Road Trip USA · 2017
New York City · Washington DC · Niagara Falls · Chicago · Route 66 · Petrified Forest · Canyon de Chelly · Moument Valley · Natural Bridges Monument · Lake Powell · Lower Antelope Canyon · Horseshoe Bend · Bryce Canyon · Zion National Park · Grand Canyon · Joshua Tree National Park · Los Angeles · Highway 1 · San Francisco · Muir Woods · Napa Valley · Lake Tahoe · Salt Lake City · Yellowstone National Park · Devils Tower · Mount Rushmore · Chicago
July 31, 2017
Chicago: A Homecoming with Thunder & Tears.
It was pouring like hell. The air was just white. Thick white fog. I tried to guess where the gas station might be. It was on my GPS but I was not able to see anything at all. After I found it I found out that my credit card was not working there and I only had $ 5 cash left. Thunder was rumbling so loud that the asphalt seemed to shake. I was back in Chicago!
July 12, 2017
Yellowstone: Right into the Heart of the Earth.
“You want it darker, we kill the flame”. The deep voice of Leonard Cohen roamed through the car. A dark blue river plunked above yellow rocks right next to the car just to tumble into a deep nothing. Steam was rising around the corner out of a turquoise crater. We had to get out of the car for a closer look. And while I was looking into the crater all my words and thoughts seemed to collapse into it.
July 8, 2017
The Wild Way Back: Girl from the North Country.
The morning light shines on a thin layer of fog atop the Golden Gate Bridge as I leave San
Francisco. I will go back home. Somehow. That provokes a strange feeling in me. But I still have a month to go.
A month in the wild
nature I hope to find in the northern regions of the USA. Blue lakes, snow, dark evergreen trees, hot springs. A month in which I hope to spend many nights more privately. I signed up for
Couchsurfing.
June 23, 2017
San Francisco: With Flowers in my Hair.
The orange street car was passing the purple house by ringing a light bell. From the front of the house flags with rainbow colors were waving in the breeze. It smelled a little like ocean mixed with weed. At the bus stop on the other side of the street the face of Janis Joplin was smiling from a poster. It’s 2017. 50 years after the “Summer of Love”.
June 11, 2017
LA: On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
A woman with a pink “I love California“ print on her shirt was sitting in the nice restaurant. She lifted her dog up to the table and gave him a huge piece of meat from her plate. Her friends were laughing. They all had holes in their jeans. Right next to that scenery a homeless guy gazed out of his rotten tent. He looked tired and worn out as he took his empty plastic bottle and walked over to the public restrooms. He also had holes in his jeans.
June 3, 2017
Death and Beauty in the High Desert.
A lemon chrome butterfly was fluttering alongside the green river. He was nearly as large as my hand. Green trees and red sandstone mountains were framing the scenery. All I could hear was the wind, the water and a screaming hawk. I’m joking? No, I’m not. This is a place you have to see before you will believe it. A place you can’t imagine.
May 22, 2017
Route 66 (3) – Lost in Time with Candlelight and Enchantment.
To be honest: Route 66 between Illinois and Oklahoma is as exciting as the Autobahn between Wuppertal and Herne in Germany (as exciting as South Dakota). That means fields, fields, electrical towers, fields and scruffy advertisements alongside the road. But then I hit that yellow sign like jumping into a pot of honey: “New Mexico – Land of Enchantment“. Shining like the sun. And suddenly somebody tore down the curtain for a landscape full of cacti, red rocks and wide open spaces.
May 14, 2017
Route 66 (2) – Haunted and Scared by a Storm.
It’s summer on Route 66. The sun is burning, the asphalt is shimmering in the hot light. But not today. On an overcast morning in Joplin. Dark black clouds waited on the horizon like a wall. I grabbed my stuff as usual to follow the historic road down to Tulsa. From Missouri through Kansas to Oklahoma. Visiting old gas stations, museums, oddities. I often meet smiling people alongside my path. But not today.
May 11, 2017
Route 66 (1) – All the Way Down to California!
The German couple looked puzzled by signing the contract for its rental car. I hesitated for a moment then I talked to them. They seemed to be very relieved. The guy from Alamo also felt relieved because now he got someone who was able to translate everything and I also was relieved because I had not to think about how to get my own car out of that traffic hell in Downtown Chicago. Only few minutes later I was off. Eleven weeks just me and my car on the road from east to west and back again.
May 4, 2017
„I Love NYC but my Heart Belongs to Chicago.”
The ’L’ Train is rushing in like a silver lightning on golden trails. Right between beige Art Déco, old clocks and orange lanterns reflecting in the puddles on the brittle asphalt. Skyscrapers are hiding behind the fog and flowers are rustling in the wind. Chicago – a beautiful time machine. Music in the streets, the home of Blues and Jazz. A city made out of water, fire and wind.
April 28, 2017
Niagara Falls: A Dragon in a Hell of Water.
April 23, 2017
Washington D.C.: The Toilet of George Washington.
If New York City was a bright red jalapeno pepper then Washington D.C. would be the cold white milk you’re drinking afterwards. Everything here seems to be quiet, majestic and serious. The subway only has a few lines but it has carpet and leather seats. Green leaves are rustling in the sun and fountains are splashing. This is the city where “The Mall” is no shopping mall and even George Washington’s toilet seems to be an attraction.
April 19, 2017
Walk across Harlem: Dangerous & Desirable.
When people think of Harlem they often think of drugs, violence and prostitution. Yeah, that’s right – when you think back to the 70s up to the 90s. But what is Harlem about in 2017? I went there to check it out!
April 16, 2017
Art in New York City: Van Gogh, Banksy & Walking on High Line.
Mosquitoes flying around a lantern. Audrey Hepburn’s face
breaking out of a color splash. A painted bird behind a bush. Then you have a furry cup and a night full of energetic stars. And don’t forget the urban garden on the old railway. New York – a
treasure chest of art!
April 12, 2017
The 1,000 Faces of New York City's Architecture.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral is shimmering. Bright and huge. But not huge enough for all the skyscrapers around. The church still seems tiny. With all the reflections of the glass fronts it looks like standing in a fishbowl. The metro is howling in the underground looking like an express coming straight from the 50s. And there are also the silent falls of Grond Zero.
April 7, 2017
Booklove, Lady Liberty and lots of emotions.
By entering the New York Public Library I felt like I had entered Hogwarts. Warm candlelight
all around, huge stairs and marble arches. Founded in 1895 the library actually contains round about 15 Million items like books and DVD.
But where are all those books? I can’t see many of
them.
April 5, 2017
Arrival: Lost in the Metro System of New York City.
It’s 6 am at Düsseldorf Airport. Thick fog is hanging in the air and the plane had to wait for the sky to clear up. I’m feeling very mixed up because of family and friends I’m going to leave behind for 4 months.
March 15, 2017
USA 2017 - My Childhood Dream Comes True.
INTO THE WILD! I quit my job and packed my cases to live my childhood dream: I’m going to travel the USA for 4 months starting in April. Alone, adventurous and without any obligations. 16.000 miles are laying ahead by plane, bus and car. Frost and heat up to 122 F. Big cities, high mountains, National Parks, oceans and deserts.