United States (eastcoast), 1988 Photos © R.Leeuw

We flew with Martinair to Boston, flight MP603, which stopped first at Washington-Baltimore Int'l (BWI) first. Hence the nightly arrival. We'd booked in the Hilton at Logan Int'l Airport and could look upon its departure.

Boston... we didn't go there for any other reason than it sounded a place to go to; across the pond it didn't really have an image, paling next to 'The Big Apple'.. Turned out to be a very pleasant city to visit, a little bit of Big City and local really. No better way to see a city than to use your walking shoes, so we did. There was the high rise, of course, a challenge to photographer (what can you do with it ?), but what does it really tell you of Boston: nothing much, right?

We found Boston to be quite friendly, for a big city. It offered a nice variation of shops and restaurants, without the usual abundantly presence of franchise names in other US major cities. Architecture had a nice combination of US bravado and European dignity. We found ourselves at ease; people were friendly and parks were nice: a city where you can go for a stroll! A side street which reminded me of New York... Just a glance, an impulse and I snapped the shutter. As a European in the USA, I may have been looking for 'New York' in this city rather than anything else; it took a while before I got to appreciate Boston for what it was: a very pleasant city. Chinatown, not as scenic as in New York or San Francisco; and with a lot of beggars and homeless people around. A film was being shot in town, but we didn't see any celebities return to their trailers.. Boston founded in 1630

Boston map

Blowing a nice tune and he didn't seem to mind there wasn't much of an audience... It reminded me of Paris (France), just like Boston gave me flash backs of other European cities. Wearing that T-shirt with Amsterdam on it: did he go there ? Did he like it, played a gig perhaps?

The usual comfort here: when you feel a bit peckish, you can rely on a hamburger to put you back on your feet again. We enjoyed our visit to Quincy Market.

The place I had to visit in Washington,DC was.. 'The Air and Space Museum'! There were many school kids about, noisy, but this was one great visit.

Capitol Hill - seat of goverment and battle field of the lobbyists.. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Hill So what do you go to see here...? The White House ? Sure! But I liked this camera crew best, because we see it this home so often on the telly: a commentator with the White House as a back drop.

I found this peculiar tree in the garden of the White House more fascinating than anything else going on around here... Strange tree, eh? The hype here..

The Vietnam Memorial, now that was something I found impressive. In front of the tv I'd witnessed the War in South East Asia... I'd seen the daily news footage, bombs flying, it was history I could relate to.

The NAMES... Emotions were pretty raw here still, even after some 20 years. A quote- "Across the USA I have photographed with these ideas in mind: to portray Americans as they live at present. Their every day and their Sunday, their realism and dream. The look of cities, towns and highways." Roberts Frank [Wikipedia]

Fighters went over there -Vietnam-, warriors, but the youthfulness in these statues is striking and a big part of the story and the trauma. People were selling t-shirts, buttons, etc for funding awareness on the campaign for some 350-400 POW's still alive in S E Asia.

Abraham 'Abe' Lincoln

A 757 jet airliner is seen flying over the Jefferson Memorial, along the Potomac, in approach for Washington National Airport. We were soon on our own way, heading for home. Our flight MP604 took a delay of 6 hours and I went straight into the nightshift: 'situation normal, all fucked up!'

EMAIL