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, and Richmond. 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 million 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 renamed it NY. In southern part of Manhattan island there used to be a wall against Indians, now there is Wall Street - the centre of financial life. Everyone who wants to be someone in the world of business tries to successful 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., The first thing, that you see coming to N.Y., America, is Statue of Liberty. 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.
From this Liberty Island you can have another typical and one of the most impressive views 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. The tallest of them were World Trade Centre Buildings so called Twin Towers, which became target 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 were built. There is St. Patrick´s Cathedral - the biggest cathedral in NY. It was inspirited by the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe and built in 1888. The most famous square is Time Square. It received its name after The New York Times (a magazine).
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 quickest.
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. 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. N.Y.´s museums have the work of some of the world´s best and most famous artists. 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...
