New York
New York is the biggest city in the USA. The number of inhabitants is about 18 million. It belongs to the largest cities in the world (it is among Sao Paulo, Mexico City and Tokio). It is sometimes called „The Big Apple“. New York has five major parts: Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and Brooklyn. The black quarter – Harlem – is in northern part of Manhattan.
The original inhabitants were Indians, which is remembered by the name of the oldest part – Manhattan Island. This island was bought by the Dutch in 17th century. The original name was New Amsterdam and the city was renamed in 1644.
The city was built on a modern plan of streets and avenues, which follow a geometry shape and are numbered. Streets run east-west and avenues north-south. Only a few of them (the oldest) have their names, e. g. Wall Street, Broadway. Broadway is the centre of cultural life. There is concentrated most of entertainment (e. g. Metropolitan Opera or Carnage Hall). The island is washed by the Hudson River and the East River. East Village is a centre of many ethnic restaurants, boutiques and jazz clubs. Greenwich Village is the home of artists and writers.
New York is famous for its Manhattan skyline – a large number of skyscrapers on a small area. They started to build skyscrapers here because the price of land on the island was very high. The first skyscraper was built in 1903. Today they are built with the help of computers. In the fact the skyscrapers are small towns. We can find here residential quarters, offices, parking lots, restaurants, shops, fitness centres, and swimming pool. Living here is very expensive.
The highest skyscraper in New York was The World Trade Center. It was built in 1973 and had 110 floors and more than 100 000 people came here every day. But it was destroyed in 2001 by terrorists. Another interesting skyscraper in New York is Empire State Building. It has 102 floors and a TV tower and a restaurant at the top. There are also many others – e. g. Chrysler Building, PanAm Building, Trump Tower, Citicorp Center and UN building.
The only quiet place is Central Park where famous rock concerts take place. We can there relaxing by walking or jogging. But it is very dangerous place at night.
There are many attractive places where visitors like to go in New York. The most known bridge is the Brooklyn Bridge. There are many islands in this area – Roosevelt Island, Coney Island and Liberty Island with the Statue of Liberty. It´s a copy of a small statue given to the USA by France in 1884 as the symbol of the friendship between these two nations. And it is a symbol of freedom. The big statue stands near the port.
The New York is an important industrial city and business centre. It is also the biggest port in USA. There are 4 airports – J. F. Kennedy or La Guardia. New York has the largest subway system in the world. It is more than 400 kilometres long. New York has many universities (for example Columbia Uni) and galleries (for example The Museum of Modern Art, American Craft Museum or Metropolitan Museum).