LONDON, NEW YORK AND OTHER BRITISH AND AMERICAN CITIES

LONDON
London is the capital of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the seat of Government, Parliament, political, cultural and economic center of the country. It spreads out on both banks of the river Thames in the south-east of the country. The whole city consists of own City of London and 32 boroughs.

Central London is where most of the famous sight are. There are chic chops, theatres, beautiful residental areas, great parks and the famous Trafalgar Square which many Londoners thing of as the center of their city. Near the West End, just to the South, is Westminster, where Buckingham Palace, Parliament and the Government of England are located.

The Tower of London is the capital’s top tourist attraction. The Tower served till the 16th century as a royal home, a prison, an execution site and an observatory. Now it is a museum where tourists go to see an arsenal of weapons, the Crown Jewels in the Jewel House, the prison where many famous prisoners were kept. Next to the Tower stands Tower Bridge, the most famous and distinctive bridge of London. The largest and best-known church of the City is St. Paul’s Cathedral. Almost 100 metres above the Houses of Parliament rises the clock tower called Big Ben, one of the best-known of London’s landmarks.
There are 27 bridges over the Thames and 8 tunnels under the river.


WASHINGHTON
Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia) is the national capital of the United States, the seat of the President, federal government and Congress and the political, cultural and economic center of the country.

Washington is world famous for its parks and green spaces. About 7 thousand acres of the District is currently devoted to public parkland.
The District of Columbia was established by Act of Congress in 1790. The site for the capital was chosen by President George Washington himself and the capital was designed by the French engineer Pierre L’Enfant. He was helped by Thomas Jefferson, later the third President of the United States. The city was first used as the seat of Congress in 1800.

NEW YORK
New York is the largest city in the USA and an industrial port. It lies on the east coast at the mouth of the Hudson and East River. The whole city consists of 5 boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island (Richmond). It’s one of the most important financial, commercial and cultural centres in the world.