The Hermitage in Leningrad from Vasilyevsky Island.
When I was young, my family traveled extensively throughout the Northeastern U.S. We frequently went to Sewickley PA (just east of Pittsburgh on the Ohio River) for our family reunion. The reunions also took us to Virginia and Detroit, We also visited family in Cleveland, Cincinatti, Louisville, DC, Richmond.
In 1983 I drove across country from NY to San Diego. The country turns most interesting west of the Mississippi. Coming from New York, New Mexico was unlike any scenery I had seen before, but the Grand Canyon took my breath away. Not even the view from the World Trade Center can compare to this view.
In 1989, as part of the Soviet-American-Sail, I traveled to Helsinki, Finland enroute to Moscow. During the 4 days I was there, I stayed in the apartment of a Russian family. It was like visiting with a member of my own family except for the language difficulties. After Moscow, I traveled to Leningrad where I stayed with a another family and again the hospitality was exceptional.
In June of 1994 I traveled to Osaka, Japan. I stayed there with friends that I had made during my trips to Moscow and Istabul. While I was there we went to a resort town on the north shore named Kinosaki. There we stayed in a traditional Japanese Inn (no western furniture). I missed the earthquake there by a matter of months (very scarry)