Trolleys

In 1887 Richmond, Virginia, became the first U.S. city to install a practical electric network of trolleys, or streetcars. Soon hundreds of electric trolley systems were being built around the country.

Trolleys were different in design and "feel" in each city; riding them became a distinctive part of the urban experience. In New York for example, Brooklynites developed a reputation as "trolley dodgers," hence the name of their baseball team. Some trolley lines, equipped with dining cars and movie projectors, ran between cities, and by 1913 a traveler could take the trolley from Waterville, Maine, to Sheboygan, Wis­consin - a distance of more than 1,000 miles - with just a few short gaps in the route.

Cities began dismantling their trolley lines in the 1930s to make way for the increasing numbers of cars and buses. Some retired trolleys became houses, restaurants, or storage bins. San Francisco's cable cars, which are among America's oldest trolleys, survived and are now a cherished tourist attraction. In the '70s new light-rail technology made it possible for trolleys to return to several other American cities.

New York, New York! New York City Attractions

Let's face it, New York City has it all! - from historic land­marks and Broadway theaters to hundreds of museums. "The City" with so many attractions it is hard to know where to start. Here is my "Fancy Places in NY" chart that hopefully will be inter­esting to you.

Times Square. This is the first place of interest I saw in the Big Apple. Formerly, I thought, that this square is called "Times" because of the tradition to celebrate the changing to the New Year held here, so it seemed to be somehow connected with "time". But, as it turned out, when the "New York Times" newspa­per erected a new building on 43rd Street at the turn of the 20th century, the neighborhood took on the name "Times Square". A decade later, theaters and cabarets migrated to the streets nearby which attracted tourism. Now, Times Square is a flash of different bulbs, lights, neon ads - it is probably the brightest place in the whole world. Huhh... is that possibly why we call New York "the city that never sleeps"?

New York's famous Empire State Building, a New York City and a National Historic Landmark, I saw on the last day of my stay. It soars more than a quarter of a mile into the air above the heart of Manhattan. It rises over400 meters above the ground I and has 102 stories. Snow and rain can be seen falling up! I would say that this was extremely exciting. All in all, the feeling and spirit of New York City are embodied in the Empire State Building.

Oh…Rockefeller Center is a fascinating combination of contradictions: futuristic and classical, with soaring buildings and underground tunnels, inspired by both hard-headed commercialism and philanthropic idealism. Below street level, the Center's buildings are linked by a pedestrian shopping con­course. Shopping is arguably the prime reason lots of people visit New York. (By the way, I bought some nice accessories as well.) This is an oasis of order in the heart of the busiest city in the world, a city within a city, functionally efficient and aes­thetically elegant. Enjoy the symmetry and serenity of Promenades and Gardens or get a jolt of urban bustle on Fifth Avenue. It's a really wonderful place. Perhaps that's why in 1988, Rock Center was declared a national historic landmark.

Ground Zero- the place where the World Trade Center used to be. There is nothing to see only a huge area in the middle of other skyscrapers. As I was at home in Moscow on 11 Sep­tember, I watched with rising horror and confusion as the events of the day steadily unfolded. That both of these monumental sym­bols of capitalism and democracy were gone so quickly defies logic. Now, in this place, is the memory of these gargantuan build­ings and all the very unfortunate people who died here, simply going on with their everyday, frequently dull jobs. Standing in the middle of the plaza, staring up high into the skies, I craned my neck to view the summit that no one will ever again be able to see.

One thing you must do if in New York is to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge - a giant wooden suspension bridge joining Manhattan to Brooklyn with a large pedestrian section. Walk half­way along the bridge, and do not turn around at any point and face back toward Manhattan until the half way point has been reached. Take a deep breath, turn around, and the view is abso­lutely stunning as the entirety of Manhattan comes to life - the Financial District tower blocks are bathed in office lights, and this is a splendid sight not to be easily forgotten.

Other places I would like to mention are: the Wall Street Fi­nancial District, that in Soviet times we would call "the heart of the capitalistic world" and also, the fifth oldest institution of higher learning in United States - Columbia University. As a future college student, I was especially rapt by the Columbia traditions of studying.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, New York has been not only the imperialism capital, it was also (and still is) one of the world's centers of art. There is something for everyone in the Big Apple; from a real aircraft carrier museum, the Intrepid, to the smaller more intimate 19th Century Frick Collection, all the way up to the Grand Daddy of all New York muse­ums, the Metropolitan Museumof Art.

"My own Manhattan..."

I can not say that I saw all the places of interest in New York - my sessions in the UN took a lot of time. But I had a tremendous opportunity to see not only the "outside" city that is for tourists, but also to view the indigenous life of the metropolis, to become a part of it. Here are some of my travel notes.

Simply walking around you'll get the feel of New York in!' your veins. Don't keep looking up when strolling around Manhattan, or everyone will know you're a tourist. If you really," want to get to know the city, you should not spend all your time in a tour bus or with a map in your hands. Try to open your own Manhattan. For example, answering other tourists on how to get to Canal St., eating in "Taco Bell", trying different cream." cheeses with your morning bagels, etc. You can see the Statue of Liberty on postcards, but you'll never see the tablet "Strawberry Fields Forever" which is in Greenwich Village.

Final Thoughts

It is no secret that every city has a spirit of its own. New York is a mixed bag of surprises, a melting pot of people, and a strong cocktail of emotions. Just walk along Broadway, throwing back your head to see the top of skyscrapers and a little piece of the sky - it's more than enough to spice up your life! New York is an amazing maze of numerous avenues and streets, and the geometry of the city is as complex/imperfect and sophisticated as human life. Probably that's because this Big City attracts so many people from around the world. Just try to have a bad time in New York. Not possible!

It is a well-known stereotype in Russia that New York as other American cities, is actually less friendly then our Motherland towns. I am not sure. I can only speak for myself, and what I saw really prodded at my heart: whenever I was asking for directions in that so-much-complicated New York subway, whether it be people I knew or didn't know, I assuredly would receive about twenty explanations for how to reach the place I need.

The "Big Apple" City with its friendly, nice people, hip, hot and handsome guys, extremely gorgeous girls and so many heartfelt smiles impressed me the way nothing else could. Fascinated by the unpretentious warm atmosphere, humid climate and easygo­ing people, I returned to Moscow. Now I am imagining my ideal future life surrounded by people who do their best to succeed in every possible way and manage to stay energetic, friendly and smart at the same time. Exactly like New Yorkers.

The most beautiful month

October is one of the most beautiful months of the year in the USA. It usually brings the first frost of the year, with its exhilarating hint of win­ter to come. It is harvest time, and farmers must finish harvesting most crops during the month, including many varieties of that all-American fruit, the apple.

But the cold weather that turns the leaves to brilliant crimson, russet and gold has not yet come to stay. Still to come are those last warm days of hazy sunshine touched by the tang of autumn that we call «Indian summer».

October is also a big sports month.

With most educational institutions just recently opened (in Septem­ber), October is charged with the excitement not only of a new school year but also of a new football season.

All this is triggered off early in the month by the World Series, the culmination of the professional baseball season - a few days during which, for baseball fans and readers of newspapers, normal activities take a back seat while attention is focused on the outcome of the championship games. October is truly a good and exciting time in the USA.

Greenwich mean time

How did the name of a pleasant part of London situated by the Riv­er Thames become synonymous with international time keeping? The reasons go back into history. Thousands of years ago, people had no reason to divide their lives into hours and minutes. Their time was the movement of the sun, which created day and night, and the rhythm of the seasons. Gradually, a 24-hour cycle was introduced, based on the point when the sun was in the middle of the sky which became midday. But, because the earth rotates, midday in one town might be twenty minutes after midday in another town a hundred miles away. So each area of the world kept its own time. The obvious solution - a national standard time, so that every town could set their watches and clocks by it. The electric telegraph was the key to success, for a simultaneous signal could be sent along it to any part of the country. So, in 1852, the first signal went out from the astronomers of Britain's Royal Observa­tory which was then situated at Greenwich. From then on, Britain fol­lowed Greenwich Mean Time.

The word «Меаn» refers to something which is in the middle - an average. When the noonday sun at its highest point was directly over a particular place (the Meridian Line in Greenwich), the astronomers de­fined this as noon, Greenwich Time. This Greenwich Time was used for the whole country, so it became the «Меаn» by which time was calculated in Britain.

Britain managed quite well with Greenwich Mean Time, but the de­velopment of many different national times around the world meant that a country could still be out of step with its neighbours. So in 1912 an international conference decided that Greenwich Mean Time would be used throughout the world. In 1948 the Royal Observatory was moved away from the London air to a village in the South of England called Herstmonceux. Instead of changing the G in GMT to an H, the astronomers simply added 81 seconds to their calculations.

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 924