New York city

•    New York City is the most densely populated city in the United States.
•    The city was established by the Dutch in 1625, it was called New Amsterdam until 1664 when the colony came under English control.
•    It was the capital from the 1785 until 1790 during the War of independence. Since 1790 has been the biggest city in the US.
•    Today it is one of the most famous center of business and finance, education, art, media, fashion and entertainment. It is an important center of politics and international relations, because of the seat of the United Nations.
•    We can find here four airports and it has largest subway system in the world
•    New York is the birthplace of many cultural movements, styles in music ( hip hop, punk, salsa, disco etc.), art styles and it's the home of Broadway theatre.
•    The city is also important in the American film industry. It is the second largest center for the film industry in the United States.
•    The city has more than 2,000 arts and cultural organizations and more than 500 art galleries of all sizes.
•    The city is sometimes referred to as "The City that Never Sleeps", while other nicknames include The Capital of the world, The Big Apple or Gotham (fictional city best known as home of Batman).
•    It has 18 million inhabitants.
Geography
•    New York City is located in the Northeastern United States, in southeastern New York State, on the Hudson River. Much of New York is built on the three islands of Manhattan, Staten Island, and Long Island.
•    NY consists of five boroughs: Manhattan, The Bronx, The Queens, Brooklyn and Richmond or Staten Island.
•    Manhattan:
o    The most important of them. It has a modern layout, there are avenues running from south to north and they have names
o    The streets run from east to west and they have numbers.
o    In total, there are 12 long avenues and 500 shorter streets
o    Is situated on a rocky island between the East River an the Hudson River and the name is from an Indian name man-a-hat-ta meaning heavenly land.
o    There are luxurious shops, hotels and offices on Fifth Avenue. The Empire state Building is locates there (Construction time was only 1 year and 45 days)
o    Broadway: runs across the streets and avenues. It is more than 19 km long, there are 33 theatres also the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, cinemas, restaurants, clubs and bars.
o    Times Square: is centre of entertainment. There are departments’ stores, shops, restaurants, nightclubs, hotels. It’s named after the former buildings of the NY Times newspaper.
o    Wall street: is the financial centre of the world. There are banks and the stock exchange
o    Harlem: is a black quarter with many poor and unemployed people.
•    Brooklyn:
o    Is the largest of the five, is situated on Long Island.
o    Originally it was swamp and the Dutch filled it with their garbage and created Brooklyn.
Sports
•    New York has always been closely involved in the world of sports. The city also boasts two of the country's most famous stadiums: Yankee an Shea.
•    New York City has teams in the four major North American professional sports leagues.
o    New York Mets, New York Yankees- baseball
o    New York Rangers- hockey
•    Queens is host of the U.S. Tennis Open, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments.
•    The New York city marathon is one of the world's largest.
Places of interest:
•    Liberty Island with the Statue of Liberty together with Manhattan skyline are the first sights to attract the visitor's sign when approaching New York from the sea. The  Statue was erected on Liberty Island in 1886. It has become a symbol of both freedom and the United States itself. It also commemorates French-American friendship because it was designed by F. A. Bartholdi and given by people of France. The lady holds a book with the inscription 4th July 1776, the date of the beginning of the independent US.
•    The best known feature in Manhattan was the World Trade Center, a complex of  seven buildings grouped around a vast Plaza, dominated by the 110- story twin towers. They were the highest point in the city (417m, built 1973) and the second highest in the world. It was destroyed by a terorist attack on September 11, 2001.
•    Madison Square, which is named in memory of James Madison, president of the US,  was established as a park in 1811. Madison square garden is home to New York Rangers.

•    Central park contains several natural-looking lakes and ponds, extensive walking tracks, two ice-skating rinks one of which is a swimming pool in July and August. Visited by 25 million people per year.
•    Rockefeller Center is made up of 19 buildings. It contains for example Radio City  Music Hall (Grammy awards take place there for example) or Center Art. There are travel agencis, agencies, nearly fourty restaurants, several theaters an many others.
•    Guggenheim Museum is a gallery of modern art
•    Carnegie hall a concert hall
•    Flushing Meadows is the second-largest public park in the City of New York. The US Open tournament takes place there.
•    Bronx zoo is the largest metropolitan zoo in the United States, which spans 1.07 km2 and is home to over 6,000 animals. The zoo opened its doors to the public in 1899 featuring 843 animals in 22 exhibits.
Media
•    New York is a global center for the television, advertising, music, newspaper and book publishing industries.
•    Two of the three national daily newspapers in the United States are New York papers: The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Major tabloid newspapers in the city include The New York Daily News and The New York Post.
•    The television industry developed in New York and is a significant employer in the city's economy. The four major American broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, are all headquartered in New York.
•    Many cable channels are based in the city as well, including MTV, Fox News, HBO and Comedy Central. In 2005, there were more than 100 television shows taped in New York City.

Washington DC
•    It is the capital city of the United States. It’s a legislative, administrative and judicial centre of sates and the seat of the federal government of the US.
•    It’s named after the first president, George Washington. The letters DC mean District of Columbia.
History:
•    In 1790 was establishment by the Act of Congress as a site of the capital city. It was chosen by President Washington himself. Before this, capital city was for example in New York or Philadelphia.
Town plan:
•    Washington lies on the Potomac River and consisted of 4 sections: northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest.
•    And in the centre – on Capitol Hill – is the Capitol – seat of congress: the House of Representatives (south wing) and the Senate (north wing).
•    On the top of the building is the bronze Statue of Freedom. The streets form north to south bear numbers and streets east west are named A, B, C, D – it helps visitors to find their ways.
Transport:
•    3 airports – Washington national airport; Dulles international airport and Baltimore – Washington international airport.
•    Metro – five colored lines (red, blue, orange, green, yellow
•    Taxi – 3 kinds (Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC (are the cheapest)
Press:
•    Press made there: The Washington post, the USA today, National Geographic...
Places of Interest:
•    The most important place is White house. It’s called white, because 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. There is also blue room – in this room the president and first lady receive guests at state dinners. East room is decorated in white and gold, used for the state receptions, because is largest. In the White house presidents of USA works and he and his family live nearby at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
•    Very important place is also Library of Congress – the US national library and Pentagon the centre of military. Pentagon is the largest office building in the world, it’s called pentagon because of its shape.
•    There are many statues and monuments, for example Washington monument, The Jefferson memorial, The Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam veteran’s memorial and others.
•    Washington is famous for its museum – National air and Space museum, the Museum of African Art, National Gallery of Art(there are for example Raphael, Tizian, da Vinci) and many others.
•    There are also many parks and green spaces, most beautiful parks are West and East Potomac Park and Constitution Gardens.
•    We can find here many theatres, opera house, concert hall and for example American film institute.
•    The bureau of engraving and printing – there money are printed (200 mil. $ per day)