit disappointing!  

Freedom Trail- was a well entertained and informative walk trip through the Churches, Granary Burying ground with the graves of people like Paul Revere, James Otis etc, some of whom were instrumental in the freedom of America from Britain.

Musuem of science- With general exhibits of models and live presentations, I re-learnt the unused and forgotten secondary school fundamentals in an exciting way. I was amused by the bunches of school kids jumping around their teachers, with their inquisitive minds popping up with numerous questions, and by their enthusiastic participation in the interactive learning sessions. I could positively see the young kids in the making of curious scientists. 

Boston is probably the only city in the world, with two of the world's best universities dwelling in as neighbours- MIT and Harvard.

Harvard offers a guided tour of the university escorted by the alumni and graduate students. The guide tour was entertaining, funny and regaled us with the history of the university with interesting and unheard trivia. Like- The statue of John Harvard, which is world's 3rd most pictured statue, is actually not John Harvard, no one knew what he looked like when it was sculpted! One of the most shocking facts is that sexism existed in the university until 1999, only after which women received degrees from Harvard.

Why is MIT mighty?

Unlike the conventional tourists, I had the opportunity to visit labs at MIT to have a glimpse of the kind of scientific research happening at the nobel laureates producing university.

Anjan's (my brother) lab works on Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (pardon the jargon!), with all hi tech instruments in a room, which along with the table floats in the air while the experiment is on (yes it floats in air- I felt it!). Far from knowing Physics, I could hardly appreciate the science behind the experiments, but watching something floating in the air did seem magical to me!

Pavira's (my sister-in-law) group focuses on different aspects of neuroscience and she works on reading the content of dreams, how the patients can be made to respond in the operation without the waning of analgesic effect. Mice (undergone brain surgery) are attached with electrodes to activate/inhibit specific brain regions and study their functions. Would be a perfect place for Robin to “cook” up his next novel!

MIT Media science has cool and fancy stuff made by MIT students like foldable cars, 3D printed objects, electrical prosthetics and this is the same place which invented the e-ink Amazon uses for kindles! My brother gifted me one of these- the Alarm Clock with wheels, which would fall from your table and ram onto the walls and corners of your room, until you are awake enough to switch it off correctly- totally serves the purpose! 

Graduation Ceremony

Hooding ceremony – an event attended by only the PhD graduates, Anjan was hooded in full doctoral regalia by the MIT Chancellor and the Chair of the Physics Dept.

Graduation ceremony- finally came the day which determined our purpose of our trip to US. The procession began with all the 3000 graduates and undergraduates walking towards the venue. It was amazing to watch the invited parents and relatives, their chest bloating with immense sense of pride- watching their young geniuses graduating- as so was the case with us.

MIT commencement speaker was Drew Houston (MIT alumni)- the very creator of Dropbox, which has revolutionized the world with the "instant online backup" technology of files . His speech about what drove him to make this was awe inspiring, people cheering him at the completion of every sentence! My lucky brother managed to get a picture with him..

Catching up with my undergrad friends Anusha and Vidya, was icing on the cake. Quality time spent reminiscing the good old college days.

Unfortunately, every vacation comes to an end. It was a super-organized, spoon-fed dream holiday which allowed us to only relax and enjoy the best places in New England, without us needing to plan any bit of it. All thanks to Pavitra and Anjan - it was an experience of a lifetime!