Some hours in Baltimore, Washington, Savannah and Atlanta

During the first week of March 2018, I had the chance to visit four cities in the United States of America: Baltimore, Washington D.C, Savannah and Atlanta.

I began my tour with a one day trip to Washington D.C. As the capital city, it should be representative of whatever the US of A is most proud about.

Our walking tour in the morning began briefly with the US Supreme Court.

I found the motto of "Equal Justice for All" very fitting even today - especially at a time when Trump has declared a vocal war on immigration. 

The USA was born of immigrants. Irishmen persecuted in England, Jews persecuted in Germany, each of these groups adding their own innovation into the melting pot driven by their hunger for survival. The immigrant by nature is a survivor, an engine of innovation and value, strongly suspicious of all state power, and the Constitution of the USA was an instrument that therefore, provided protection against the State by dividing up power as much as possible. 

The Supreme Court was one of those strong pillars of power, diametrically opposite the citadel of legislative power, Capitol Hill, symbolically counterbalancing it. 

Today, the words on the Statue of Liberty, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.."  no longer hold. 

Democracy found it easy to survive because first generation immigrants are perhaps like hungry, lean and mean creatures, fiercely individualistic,suspicious of the state, willing to fight in the streets if they felt threatened. 

With centuries of growth, and immigration coming down, the second and subsequent generations are perhaps like secure indolent babies, with fat, pink fingers and an open mouth, expecting to be milk-fed by a benevolent state, with a sense of entitlement.

It is in a way fitting that they are content to let a blonde, senile, white male with a toupee control their nuclear missiles, and depending on the safety of keeping Mexicans and other racial and religious denominations out. 

But this was the building that saw jurists like John Marshall, Joseph Story and Oliver Wendell Holmes define the foundations of the republic, and lay down laws that have since set the precedence for Justice the world over, checking and trimming the power that nation-states can have over the individual.

And this building is also the final fail-safe against abuse of legislative power by any bunch of hoodlums in a majority.

The true measure of a nation lies in what it holds as its wealth! The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world with 163 million items including manuscripts, videos and 32 million books. With 2/3rds of its books in other languages, more than 450 different languages, destroyed twice by fire and rebuilt again, it is one of the Wonders of the Modern World. Two copies of every book published wanting their copyright protected in the US are submitted here. Naturally, the library has massively grown!

  

One of the few original copies of the Gutenberg Bible is kept on display. This was the first machine printed book that started the "Gutenberg Revolution" with mass printing of books.

An exhibition of First World War History was going on at the Library of Congress.

 
The Reading Room at Library of Congress

The original 6,500 book Thomas Jefferson library which started off the entire Library of Congress. Some books were burnt in the fire. They have painstakingly restored every book by purchasing it again and the library is almost back to its pristine state barring a few books.

Inside the library

A view of the Reading Room from the ground floor.

This was the way Capitol Hill looked before the dome was built on top.

A view of Capitol Hill

Statue of Freedom, crested with an eagle's head and with feathers symbolic of Indian tribes.

 Statue of Kamehameha, first King of Hawaii, presented at Capitol Hill when Hawaii joined the United States.

 North Dakota, statue of Sakakawea, an Indian woman with child, in Capitol Hill

 In the dome of Capitol Hill.

Statues put up by different states.

The dome of Capitol Hill, depicting a fresco named The apotheosis of George Washington. He is shown ascending and becoming a god, flanked by Liberty on his right and Victoria on his right.

Washington was elected unanimously by the Electoral College for two terms, and finally turned down a third term of the Presidency, to set the right precedent for a new democracy.

 He might have been the first black President of the United States, had he not been assassinated at the young age of 39 years.

 Another view of the Supreme Court

 A view of the Library of Congress

 A view of Capitol Hill

President John Adams, who lived here, prayed, "May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof." Currently, Donald Trump defecates here.  Poor John...

 The African American Museum at the Smithsonian. I did not have time to go there.

 Washington Monument

The US National World War II memorial commemorating the dead in the Atlantic and Pacific fronts.

Korean War Memorial. This was part of the global containment efforts against the spread of Communism by the Truman administration which saw huge casualties of US soldiers thrust into the South Asian arena for no good reason at all. The assessment (don't laugh) was that China and Russia would overrun Japan if Korea was lost to Communist China. The South Koreans have a legitimate reason to be grateful to the US - otherwise they would be part of Kim Jong Un's Mad North Korea!

Korean War Memorial. The Vietnam war memorial is just a wall with a long list of names either killed or missing in action. Officially the US were never defeated by Vietnam..in fact, they were not even there! So what did all those young confused kids and old hardened veterans die for? But everyone said, "that t'was a famous victory!". 

 Lincoln Memorial

"In this temple, as in the hearts of the people, for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever." In memory of Abraham Lincoln, who led his nation through a moral crisis and civil war; preserving the idea of a union, and abolishing slavery.

 A street in Chinatown, Baltimore

A road crossing in Chinatown, Baltimore with Chinese year signs. Why did the chicken cross the road? It had to cross over the year of the pig and dog to get to the cock.

Baltimore Inner Harbor

 USS Constellation, the last sail ship to participate in WWII from the US. It remained parked out here!

 A World Trade Center Memorial with debris from the WTC 9/11 attack.

 Sunset over Baltimore Harbor - 1

 Sunset over Baltimore Harbor - 2

 Sunset over Baltimore Harbor - 3

Baltimore Harbor just after sunset

 Savannah - A view of the river

 Savannah - by the riverside

  Savannah - by the riverside - 2

  Savannah - by the riverside. I stayed in the hotel at the back!

For 44 years, Florence Martus waved a welcome with a cloth to every passing ship by Savannah River. In memory, this statue of her and her faithful collie was brought by a sea captain who declined payment. And in honor, ships still toot thrice as they pass by
. 

Savanna - Byrd's  Cookies

See? I always knew it wasn't a racial slur! Savannah still retains the "quaint charm" of the South, and the confederate flag is still honored. Perhaps that is the reason I did not see any African American tourists. The only place where there were African American tourists were at the first black church established in this area. My hotel however, had not one but two African American receptionists, and there were also locals employed in other shops. 

 Old Savannah Tours Bus

 Candy shop!!!

 My sister was pinching her lip trying to decide!

 Savannah

 Savannah - a church

 Savannah - Church

Peachtree, the street where my sister lives

 My sister's house in Peachtree, GA

Where did I see similar photos? I remember! Putin's mugshots and T-shirts in Russia. I wonder whether one can get embossed toilet paper with Trump's face on it....On second thoughts, toilet paper is going to perform better without his face printed on it.