Independence Day

What can be more patriotic than a 4th of July in the nations' capital city? Nothing! So here it goes. First, the parade (actually, first might have been to go to church early in the morning...). A lot of American flags, small and huge ones.

The parade is made of an eclectic mix of traditional groups, military regimens, miss America/pom-pom girl displays, minority communities, and mostly high-school bands representing their state. Some groups were also pulling giant air-inflated dolls, in the form of the American eagle, as well as some cartoon characters. Can anyone explain to me the link between the frog below and the 4th of July?

 All these people were parading, walking, dancing, running, biking, playing music in 40 degrees heat (100 degrees here...). Kudos to the representatives of Puerto Rico, who were giving their all to the tune of fast-paced latino music.

Second, the fireworks. But what does it tell you that there were more people for the fireworks, than for the parade? For 20-minutes long fireworks, there were quite good. It also helps with the colors that the American flag has three colors.

Still, I was surprised that there were no patriotic speech, either by the President or the mayor. Not sure if I missed them, but definitely not prominent.

"Deep" South

The USA is not only the East Coast and the West Coast, but also the South. Before the hot and humid summer, it is the right time to head to South Carolina and Georgia. First stop, Charleston.

 

It was at one stage the fourth largest town in the USA, counting the slaves. It was the hub for the South as well as a booming agricultural town, producing deer-skin, rice, indigo and eventually cotton. The wealth of the town is everywhere to be seen, with many nice houses in various architectural styles. It's pleasant to walk around, and the palm trees add to the relaxed feel.

In the South, it is also a must to visit a plantation. We chose the Boone Hall plantation. It was first built in 1790, and was actually very small. Most plantation owners had their nice house in the town of Charleston. In the countryside, main houses were still in wood, and there were often many small cabins where the slaves would stay.

The most famous element of the plantation is its "Avenue of Oaks". The ads for the plantation claim that it is the most photographed tree avenue in the world. Ok, it is very nice, but still to get a title for this... These are live oaks, meaning that they always carry leaves, even in winter. Growing on it, is the "Spanish moss", which all our guides were explaining that it was neither Spanish nor a moss.

 

Next stop was Savannah, Georgia. I must admit that I likes this town. It has lots of well preserved houses, with many original features. It is spatially organized around many green squares, as planned by its founder James Oglethorpe. It has a rich history, including with the Indian Americans. It has now a completely modernized Riverfront, where it is nice to eat and drink. And at night, several of its houses are haunted...

Yet, the most well known "Savannah moment" is undoubtedly drawn from the movie "Forrest Gump", when Tom Hanks sits on a bench, a box of chocolate on its knees and says "Life is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you are going to get". Well, below is a picture of the park where the bench was. The bench itself had to be transferred to the local museum, as visitors were too eager to carve out a part of the bench to keep as a souvenir. 

Both Charleston and Savannah have huge new bridges.

 

USA-Brazil

 
Even though the USA is not really the land of football/soccer, an opportunity to see the Americans take on the Brazilians was not to be missed. And we were 64000 to share the same opinion. It is the biggest crowd I ever saw.

The biggest crowd yes, but not the rowdiest by far. It was a good football party, with a final victory of 4-1 for the magic Brazilians. The anecdote of the evening is that one of my friend was not allowed to bring his backpack inside the stadium (American security measures...) decided to empty it and to hide it in the nearby bushes. Well, at the end of the match, his bag was still there!

Discovery Space Shuttle

On this special day of 17th of April, the space shuttle Discovery made its historic final trip to Washington. 27 years after its first lift off! It flew over the city three times, "piggy-backing" on a Boeing 747.

 From the rooftop, we could see it pass by, accompanied by a . What a sight! Awesome to see such a technical achievement fly around. Discovery is the shuttle that flew the most in space, at 39 times.

It will now rest here. I guess this will be the next museum I will visit.

Miami - Florida

In south Florida, the must see is the Everglades National Park. Although there are turtles and many species of birds, the iconic animal is the ALLIGATOR. And there are tons of them. Good luck for counting how many are lurking in that picture.
A scary moment was to cycle around the alligators, actually not to cycle over them!
A tastier moment was to eat alligator. It is white meat, tastes a bit like chicken, but is more elastic.
Miami was a great stop. The beach is fantastic, so wide. The sea was nice to swim in. And Ocean drive, the road that runs by the beach, is the biggest open air party place I have seen. So many bars and restaurants. Great atmosphere - for example, our restaurant had a transparent open air swimming pool on top of the DJ and kitchen area. So you could see people swim in the pool above you, while sipping huge drinks, having supper and dancing.
To finish this fantastic holidays, the tennis final at the Miami Masters. Very nice setting with palm trees and the beach in the background. Beautiful stadium, and once again very well organised.
Unfortunately, the finalists were not the ones hoped one for. Still the final was a display of very competitive tennis. Amazing that these two athletes could run for one hour an a half in the midday sun, while, even seated, I was sweating. I guess it makes sense that it was not me who got the huge check!

Jamaica - Cayman

In Jamaica, you need to know two expressions "no problem" and "yamaannn". So no trouble there at all. The excursions were well organized. First, the Dunn's River Falls, which we had to climb! It was much fun, and of course so refreshing.The next excursion was the Skyland, the local skilift, which runs through the tropical forest. Nice too to be on top of the trees.
Tropical forest also means tropical animals. I had to be fast on that one: a hummingbird!
Next stop: Cayman Island. There again, some tropical animals: the stingrays! Apparently, that picture is the most commonly taken in the Cayman. Am I a tourist or not?
At least, I am a sporty tourist! I did kayaking. Not so tiring, but you have to make sure to be synchronized. Easier said than done...
The funniest thing was this "flip-flop tree". Last year, a couple from Cayman got really annoyed at seeing so many flip-flops abandoned on local beaches that, one night, they collected them and nailed them down on that tree. Since then, tourists stop by that tree and add their own flip-flops.
After the kayaking, time to relax and snorkel! Another first for me. Nice to swim around and to look for fishes.
Do not ask me for their scientific names... just admire the fishes!

Cruise in the Caribbean

This huge cruise ship was home for five days. It was not with little apprehension that I boarded the "Carnival Destiny", since this boat is owned by the same company, which lost two ships in recent months. But once you step on the boat, everything is forgotten. As the cruise manager Noonan said, "what happens on this ship stays on this ship".
The deck was the place to be, with its swimming pools, its inviting chairs (so nice to watch a movie there - even if the program includes ET...), its minigolf course, its basketball field, its table tennis area.
Inside the ship was like a huge building with 10 stores. Of course, there was a huge number of rooms to accommodate the 3000 passengers. I must admit that I was positively surprised at how diverse the passengers were. Anyway, on each floor, there was so much on offer: fitness, casino, bars, stage, shops, medical center, restaurants, library.
There was always something to do, whether it is to eat (and believe me, some people ate almost 24 hours a day...), drink, play at the casino, laugh at a comedy show, being taken in picture, cheer at a cabaret, anything so that passengers would have FUN ! Still, all in all, the best was to relax and sunbath on a beach chair.
The 1000-people strong crew was well trained to make you feel welcome. Everyday, the cleaner would create a "towel animal". Most employees were from Asia and Eastern Europe, while the captain was an Italian.