On my U.S.A travel - Niagara & Washington D.C

After taking an overnight flight from Salt Lake City, we reached Buffalo International Airport to see the world famous Niagara falls.

NIAGARA FALLS (7th Jun)

We reached Buffalo airport around 11:30 a.m, hour & a half later than the scheduled time. Our rental car booking got canceled due to late arrival! After enquiry at the information center, we came to know about NFTA - NFTA provides good bus transportation in Niagara county and it charges only $3 for 25 miles drive to the falls.

The bus stopped at a very short walking distance from HI hostel located in a really olden part of downtown. This area seemed to be once a wealthy place, now occupied by not the well to-do families. May be the houses were passed to them second or third hand without any thought of renovating them.

We reached the hostel earlier than the actual check-in time (4 p.m to 6 p.m). So, we had to leave our luggage in the common area. We refreshed ourselves in the common rest area and started walking towards the falls. As we approached near the falls, there was a drastic change in the surroundings. There were quite some Punjabi dhabas with plenty of Indians around. In the near by parks, we could see Indian families relishing their home packed foods. It felt like without any warning, we were flung out of U.S and suddenly ended up in India! Anyway, we walked further towards the falls.

When my first sight fell on the falls, I was not greatly excited looking at the world's second largest waterfall. Yeah, it was king-sized. But, it didn't immediately arouse any great interest. I was wondering if anything was wrong with me! Still wondering about that, we purchased tickets for the historical "Maid of the Mist" boat ride. As the boat took off, I felt that this trip would be a great experience (don't know why!). Once the boat moved for some short distance, we could vividly see the voluminous falls from its base. As we approached closer, the roar of the falls became louder and strong winds were gushing. The wind brought lots of water and it felt like I was touching the falls.



The Niagara falls has three sections - American Falls, Bridal Veil and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. The Canadian falls was probably 3 times bigger than the American falls and was much more beautiful. The boat ride was a wonderful experience and I was soaked with water. Feeling the monstrous falls from below it felt like really awesome. That was the moment, I realized the beauty & greatness of this place and found what was wrong with me then! I can embrace nature by being part of it, feeling it and not by merely observing it from far :)

Late in the evening, we once again went to the falls to enjoy the night view. The route to the falls from our hostel is through the olden town area. We were quite unsure of the safety as there were many strange looking people in the streets. But, some families were spending their evening time in their balconies (so unusual of U.S) and that gave us a slight sense of relief. They looked amicable and kind of greeted us into their streets with a smile.

At the night, the falls is lit with different colors of light. Red, blue, green, white, yellow etc. and that makes the night view very special here.

In the morning, we started towards the airport to catch our flight to Baltimore near Washington D.C.

WASHINGTON D.C (8th Jun)

A whole day of visiting U.S monuments was right in front of us. We visited White house museum, Washington Monument, State Capitol and various Congress buildings. Also, we could see White house from the fence(!) Washington D.C was full of administrative buildings and our legs were damn tried walking from one place to other.

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

In the afternoon, we chose to visit Holocaust Museum. This is a living memorial of the past and it includes details about Nazi assault, Rise of Hitler to power, fate of Jews when Hitler was in power, final end to all of these misery. It had lots of articles like clothes, shoes and other quintessential which were used by people during that miserable time. There was also an actual rail car which was used for transporting Jews all over from Europe to Ghettos, concentration camps and killing centers. I sensed helplessness and deprivation of hope when I entered into it.

Along the hall way, there were photos of hundreds & hundreds of Jews who had been killed by Nazi tyranny. At several places, there were videos on genocide & antisemitism committed by Nazis. One of the videos on genocide deeply bothered me and still bothers when I think of it. It was the fact about German doctors using Jews for their research - It was like using Guinea Pigs for research in laboratory. Most of the Jews used in those research became mentally retarded, died miserably. The sight of it was dreadful.

I must say that very high quality of research must have gone through in bringing up this museum and also a very great care is taken in arranging the facts & evidences. Unbelievably all the evidences there stood with full of life (death?) when I was amongst it. I am not a first timer to all these Holocaust facts. But, the way the whole museum is set up took me to the miserable 1930/40's.

At the end of the exhibition, tears were rolling down from some people's eyes. At that moment, I felt strong and bold, weak & vulnerable at the same time...