Trash production

One of the habits of US citizens I cannot stand very much is the production of rubbish my using disposable material whenever eating in a place for less than 50 Dollars/person. Even in the elegant Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles I had to beg to get my Cappuccino served in a porcelain cup instead in one of this disgusting polystyrol containers. I am not knowledgeable enough to decide if the environmental effect of washing all the porcelain cups is more severe than the disposal of all the rubbish, but I just don't like it.

Human Intervention and Parks

This year I had the chance to see twice National Parks in the United States and they are an admirable endeavour. I like also the philosophy behind. It does not put nature outside society or above humans. Nature is preserved for the use of humans

Food

The clichè about food in USA is still correct. Quantity is paramount, quality is optional - it has to be filling. Any many of the consequences are walking around: But this is only half the story: I already experience the excelllent culinary culture of Ithaca. The same in California: for less than 50 Dollars you get an excellent meal with high class wine - well this is correct for LA and San Francisco, not for Three Rivers in front of the Sequoia National Park. Here you are confined to the Diner experience as documented in the Photo.

Lack of Sophistication

The USA are producing space shuttles which go into the orbit. They are creating Skyscrapers of an extraordinary beauty. From Hollywood we get wonderful movies - why then the average things in the States are often so ugly? Why a very simple pension in the Trentino at the same price level is much more tended than a motel in California? Is this linked still to the recent settler past? :-))