The Indian capital shows two distinct worlds: on one hand, New Delhi, stronghold of the British colony and Old Delhi.

The best place to start the visit for newcomer travelers is the city itself, especially for the Connaught Place, a lively commercial area filled with bazaars. Also we will find the India Gate,  Memorial to the fallen in the First World War. Nearby stands the Parliament and other government buildings as well as several important museums: the National Gallery, the Modern Art National Museum and the  Craft Museum.

On the banks of Yamuna River, and from the Gateway of India monuments stand tribute to prominent Indian leaders. Eternal flame located at the Shanti Vana (Forest of Peace) indicates where he was cremated the body of Mahatma Gandhi. This place, known as the Raj Ghat,  is the most visited monument in the country.

Other important monuments are the tombs of Humayun, and the majestic temple Qub Minar, a minaret which stands over 70 meters high.

In Old Delhi, the old town, stands the Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in all of India, built, like the Taj Majhal by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. Every night except Monday, recreates the history of India through a colorful light show.

Seattle

If you are at a complete loss as to where you should start, start by holding hands. Then you can hold hands all the way through the Woodland Park Rose Garden. Admission to the garden is free and scents and scenery are quite romantic, especially if your date is a flower lover. If he or she is not, then there are many other options so don’t despair.

Among those other options would be a wine tasting. If your date enjoys a nice glass of wine, there are several vineyards in and around Seattle that offer daily wine tours which end in a wine tasting. Even if this would be your first time drinking wine as a couple it could be a great deal of fun and you could have fun learning about each others likes and dislikes when it comes to wine. On the flip side there are also several breweries in the area where you and your date could sample beers and microbrews as well. Either way, trying new things together is a great way to strengthen your relationship, even early on.

If you really want to impress your date, book a hot air balloon ride. A ride like this, especially at the right time of day can not only be a lot of fun, it can also be extremely romantic. There is someone else to do the driving and the two of you are left to talk and enjoy the magnificent scenery that surrounds the great city of Seattle.

In addition to each and every one of these ideas there are several other things you can do to bring out your inner romantic fool. Try walking in the rain without an umbrella. You are in Seattle after all; there should be rain at some point during your travels. Try a night at the theatre or ballet. Guys you cannot imagine how effective this is in proving your love to your lady. There are several theatres within the city to choose from. If you like old silent movies and will be in town on Monday night, you can catch Silent Movie Mondays at the Paramount.

You can ride the Space Needle to the Observation Deck and look out at the city lights or you could take a romantic sunset cruise on one of the many charter boats in and around the city. The Wooden Boat Museum is a great place to find a nice romantic boat to charter, or if you would rather go during the day in hopes of sighting some whales, there are several larger excursions that you could charter as well.

The bottom line, is that anything you do together that you both agree on and look forward to can be a romantic outing. The purpose of your trip is to build your relationship and have fun together.

The omnipresent Gateway Arch, whose height of 192 metres makes it the tallest monument in the United States is an elegant catenary arch with the ideal structure, materialising in concrete and steel the mathematical function of the hyperbolic cosine. It was designed by one of the great contemporary architects, the Finn Eero Saarinen. Through the arch’s hollow interior, an ingenious cross between an elevator and a cable car, whose egg-shaped pods adjust their position to remain level, carries visitors to the top, where the view spans limitless horizons. Spreading immediately beneath is the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.

St Louis became the country’s second most important port after New York, with moorings for more than a
hundred paddle steamers. These craft were converted by Mark Twain, the creator of Hucklebeny Finn, into part of America’s imagery, and today’s visitors can still embark on paddlewheelers for a brief river cruise.

At Union Station, it is still possible to sense the poetry ofthe railroad. First by boat and then by train, people of very varied origins anived in St Louis from the late 18th century until welt into the 20th.

There was a time when St Louis had over a hundred breweries. The Anheuser Busch Brewery, not far from the Arch, can still be visited. The Asian heritage persists in the food of the restaurants on Grand Street, and can be enjoyed with all the senses in the Missouri Botanical Garden, whose oriental gardens form just the right counterpoint to the Victorian fountains and statues of Tower Grove Park. Victorian taste survives in the Painted Ladies, the cotoured house fronts around Lafayette Square. Little Italy and The Hill dispiay their heritage proudly. Spanish traces are discreet, architectural and contemporary. The Afro-American heritage, on the other hand, is not so much visual as auditory.

The place to search for it is The Vilie, whose Sumner High School had Chuck Berry and Tina Turner among its pupils. Nothing, in fact, has done more to make the name of St Louis famous than music -from ragtirrr to jazz, and from the musical comedy Meet Me in StLouis and the first rock’n’roll to St Louis blues, which should be heard in the Soulard neighbourhood, even if it is no longer sung by Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong. The Walk of Fame on Delmar Boulevard is now paved with gold -stars commemorating perfomters from Josephine Baker to Miles Davis.

The old Pavilions, heritage of The Universal Expo,  stiil stretch around the edge of Forest Park, now housing the Art, History and Science Museums, and the traces left atso include the largest open-air opera auditorium in the country and a fabuious zoo housing 23,000 animals in a setting of hills and lakes.

In 1928, Charles Lindbergh set off on the first solo air crossing of the Atlantic on a plane named “The Spirit of StLouis” in recognition of the sponsorship of local businessmen. A iife-size replica of the plane looms before us as soon as we set foot in the airport. But the spirit of St Louis is not only inthe skies. It lives in the streets of the city and the memories of images, sounds, aromas and flavours of ail those who have known it.

Richmond has a sub-tropical climate. The city is also famous for its humidity, wich makes the temperature feel even hotter. The area is major producer of harms, apples and peanuts. A typical local meal might include fired chicken, dried peas, turnip, cornflour bread, sweet tea and pie.

The city has the only avenue in the United States with the category of a National Historical Landmark. Its collection of statues of Confederacy heroes was completed in 1996 with one of Artur Ashe, the Afro-American tennis player.

Richmond has rich historic parks and multitude of small museums, such as the house of Edgar Allan Poe. On display are many of his books and personal objects. Other interesting museums to visit include Virginia Museum of Fine Arts , Confederacy Musseum and Science Musseum.

Also worth visiting the historic neighbourhood of Jackson Ward and The Capitol, a Roman temple-like inspired building designed by Thomas Jefferson. Inside is the only marble statue of George Washington to have been carved directly from the life.