As promised in the last news letter I find that I have had time during my holiday to prepare some photographs to show in a Blog. We started our tour of the USA in New York Spending a day and two nights there. The Statue of Liberty is pictured from the boat we used to travel around Manhattan Island. The skyscrapers and skyline we experienced on this tour was exceptional - I have not included any photo's - there are too many to choose from.

The tour was themed "American Heritage" and I was looking forward to the Civil War content. Gettysburg proved highly interesting but it was the only one that tackled the civil war. We passed by Harpers Ferry and drove at speed through the battlefields of Manassas. We missed Fredricksburg completly because of a broken fanbelt. So another tour is called for in due course.

The houses of past Presidents that we visited were very interesting, well maintained and restored to contain furniture and items, as similar to the originals if the authentic items were not obtainable. President Buchanans first lady was his niece as he was a bachelor and the youngest first lady. Buchanan was the president before Lincoln and had a difficult task in maintaing the Union.

Jefferson the third President designed his House and its extensions. The house with its cellars, extended tunnels and hidden staircases served to separate the slaves from the gentry. Jefferson though condeming slavery never freed his slaves in contrast to George Washington.

George Washingtons House was built entirely from materials available from his estate. Which means it was built of wood. Planks were shaped and grooved to simulate stone, then they were painted and sand was thrown on to complete the effect.

General Robert E. Lee was in command of the Confederate Army at Gettysburg, a Virginian he had been offered the command of the Union Forces but he was true to his state of Virginia rather than the Union and left his house "Arlington" in Washington to follow his destiny. He was not only an Officer of the highest class but also a true Southern Gentleman which was possibly why the Confedarates lost at Gettysburg. His command to take possession of Cemetary Hill "as you will" was misinterpreted and the attack on a weakly defended position was delayed, during which time Union reinforcements arrived and the battle was lost.

During the civil war some 600,000 men died of which a third were never identified, in the early days the bodies remained were they fell for a considerable time. The Union appointed an officer who like Lee was a Southerner but who stayed with the Union to be in charge of the burial of the men. He requisitioned Arlington House and its grounds, which were used by the army, to be a military burial ground.

In Washington the tour was dominated visits to all the memorials - to the Presidents and to the War memorials both at night and day time. Propably the most interesting and was the Lincoln Memorial with its large statue and the Franklin D. Roosevelt memorial where we experienced a tropical downpour that forced us to flee to the coach.

Of the War Memorials the Korean one is the one that remains in ones mind the longest. The bright white steel figures on patrol were impressive. The Womens Memorial is also from the Korean War with military women eg MASH etc with a wounded soldier each representing Compassion, Hope and Despair. In the photo Despair is hidden behind the others.

We also visited the theatre which was the scene of Lincolns assasination. Wounded he was taken across the road to a house where he later died. After that I spent a penny in White House Visitors Centre, tooksome photos of the Capitol Building and finally the White House itself from a considerable distance which was the nearest we could approach it.

We did have some free time in Washington and during that I found the one item that on its own could justify the tribulations of the journey - A small view of it here: