What in the US reminds you of your travels?

Taking your idea in reverse, I love the places in my travels that remind me of the US. When taking the train across eastern Hungary towards Budapest, I was reminded of the little farms that dot the highways of southern Ohio and Indiana. The drive through the hills from Zagreb to Plitvice reminded me of the Appalachian foothills in eastern Kentucky even down to the small houses well off the road with a garden in the back that looks just a little too large for a single family, but just the right size for sharing with your neighbors. Growing up in that part of the US, it's nice to find those places abroad that bring your mind back home, and because of that I feel a deeper connection to some of those countries.

Hi Ray,

We are enjoying the snow day from the Vancouver side of the river. I have Hungarian goulash cooking and am having some of my precious earl gray tea from Harrods. We were in Switzerland and Bavaria last month and were hoping to see snow there but it was just dry and very cold. I guess at least we get to see snow this year somewhere. :-)

Stay warm!

Here is the first thing which crossed my mind: Leavenworth in state of Washington reminds me of Bavaria.
Then certain parts of Las Vegas reminds me of Paris, Venice.
Names (but just names) reminds me of Europe: Hanover in Pennsylvania (just add one more "N" and you are somewhere else), Berlin in Maryland, Moscow in Idaho and Vermont, Warsaw in New York, Praha in Texas, Bethlehem in Pennsylvania (I know Bethlehem is actually not in Europe but Rick has it in his Europe series) and there is another town in Pennsylvania (I never visited town with similar name in Europe) Intercourse.

The coastal areas of Turkey and inland around Ephesus, remind me a great deal of the central coast of California.

Ilja, don't forget Prague (pronounced PRAYg), Oklahoma, home of the Red Devils!

Ilja, there's also London, Paris, Athens, and Versailles (although the locals pronounce it "ver-SALES"), all in Kentucky.

Just sweated thru a 75F night, with max of 93F forecast today. No snow here.

my childhood was spent in parts of iowa that are flat as a table top....& all of the families i grew up w had a strong amount of german lineage. in my 30s i was able to tour in germany. the next couple of yrs, while driving thru the rolling hills of southern wisconsin and its dairy farms....i was struck by how much it looked like the farms of germany. how brave & trusting were all of those german immigrants to press thru to the midwest basically on word of mouth to settle an area that would allow them a similiar climate to farm just like they had "in the old country"

Mike W., Athens is also in Tennessee.

Living where I do in Oregon, I drive up and down the Willamette Valley a lot. It often puts me in mind of driving through Ireland. The dozens of different shades of green, the low rolling hills, the hundreds of sheep.
Then, in the reverse, when I went to Sweden I couldn't get over how much the countryside reminded me of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Probably why so many Swedes settled there.

And Ray, sorry about the snow. We didn't get it down here. It stayed north of Salem and east of I5. We got a little rain but that's all.

Solvang for Scandinavia,

Paris hotel in Las Vegas for Paris. (You can hardly tell the difference)

Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas--their canal is so real I was expecting pigeons.....and flooding.

London Bridge in Lake Havasu--just like crossing the Thames.

Epcot Center--see all of Europe in one day

Legoland--compact Europe

Ray--I totally agree with you about porridge (and about snow in Portland--I too am from the east coast). On our travels in Ireland we much preferred it to the traditional Irish breakfast. Several of our B&B hosts offered a splash of Bailey's on top. It might not be traditional but yum! When we got home I bought a can of McCann's and a bottle of Bailey's and have worked at recreating the experience ever since. We also spend a lot of time looking for the pub experiences we enjoyed in Ireland. Portland is a pretty good spot for that, though we do really like Nana's Irish Pub in Newport.

Another thing that reminds me of my travels: sports. The NBA especially has large numbers of foreign players from outside the continent. And I always root for my favorite countries at the Olympics, World Cup, etc.

The Napa valley reminds me of Provence.

PJ, I agree about Nana's in Newport - a bit of the ould sod in Oregon. Have you been to Corvallis? Cloud and Kelly's is another good Irish pub.

I like seeing natural land formations and plants that remind me of the US.

Prickly pear and oleander around the Mediterranean. Gorse and Scotch broom in Scotland. Thistles in Scotland. Rhododendron in lots of places. I'm sure there are many others that can be added to the list.

My favorite is the Massif de l'Esterel. Can you see NM or southern UT with an ocean?

Two years ago while on a road trip with a friend, we came across a sign to the Winston Churchill Museum. We quickly took a side trip to Fulton, MO to see it. Much to my surprise, it is a historic London Church reconstructed in mid-America. It commemorates Winston Churchill speech in Fulton in 1946 known as the "Iron Curtain Speech"

Take this link for the interesting story and history of the church redesigned by Christopher Wren and how it got to USA.

https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/reconstruction-of-the-church-of-st-mary.htmlhttp://

Making it more special was I was there viewing it with one of the friends that I had traveled with to England a few years prior. One of the exhibits compares this church to St. Paul's which we had seen together in London.

Paris is my favorite city and after 3 trips, I wanted to bring it home with me so when we redid our landscaping in 2015, we went with a French theme. We have lavender, roses, a few ornamental grasses, boxwood & other plants that reminded me of our trips to beautiful Paris. We also did a small fountain with a cherub, a couple of beautiful pots that I put seasonal flowers in, a gazing globe stand with two cherubs and also a tall statue of a woman holding a vase. Every spring it makes me so happy to see the beautiful flowers and takes me back in my memories to Paris.

When I visit the National Parks in the West like Yosemite, Zion, and the Grand Canyon, I see so many foreign tourists that I sometimes think I am back in Europe. It is so much fun to see the wonder and delight in their eyes as the view our great treasures for the first time.

The smell of diesel and asphalt on a hot day takes me back to Athens, Greece. Not very romantic, but it reminds me of steamy bus rides and sitting in crammed sidewalk cafes and hanging out on my balcony trying to find a breeze on a roasting summer night.