Introducing New York & Washington DC

Introducing New York and Washington D.C.

New York
New York is the largest city in the USA and an industrial port. It lies on the river Hudson and East River. There live 18 million people in N.Y. and 50 percent of them are white, 25 percent are black and the last 25 percent are Hispanic.
N.Y. has 5 boroughs - they are Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island.
It is one of the most important financial, commercial and cultural centres all over the world. There are more than 80 languages used here and about 100 religions - for example Catholicism, Jewish communities.

History:
The first people to come here were Indians - they were called so by Columbus. The first European was Giovanne da Verresano - he lived in Spain and he came here in 16th century. Later one bridge was named after him.
Next some Dutch men came and they founded New Amsterdam on the oldest part of Manhattan Island. They bought this Island from Indians for 25 Dollars. In the 17th century first slaves came here.
In 1664 a struggle between England and Holland finished and New Amsterdam became an English colony. English king Charles II. Gave it to his brother Duke of York and the city was renamed New York.
After the war of independence in 1789, when American people won, New York became the capital of the United States for 2 years.
In 19th century many emigrants came here, because people could choose their religion here and their religion or language was respected here. During 2nd world war many clever people from Europe were leaving here (Albert Einstein) so N.Y. became an intellectual centre. Lots of those people stayed also here after the war.
Immigrants formed their own parts of city as Chinatown, Little Italy, Harlem - people from Mexico or Portorico, Soho - these are special parts for people from China, Italy or Africa.

Transport:
After opening the Erie canal, which connected the Great lakes with Atlantic, N.Y. became an important port and people could travel there by ship. N.Y. has 3 main airports - for example J.F. Kennedy International Airport. There is a subway too, which is one of the largest and oldest in the world. There are yellow taxis called cabs for poorer people. You can use buses and trains the whole day. Some trains stations are very old but their quality is good.

Culture:
The Times Square is a place of theatres and concert halls. Very popular for new talent is Broadway, where are 40 theatres.
The largest museum of modern art in the world is the Museum of Modern Art. There are many famous pictures by Piccaso, V. van Gogh, Matisse, architectural models and photographs there.
Guggenheim museum shows more than 5000 paintings by old and modern arters. Solomon Guggenheim was a patron of arts and financed this museum.
Town plan:
N.Y. has a system of avenues and streets, which are numbered, they don't have names. There are 15 avenues, which go from north to south and 200 streets which go from west to east. There isn't this system of streets beside the Broadway. Broadway is a famous centre of theatres.
The centre of financial life is Wall Street and it is situated in the south of the city, where is the Stock Exchange. Wall Street is a centre with many banks.
Typical for N.Y. are skyscrapers.
Probably the most famous building in N.Y. is the Empire State Building. It is a skyscraper with about 100 floors. There is a TV tower and a restaurant on the top and people get there by lifts, which go very fast. Very well known was the World Trade centre too, N. York's highest skyscrapers and the second highest in the world after Sears Tower in Chicago. The doom of the twin towers took on the 11th September place by a plane crash.
Also very famous is Rocketfeller centre. There are alltogether 19 buildings. You can also see here many restaurants, shops and theatres there and it is a seat of Radio City Music Hall.
St Patrick's Cathedral is opposite the Rocketfeller Centre. It was built in gothic style in 19th century because of Americians think they don't have any historical place of that age like here in Europe.
The best known sight in N.Y. is the Statue of Liberty, which is situated on Manhattan Island. It is a tall woman with a torch and she holds a book with the date of the beginning of the independence of United States 4th July 1776. The statue was made in France and this one in N.Y. is just its copy - it is a symbol of hope and American freedom and friendship between USA and France.
The busiest shopping streets are the 5th avenue (where is Rockeffeller centre), Broadway and Madison Avenue. There are situated a lot of fashion stores and many other.
The largest park in N.Y. is Central Park from 19th century. It is very quiet place but it is dangerous after dark. The heart of N.Y. is Manhattan and it is a financial centre too. This city is full of crime. There are drug battles, gang wars and homeless people living in the streets. Lots of people, especially with small children, are moving away.

Washington D.C.

It is the capital of the USA. The D.C. stands for District of Columbia. It's situated on the Potomac River and about 4000000 inhabitants live there. It's the seat of the federal government of the United States.
History

It is built on a ten-mile-square plot of land ceded to the federal government by two states - Maryland and Virginia. District of Columbia was established by the Act of Congress in 1790 and site for the capital was chosen by President Washington himself. It isn't the first capital. New York and Philadelphia used to be capital earlier.
This city was first used as the seat of Congress in 1800.
It all was planned from the beginning - it was designed by the French engineer Pierre L'Enfant. The city was divided into four quadrants (Northwest, Southwest, Northeast, Southeast) with the Capitol as the centre. The streets from North to South bear numbers while the East-West streets are named A, B, C... It helps visitors to find their ways.
In the 1960s and 1970s there began the process of protection of historic buildings, old structures were renovated rather than demolished. At the same time there were established lots of parks and green spaces for which the city is famous.

Places of Interest

Capitol Building - situated on Capitol Hill, built to he plans of Dr. William Thorton, whose design was elected by competition. In 1814 the unfinished Capitol Building was partially destroyed by fire, but finally in 1827, the old Capitol was completed. It has two separate chambers - the House of Representative (south wing) and Senate (north wing), on the top of the building is the bronze Statue of Freedom, every four years the president comes here for his Inauguration
White House - president's residence, exterior walls were made of sandstone and painted on white, official rooms are on the first floor while second and third floor are reserved for the Presidential family, it has 132 rooms and 20 baths and showers. Than there is the Blue room - in this room the President and First Lady receive guests at state dinners.
Washington monument - was built in 1885, it's symbol of the President Washington and Washington city, about 170m high and 4,5m wide at base.
Jefferson Memorial - 1934, commemorates the third US President, adaptation of the ancient Roman Pantheon, a bronze statue of Thomas dominates the open-air interior of the Monument Jefferson holding the Declaration of Independence, the four wall panels surrounding the statue are inscribed with Jefferson's writings
Lincoln Memorial - 1922, commemorates the 16th US President. It is a white marble building designed by Henry Bacon and there is famous 6m high marble statue of a seated Lincoln.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial - a simple but solemn black granite wall engraved with the names of those 58 000 killed or missing in the Vietnam War.
Arlington National Cemetery - located across the Arlington Memorial Bridge. It overlooks The Potomac River and Washington. It is in Arlington in the state of Virginia. It is the national cemetery for American military men. Many outstanding Americans are buried there including Robert and John F. Kenedy. It contains the graves of over 200 000 military personnel.
Pentagon - largest office building in the world, situated in Arlington, it's called the Pentagon because of its shape and I have to mention, that it was the center of the plane attack like the Twin towers too.
The Mall - it is a square where a lot of museums are situated. On the East side of it the Capitol is situated and on the other (west) side it is the Washington monument.