United States

Statue of Liberty

This 151-foot colossal copper figure was a gift from France in 1886; the neoclassical design by Bartholdi hides an internal iron skeleton engineered by Gustave Eiffel; arrive via the first ferry from Battery Park to touch the salt-pitted pedestal before the midday humidity rises; the crown offers a claustrophobic but definitive vantage point over the Hudson’s grey-green churning waters.

Lincoln Memorial

A Doric temple of Yule marble housing a 19-foot seated figure carved from 28 blocks of Georgia white crystalline; the 36 columns represent the states in the Union at the time of Lincoln’s 1865 death; climb the stone steps at midnight when the crowds vanish; the warm yellow floodlights turn the interior amber and the reflecting pool captures the monolith of the Washington Monument.

Golden Gate Bridge

The 1.7-mile suspension span is coated in International Orange to contrast against the Pacific’s pervasive marine layer; built in 1937; its twin towers reach 746 feet above the swirling currents of the Golden Gate Strait; walk the eastern span at 8 am when the fog pours over the Marin Headlands like slow-motion white lava; the hum of the tires on the steel grate is constant.

Independence Hall

The 1753 Georgian brick assembly room where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were debated and signed; the interior preserves the original floorboards and the chair used by George Washington; enter during the first morning tour when the dust motes dance in the light from the tall arched windows; the smell of aged linseed oil and old timber remains trapped in the rafters.

French Quarter

A 78-block historic district defined by 18th-century Spanish colonial architecture and wrought-iron balconies dripping with ferns; the humid air smells of chicory; swamp water; and jasmine; stand at the corner of Royal and Dumaine at dawn when the street cleaners finish and the brass bands haven't yet started; the sound of distant foghorns on the Mississippi River provides a low; rhythmic bass.

Yellowstone National Park

A volcanic caldera containing half of the world’s geothermal features; the Grand Prismatic Spring displays concentric rings of cyan and deep orange caused by heat-loving bacteria; at 6 am the steam from the Lower Geyser Basin obscures the bison herds moving through the frost-covered lodgepole pines; the air is thick with the scent of boiled sulfur and the sound of bubbling mud pots.

La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site

A massive 16th-century limestone fortification system featuring 40-foot-thick walls and circular 'garita' sentry boxes overlooking the Atlantic; the blue-grey cobblestones of the old city were cast from European furnace slag; walk the Paseo del Morro at dusk when the sea spray hits the sandstone; the kite-flyers on the green esplanade create a fluttering canopy against the Caribbean horizon.

Art Institute of Chicago

Two bronze lions guard a collection housing 300,000 works; including the definitive assembly of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces outside Paris; the Modern Wing’s 'flying carpet' roof filters natural light over the 1930s Americana of Edward Hopper; find the Thorne Miniature Rooms at 4 pm when the museum quietens; the precision of the 68 period interiors is dizzying in its micro-scale.

San Miguel Chapel

The oldest church in the continental United States; built by Tlaxcalan Indians in 1610 with adobe walls five feet thick; the interior sanctuary holds an Altar Screen from 1798 and a massive bronze bell cast in Spain; the dim light inside remains cool even when the New Mexican sun hits 90 degrees; the faint scent of cedar incense clings to the hand-hewn vigas.

Pearl Harbor National Memorial

The USS Arizona Memorial straddles the sunken 1941 battleship; where oil still bleeds to the surface in 'black tears' eighty years later; the 184-foot bridge structure is designed to sag in the middle but stand tall at the ends; arrive for the first boat at 7:30 am to stand in the assembly room before the tropical heat intensifies; the silence is profound.

Taos Pueblo

A multi-storied adobe complex inhabited continuously for over 1,000 years by the Tiwa people; the sun-baked mud walls are replastered annually with a mix of earth and straw; walk across the Red Willow Creek that bisects the village at midday; the sound of the water is the only noise permitted in the sacred precinct; the smoke from hornos ovens carries the smell of roasting corn.

Griffith Park and Observatory

A 4,310-hectare urban wilderness where the Art Deco observatory sits atop Mount Hollywood; the Foucault pendulum inside tracks the earth's rotation beneath a vaulted ceiling of celestial myths; hike the Brush Canyon Trail at sunset as the grid of the Los Angeles Basin ignites into a carpet of neon; the Hollywood Sign looms white and silent against the chaparral-covered ridges.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

A two-million-square-foot encyclopedic temple containing 5,000 years of global culture; the Temple of Dendur sits in a glass-walled hall over a reflecting pool designed to mimic the Nile; stand in the American Wing’s courtyard at 11 am when the light hits the stained-glass Tiffany windows; the scale of the Great Hall is large enough to contain the collective breath of the city.

Savannah Historic District

The 1733 urban plan consists of 22 public squares carpeted in azaleas and shaded by giant live oaks draped in Spanish moss; the architecture ranges from Federal to Gothic Revival in faded pastel stucco; sit in Monterey Square at 3 pm when the shadows of the moss create moving Gothic patterns on the pavement; the air is stagnant; heavy; and smells of platt mud.

Temple Square

The 10-acre global headquarters of the LDS Church features the six-spired Salt Lake Temple; built from quartz monzonite over 40 years starting in 1853; the Tabernacle's oval roof was engineered to create world-class acoustics without a single nail; listen to the organ rehearsal on a Thursday evening; the sound of 11,623 pipes vibrating through the wood benches is a physical sensation.

Yosemite Valley

A glacial gorge guarded by the 3,000-foot granite monolith of El Capitan and the sheer face of Half Dome; the mist from the 2,425-foot Yosemite Falls creates permanent rainbows in the spring; drive through Tunnel View at dawn when the valley floor is carpeted in white oak meadows and the granite walls are still steel-blue; the scent of crushed pine needles and cold stone is inescapable.

Freedom Trail

A 2.5-mile red-brick path connecting 16 sites essential to the American Revolution; including the 1680 Paul Revere House and the Old North Church; stand in the Granary Burying Ground at 10 am; the slate headstones are etched with skulls and wings from the 1700s; the sound of modern traffic on Tremont Street contrasts sharply with the stillness of the colonial-era graves.

Pike Place Market

A nine-acre historic district and the soul of the city; where fishmongers toss King Salmon over banks of crushed ice since 1907; the lower levels are a labyrinth of antique shops and the smell of roasting coffee and salt air; arrive at 6 am when the flower stalls are setting out fresh tulips; the neon 'Public Market' sign flickers red against the grey mist of Elliott Bay.

Vicksburg National Military Park

The site of the 1863 Siege of Vicksburg features 1,325 monuments scattered across 16 miles of rolling earthworks and trenches; the USS Cairo; a salvaged ironclad gunboat; sits in a protective canopy revealing its skeletal timber and iron skin; drive the park road at dusk as the fog settles into the ravines; the bronze soldiers on their pedestals appear to move in the shifting light.