New York

NY city is the biggest city in the USA, in spite of the fact that it is not capital. It belongs to the largest in the world. N.Y. is situated on the eastern coast of America at the mouth of the Hudson and the East River, so in the past it was a gate to U.S. for immigrants who were coming there in l9th and 20th centuries. It is an important sea port. NY is divided into 5 sections: The island of Manhattan is the heart of the city. The others are Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Richmond (Staten Island). People often call NY The Big Apple, because of jazz musicians who all wanted to work there in the 1920s and 1930s, because they wanted some of The Big Apples, which means work and money.

N.Y. is almost 400 years old town with present population of more than l4 milion people. It was originaly called New Amsterdam and it was a little Duch town built on a small part of Manhattan. It was bought from the original inhabitants Indians for 24 dollars in goods. In 1644 the British captured the city and renamed it NY. Because of its advantageous position it soon became an important trading port. In southern part of Manhattan island there used to be a wall against Indians, now there is Wall Street - the centre of financial life with the most important stock-exchange in the world. It is one of the most important market of certificates in the world there. Everyone who wants to be someone in the world of bussines tries to succesful right here. N.Y. is now an important seaport with a good connection with inland, the largest business, industrial and cultural centre of U.S, centre of the art world, the media world,the theatre world and the fashion world.

There are a lot of things to see in N.Y., and it is easy for the visitors to get to the different parts of the city. The first thing, that you see comming to N.Y.,America, is Statue of Libety. It stands on Liberty island. This symbol of freedom and democracy was donated to the Americans by France to commemorate the alliance between the USA and France during the American revolution. It is a statue of a woman who symbolized the freedom and friendship. She holds a burning torch in her right hand and a law book in her left one. There is an inscription „July 4th, 1776“ what means the birth date of the USA. It was a gift of the French people to the Americans. The designer of the framework was Eiffel – the famous creator of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

It was brought to America by a ship and erected there in honour of the 110th anniversary of the birth of the USA.

From this Liberty island you can have another typical and one of the most impressive view of N.Y. City. It is the Manhattan skyline that is dominated by a number of skyscrapers on a small area. They started to build skyscrapers here because of the lock of space and the high price of land on the island. Many of them are not very beautiful, but some are wonderful and very modern. Some are interesting because you can see for many kilometres from the top. The tallest of them were World Trade Centre Buildings so called Twin Towers, which became terget of the terroristic attack in September 2001 and now there is place called Ground Zero. The eight wonder of world is called the Empire State Building, which was built in 1931 and it was the first skyscraper and the highest building not only in New York but also all over the world for a long time. At the top there is a TV tower and a restaurant. It was the highest building in the world until the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur came before it. The next famous skyscraper is the Rockfeller centre. Not far from there, there is St. Patrick´s Cathedral - the biggest cathedral in NY. It was inspirated by the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe and built in 1888. The most famous square is Time Square. It was known as the center of performing arts in New York. It received its name after The New York Times (a magazine). The square has lost most of its glamour in recent years. However, one popular tradition from its heyday persists: people still come there to welcome in the New Year.

Travelling in the N.Y. is quite easy. You can take the subway- N.Y.´s underground railway, bus or taxi. There are 11 000 yellow taxis in N.Y. and you can stop one on the street when you want. The N.Y.´s subways are noisy and dirty, but it is the cheapest and the qiuckest. Millions of people use subway to get to and from work every day. You can travel a lot around N.Y.´s boroughs, where there is lot of interesting places to see. The northern part of Manhattan is Harlem, where many black families live. In the 20s it became a centre of arts and entertainment – black poets, painters and musicians lived and worked there. In Chinatown is many interesting shops and good restaurants. Little Italy is just north of Chinatown and has the sights, smells, and sounds of other Italian cities. There is also a large Puerto Rican population. Another famous New Your neighbourhood is Greenwich Village, which became a home to struggling playwrights and artists, who lived in the old houses on the little streets.

There are interesting shops, cafes, art galleries and ´off-broadway´ theatres. A quiet place to get away from the noise and the crowds of the city is Central Park. New Yorkers love to walk and play there. It offers various summer and winter attractions such as zoo, ice-skating rink, an open air theatre, tennis courts, bikings paths, children playgrounds, concerts and dances. And what you can do after dinner in one of the 17 000 restaurants, cafes, fast foods? It is said that you can eat in N.Y. every night for fifty years and never visit the same cafe or restaurant twice. So in the evening you can go to the theatre, or the ballet, or perhaps listen to some music. You can do something different every night of the week. Most of the theatres are in the streets near Times Square and on Broadway. N.Y. is a wonderful city for music, especially jazz. Sometimes you can hear a rock concert at Madison Square Garden, which is also place to go to see basketball and hockey games. Americans love to watch an exciting games such as baseball or hockey. National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadow is place for tennis lovers. There is organized U.S. Open Tennis Championship every September. N.Y.´s museums have the work of some of the world´s best and most famous atrists. The favourite is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you do not like art and culture, you can go shopping. You can buy everything you want, and as N.Y.s said everything you do not want, too. You have lot of opportunities in N.Y., so you can spend there 24 hours non-stop without sleeping or any relax. I think that N.Y. belongs to the most famous and interesting cities in the world...