New York City is called “The Big Apple”. It is the city that never sleeps. It is alive and full of adventures. It was founded in 1625 and chartered as a city in 1653.
NYC was first capital of the USA from 1785 to 1790. Beginning in 1892, millions of immigrants passed trough Ellis Island in New York Harbour. Their first image of America was the famous and beautiful Statue of Liberty, a gift from France in 1886. It is often called “The Lady” and offers a spectacular view of the NY skyline. NYC is divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Richmond. Boroughs are connected by bridges and tunnels. NYC has two major baseball league teams: the Mets and the Yankees. Mets play in Shea Stadium in Queens and Yankees play at Bronx’s Yankee Stadium.
The City offers many parks and neighbourhoods to relax and enjoy the beauty of nature. The best known is Central Park. It is enormous park in centre of Manhattan with lakes, woods and gardens. There you can do and see thousands different things: cycling, skating, boating, open-air theatre, concerts and artists. Manhattan is divided into East Side and West Side by Fifth Avenue. Fifth Avenue is place where shopping is big business. All major stores are here. It is also famous for its luxurious shops and jewelleries.
Housing in Manhattan is big problem. Most people rent the apartments in which they live. Over 200,000 people live in public housing projects. In other boroughs people own their own houses. Tree-fourths of New York’s population includes Irish, Italian, Jewish, Puerto Rican and black Americans. When you want to eat Chinese food you must go to the famous Chinatown. You can experience the sights, the sounds and above all smells and the tastes of true Chinese culture and cuisine. The Lower East Side of Manhattan is a “melting pot” of races, religions and cultures. At the northern part of the island is Harlem. In 1800s, many black families moved to this neighbourhood of handsome brownstone houses, schools and shops. Harlem became a centre of arts and entertainment in 1920s, an era known as the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem turned slowly into a slum. Now it is being revived by families and groups interested in preserving the area’s black and African history.
Another famous NY neighbourhood is Greenwich Village, which became a home struggling playwrights and artists. It is now a high rent district but remains an attraction to visitors.
In NYC you can chose different methods of travel.