USA
New York
In the largest city of the country, its economic capital, the boards of the largest firms, banks, and insurance companies are concentrated. The New York Stock Exchange is the world’s largest financial and banking center.
The New York metropolitan area (Greater New York) has a population of almost 20 million. It occupies an area of about 10,000 km2 at the mouth of the Hudson River with numerous bays and channels that form convenient harbors. The city itself has a territory of about 800 km2, including part of the adjacent Long Island, and is divided into five districts, the boundaries of which are the straits and channels. More than 60 bridges have been built in New York, ranging in length from 20 to 1,000 meters or more.
The central part of New York is Manhattan (“rocky area”). This small granite island was discovered in 1524 and, according to legend, was purchased from the Indians for $24. The island (area — 58 km2) stretches along the Hudson River for 21 km with a width of no more than 4 km between the course of the river and the Eastern Channel.
The beginning of urban development was laid by a fortification on the southern tip of the island, which protected the city from the sea. Now the Battery Park is laid out here, and from here begins the longest street in New York — Broadway (“wide road”), which repeats the great Indian trail and, bizarrely meandering, runs diagonally along the entire island from south to north. Here, repeating the old protective shaft with a wall running across the southern tip of the island, Wall Street (“wall street”) passes, where the buildings of the stock exchange and banks are located. This street is a symbol of the financial power of the United States.
The southern part of Manhattan with a rectangular layout of streets (“streets” and avenues) and high-rise buildings concentrated the entire business life of New York. More than a million people rush to work here every day. A huge flow of business people comes here from other parts of the United States, many come just to look at the “miracles” of the largest city in the world.
Both summer and winter, New York receives a huge flow of tourists. What attracts them to New York?
The world-famous Statue of Liberty rises on an island at the entrance to New York Bay. From the boat, on which tourists swim up to the island, and from the observation deck, located in the crown of the statue, breathtaking views of the skyscrapers of Manhattan open up.
Broadway is unique, with its noisy crowd, the flow of cars, shining advertising and bright original shows in numerous Broadway theaters.
It strikes the imagination, sung by V.V. Mayakovsky, the grandiose Brooklyn Bridge (length — about 2 km), connecting Manhattan with Long Island.
Central Park (4 km long and 800 m wide) is the only place where you can see outcrops of bedrocks that make up Manhattan Island.
New York is home to the headquarters of the United Nations; the land on which the building of this international organization was built was donated by N. Rockefeller.
The Metropolitan Museum, which houses the largest collection of works of fine art, is also interesting for its architectural surprises and gigantism. In one of its halls, an ancient Egyptian temple is completely exposed, in another hall there is a facade of one of the buildings of Broadway. Of great interest are private collections, consisting of a wide variety of paintings, sculptures, etc.
In general, New York is famous for its numerous museums: the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Primitive Art, the Museum of the American Indian, the Guggenheim Museum (notable for its original architectural design), etc.
At Flea Markets, including in the Chelsea area, you can sometimes accidentally buy a very expensive or antique item cheaply.
Chinatown Chinatown among the numerous and large ethnic communities of New York (Jewish, Negro, Hispanic, Italian) is famous for its restaurants where you can eat deliciously and inexpensively. Chinatown, which has about 500 restaurants, is considered the most “gastronomic” quarter of the city.
Wealthy New Yorkers prefer not to use the subway (New York “subway”). Guides scare tourists with its bad smell, stuffiness and robbers, nevertheless, residents of many, especially remote, areas use the subway, the fastest mode of transport that has been operating in New York for a hundred years.
Washington
The city was founded in 1791 specifically to accommodate federal authorities in territory that did not belong to any state. This is the District of Columbia, whose borders now coincide with the city. The population of the capital of the country with a suburban area is about 3.5 million people. Washington is located on both banks of the lower reaches of the Potomac River, which can be reached by small ships. The appearance and life of this city is entirely subordinated to its administrative and political purpose. Here is the residence of the President of the United States (White House), the Congress building (Capitol), federal ministries, embassies, etc. Washington is an important scientific and cultural center. The layout of the city is free, with a lot of fountains, pools, the city is buried in greenery, it is decorated with a sea of flowers.
The tallest building in the American capital is the Capitol, erected in the style of the ancient Roman era of the Caesars on a high hill. No building in Washington should be taller than the Capitol. When approaching this building, it suddenly grows in size and has a truly majestic appearance. Everyone can enter the Capitol and freely listen to the meetings of Congress and the Senate.
The White House is a relatively low-rise building, surrounded by lush green trees. It is amazing that the US presidents who lived here carefully preserved and multiplied the legacy of their predecessors, and the estate turned into a box of unique jewelry.
Washington is famous for the buildings of the FBI and the Pentagon, Arlington Cemetery, the National Gallery of Art, the National Museum of Aeronautics, the Library of Congress, the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, the memorials of the presidents of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, the recently opened Roosevelt Memorial. All these attractions attract a lot of tourists from all over the world to Washington.
Miami
The city is the center of a large resort area located on the Atlantic coast of the Florida peninsula. The first settlement arose here on the coastal ridge in 1891, when a certain Julia Datol purchased an estate in this land of “eternal summer” for $ 40 and named it Miami. Over time, the town of Miami has become an almost uninterrupted chain of resort villages, stretching along the beautiful sandy beaches of the east coast of Florida, and has become a kind of suburban resort, where residents of New York and other cities come even for the weekend. The population of Greater Miami is about 3 million inhabitants.
The mild and warm oceanic climate, year-round sea bathing, lush subtropical vegetation, and abundant swamp game have made South Florida the country’s premier winter resort, a favorite destination for tourism and hunting. There are excellent luxury hotels, swimming pools, boat stations, many restaurants and other facilities serving the flow of tourists (several million annually) coming here from all over the world.
In addition to the sea and the sun, tourists are offered rides on a sea tram and a yacht, a dolphin show in a marine aquarium, an excursion to an Indian reservation, collecting sea shells on the west coast of Florida (Sanibel Island), as well as a bus trip to Cape Canaveral, where the spaceport is located. them. John F. Kennedy, or a trip to Key West along the highway, thrown along the chain of Florida Keys and leaving the Gulf of Mexico for
Visiting Disney parks in Miami-Orlando is also unforgettable, where both adults and children can visit different countries and magical kingdoms, talk with cartoon and fairy tale characters, visit various attractions — in a word, get a lot of pleasure.
Buffalo
One of the major cities on the coast of the Great Lakes — Buffalo — is located at the head of the Niagara River, which connects Lake Erie with Lake Ontario. This is an important transshipment point on the way of goods going to the Atlantic coast. The city attracts tourists with Niagara Falls, one of the most remarkable natural objects on the American continent.
Niagara — the only drain of the Great Lakes system — is very full-flowing, its flow is 5.9 thousand m3 per second. The length of the river is just over 54 km. The bed of Niagara forms a rapid stone hill about 100 m high, half of which falls on the Niagara Ledge, from where the famous Niagara Falls, one of the “miracles” of America, falls. The US-Canada border divides this “miracle” in half, and in this place on both banks of the Niagara, small towns with the same name arose — Niagara Falls. They are the centers of pilgrimage for tourists, the number of which reaches
Chicago
The most important industrial center of the Great Lakes region — Chicago — has about 8 million inhabitants (with suburbs). The city stretches along the southern coast of Lake Michigan for almost 140 km. It is a major transport hub and a center for metallurgy, oil refining and electrical engineering. The significance of Chicago as a scientific and cultural center is great. The sights of Chicago include the complex of the University of Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum of Natural History, and an art gallery. The business districts of the city abound with skyscrapers, among which the
Chicago is also known for its revolutionary traditions. On the day of May 1, 1886, a mass demonstration of workers was held here, in 1889, at the Paris Congress of the Second International, May 1 was declared the Day of International Solidarity of Workers.
San Francisco
The historic center and the main Pacific port of the United States — San Francisco — the Americans call the “pearl of the West Coast.” In the XVIII century, the Spaniards built here the first settlement and a church in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, after whom the city was later named.
San Francisco is located on a narrow hilly peninsula separating the San Francisco Bay from the open ocean. The Golden Gate Strait, leading to the bay, limits the territory of the city from the north. The presence of a convenient sea bay turned San Francisco into a major port and an important US naval base on the Pacific coast. The expanded city, together with the suburbs, now almost completely occupied the shores around the bay. Its separate areas are connected to the central part by giant suspension bridges, which are a marvel of engineering technology, for example, a two-tiered Bay Bridge (almost 13 km long), thrown from the city center across the bay to the town of Auckland. No less impressive is the Golden Gate Bridge, which connects both sides of the strait.
San Francisco has long been the largest city on the Pacific coast, but in recent decades, Los Angeles has taken its place. In the modern boundaries of the urban agglomeration of San Francisco has about 4.5 million inhabitants. It is a major scientific, educational and cultural center of the American West. Here are the California and Stanford universities, many research laboratories and “high-tech” industries. The city’s development is dominated by high-rise buildings, and there are many skyscrapers in the center. Among the picturesque national quarters, Chinatown is the most attractive with its buildings resembling Chinese pagodas, as well as numerous souvenir shops, some of which are true works of art. There is a cable car in the old town: funicular trams, living museum exhibits, move along one of the steepest streets — Powell to Fisherman’s Wharf. “Attraction” of San Francisco — a large number of representatives of sexual minorities, the city is considered the capital of gays.
In the vicinity of the city there is a viticultural valley of Vine Country (wine country), where they produce wines that are not inferior to French ones. The resort town of Calistoga is famous for its mud and hydropathic baths.
In 1945, the United Nations was established in San Francisco.
Los Angeles
The largest city on the Pacific coast of the United States, together with the suburbs and adjacent urban areas merged with it, occupies more than 10 thousand km2 and has more than 12 million inhabitants. This is a major port, the largest center of the aerospace and radio-electronic industries, a famous climatic resort and the main center of the US film industry.
The city is located in an intermountain depression on the Pacific coast near the southern border of the United States. It was here that in 1781 Spanish missionaries founded the village of El Pueblo de Los Angeles, which later became a city. Modern Los Angeles is built up mainly with small cottages, the arrays of which are interspersed with oil rigs and factory buildings. There is no clearly defined city center, there are relatively few skyscrapers. The main mode of transport is a private car.
The peculiarity of the city — the development of the resort business, the film industry and fine industries — is undoubtedly associated with climatic features. The fertile dry Mediterranean climate, 300 days of sunshine a year and the constant moist ocean breeze attract millions of vacationers, tourists, filmmakers and retirees who come here for permanent residence. The most serious problems in the city are the lack of water and the danger of earthquakes.
In the city center on Olvera Street, you can admire the national dances of the Mexicans and buy original souvenirs. There is a small corner of the East in Los Angeles — Chinese Chinatown, where there is an atmosphere of calm, polite bows and smiles, a lot of Chinese goods and Chinese. The embankments and beaches of the city are good at any time of the year: a light breeze from the ocean, the rustle of palm trees, cozy cafes. But staying in Los Angeles is remembered mainly by the numerous entertainments for which there are special parks in the city. For example, in the Pacific Ocean Park, you can watch performances of fur seals and dolphins, in water amusement parks, which are allowed to visit only in bathing suits, tourists will be driven along the waterfall and from a wide variety of slides, they will give the opportunity to experience the elements of the sea wave. And all this will be a lot of fun for both children and adults.
A visit to the huge Disneyland park, created by the famous film director Walt Disney and opened in 1955, leaves an unforgettable impression. Up to 10 million people come here every year. This is a fairy-tale kingdom, where the scenery of many Disney films is reproduced, corners are created that imitate the nature and life of the population, and various breathtaking attractions are built. Here you can find dinosaurs, caves filled with treasures, haunted cemeteries, the house of the three little pigs and much more.
The world-famous Hollywood is one of the former suburbs of Los Angeles. Currently, this is the place where the famous film studios are concentrated. Hollywood is called the capital of cinema, where annually in the huge amphitheater “Hollywood Bowl” all-American festivals are held and Hollywood’s highest awards are presented — the Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars. The sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard are embossed with the names of famous movie stars, framed in crimson granite five-pointed stars. In front of the Chinese theater, on a small memorial platform, you can see the prints of the palms and feet of famous film actors.
Of interest is the Temple of the Five Religions and the adjacent park on Lake Shrine. The various centers here represent Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism, and after the bustling bustle of the city and the entertainment of Los Angeles, this place is conducive to quiet walks and reflection.
Las Vegas
A city in the Nevada desert — Las Vegas — is located near a large dam and the Hoover Dam hydroelectric power station on the Colorado River, which is part of the Lake Mead National Recreational Zone. Las Vegas is usually reached by bus, which goes from Los Angeles for three to four hours. The permanent population is no more than 500 thousand people. The city, specially equipped as a center for tourism, recreation and gambling, constantly attracts a flow of tourists from all over the world.
Las Vegas is an amazing city that exists due to the most mysterious and uncontrollable human passion — the passion for the game. In Las Vegas — 74 huge casinos, the world’s largest hotel “MGM” (MGM) with 5005 rooms. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been invested in the creation of the Entertainment City. On the central Las Vegas Boulevard, there are casino pavilions built in the ancient Roman and Greek style, imitating the Sahara desert and the seaside riviera. There is a Treasure Island casino and a small Church in the West, pavilions in the form of a tower rising into the “stratosphere”, a New York circus in miniature. The ancient Egyptian pyramid towering above the city is impressive — the Luxor Hotel-Casino. It occupies an area that can accommodate 9 “Boeing” — the largest passenger aircraft. In Las Vegas, a daily holiday — festivals, shows, fireworks. At night, the city is flooded with lights, and its hectic life does not stop for a minute.
But the main thing, of course, is the game. In the huge halls of the casino there are thousands of slot machines, roulettes, playing tables covered with green cloth. Here, croupiers, bar waiters, security guards are on duty around the clock — players can feel comfortable and safe. There are usually several hundred players. Very different people, different stakes, but everyone wants to win. And they win, which is periodically announced and the lucky one is named. But... they also lose. And the losers’ money makes up a large part of the multi-million dollar profits of casino owners.
From Las Vegas, you can make an interesting excursion to the Grand Canyon of Colorado, which Americans consider one of the wonders of the world.
