Large Cities and Sights of the UK and English Speaking Countries

There are many countries in the world where people speak English and this language is one of the official languages. There many interesting and beautiful cities in these countries, and I would like to tell a little about some of them.

First the capital of the United Kingdom, London, comes. It is a very old and big city. London is situated at mouth of the Thames-river. There are many historic buildings, various museums, galleries, and other places of interest in London. The Tower is a world-famous symbol of London, it is more than 900 years old. The Houses of Parliament, actually the seat of the British Parliament, has two towers one of which is the Clock Tower, or Big Ben - a famous London landmark. The Natural History Museum and the National Gallery are world-famous for their beautiful galleries and expositions.

Another interesting city in England is Liverpool. It was first mentioned in documents of the 12th century. In the course of time Liverpool became an important port of England and in the 17th century it was the main centre of trade with British colonies. Now Liverpool is a large industrial centre of the UK, it has shipbuilding and chemical industry and non-ferrous metallurgy. And this city is also well-known for the fact that it is the home of the world-famous rock-band “The Beatles”.

The principal cities in Scotland are Edinburgh and Glasgow. Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland. The National Gallery of Scotland and the Royal Scottish Academy for Music are situated there. The world's biggest annual international arts festival is held in Edinburgh. The old part of the city is lovely - with hills, rocks and old castles, narrow winding streets and little houses which look like towers or fortresses. I would like to visit Edinburgh!

Glasgow is an old city, first it was mentioned in ancient documents in the 6th century, and earlier there was a Celtic settlement on this place. Since the 18th century Glasgow became the main industrial centre of Scotland as well as the largest port. There are many places of interest here – the Glasgow university (founded in 1451), the Museum for Fine Arts, a gallery, the Scottish Music Academy and many others.

There are large and interesting cities in the USA. Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia), the capital of the USA is located on the north bank of the Potomac River. It was founded in 1791 and named in honour of the first president of the USA, George Washington. It is one of the most unusual cities in the USA. And it is very beautiful, of course. There is an interesting fact - no building in the city may be more than 40 metres tall. The highest building in Washington is the Capitol, the seat of the American Congress. The White House is the residence of every president of the United States. There are two universities in Washington, the Museum for Aeronautics and Cosmonautics, the National Art Gallery, the Cultural Center in Memory of John Kennedy and various libraries and laboratories.

Some of other big cities of the USA are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and others. New York is not a very old city, it was founded some three hundred years ago. It is situated in the mouth of the Hudson River. The centre of New York is Manhattan Island. The famous Statue of Liberty is situated in New York. New York, one of the leading American manufacturing cities, is the home of great firms and banks. There are many sky-scrapers of fifty and more storeys.

Boston is located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Founded in the beginning of 17th century it is one of the America's oldest cities. Boston is a big industrial traffic centre of the USA. Boston is a cultural centre too. The oldest university in the USA, Harvard University, was founded here in 1636. There are three other universities in this city, and the Museum for Fine Arts. Boston looks unusual for the SA because it managed to preserve the appearance of a European city of the 18-19th centuries. There many old houses there, and one can walk along old streets there and feel to be a contemporary to the American Revolution.

The leading cities of Canada are Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

Ottawa is the capital of Canada. It was founded in 1827 and became the capital of Canada in 1867. There is an international airport here, two universities. The National Gallery, the National Museum, the National Centre of Arts are situated in the capital of Canada too. The parliament of Canada is also situated in Ottawa.

Toronto isn’t far from Ottawa, it is located at the lake of Ontario. It was founded as a fortress by French in 1749. Most buildings in the city date back to the 19th and 20th centuries. There many skyscrapers in Toronto, and the TV tower is the highest in the world. More than 3.5 million people live in this city. It is a large financial and industrial centre of Canada.

Canberra is the capital of Australia. It is not the biggest city with the population only of 280,000 people. Many cities in Australia are much larger, for example Sydney where 3.5 million people live. But Canberra is very beautiful. It was built in 1913 by architect Griffin and was planned as a capital. And in 1927 Canberra became the capital of Australia. There is a university and an international airport in this city.

Sydney is Australia's oldest and largest city. It was founded in 1788 by the first European settlers. Sydney is a big international port. There are different factories and industrial enterprises here. Sydney is very beautiful. The building of Sydney Opera and the arched bridge across the Jackson Bay are well-known in the world.

Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, was founded in 1840 and became the capital of New Zealand in 1865. Wellington is also a small city, where about 150,000 people live. It is situated in the south of the main Northern Island and this is the central point of New Zealand. There are industrial and other enterprises in the city, an university, the Academy of Fine Arts, galleries and museums, an observatory. A place of interest is also a cathedral in the neo-gothic style built in the middle of the 20th century. Wellington is known for its numerous bridges, tunnels, viaducts and winding streets.