Besides Manhattan are four boroughs separated by waterways- the Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens. Bridges, ferries and tunnels link the boroughs. Brooklyn Bridge stretches from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Two rivers surround Manhattan Island- the Hudson River and the East River- and there are several districts and many communities. Greenwich Village, Chelsea and Soho are the artistic areas. Harlem is where the Afro-American community lives. There is China Town and Little Italy. Many Irish people live in New York. Manhattan has a street system which is like a greed. Avenues run from north to south and streets run from east to west. Broadway is a long avenue which runs from south to north and it is where all the theatres are. The New York Stock Exchange is in Wall Street. Manhattan is the most famous city park in the world- Central Park is four km long and is an area where New Yorkers can relaxed from the stresses of city life. Today New York is a forest of skyscrapers- the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building. It is the World’s most important business, financial and cultural center. It is a city that never sleeps.

There are various teories who says where does this nickname comes from.

• One says it comes from the vendors of apples at the corner of the streets during the Great Depression.

• Another suggests that it comes from the title of a 1938 film about New York's ballroom dancers.

• A third one says it was the name of a popular night club where people enjoyed listening to jazz music in the 1930s and '40s.

THE MELTING POT

About 8.000.000 people from all over the World live in NY City. New Yorkers, in fact, speak more than 170 languages, not only English, there are too 270 newspapers in more than 40 languages. For this reason we say NY is a melting pot of different cultures living side by side and that there is no typical New York resident.

This mix of nationalities has meant that NY's food is as varied as its inhabitants; for example Italian food made the city famous for Pizza, or the street food not include only hotdogs, from Germany, but also Middle Eastern foods such as kebabs.

The statue is a gift from France to the USA for the 100th anniversary of Independence, in memory of their alliance during the American Revolution, they gave the statue to them in 1886.

Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi designed the sculpture. The seven rays of her crown symbolise the seven seas and the seven continents, the torch in her right hand is a symbol of Liberty. Inside there are 356 steps and 25 viewing windows in the crown.

On the tablet in her hand it says 4th, July, 1776.

There is also the Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts, the Carniage Hall and the Radio City Music Hall (The largest indoor theatre in the world where the people can enjoy special events).

They were over 415 metres high, and they had 110 floor. About 50.000 people worked in the towers and around annother 200.000 people visited them every day.

A short time after the plane hit the towers, they collapsed. More than 2700 people died, including 343 firefighters. The victims came from more than 50 differents countries. The attack left a big hole in the centre of Manhattan; this hole was called "Ground Zero".

Every years, on 11th September, families of the victims, survivors, and other New York residents go to memorial ceremonies. They remember the victims and have moments of silence to mark when the planes hit the towers and when the towers fell.

The people of New York wanted to re-build the area and create an appropriate memorial.

In 2006, they started bulding Memorial Plaza at Ground Zero.

Every September, more than 20.000 people run or walk through Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to Ground Zero. This is called "The tunnel to Towers Run". The run follows Steven Siller's route on that day. It's 5 km long. The run celebrates the memory of Stephen Siller, the New York firefighters and all of the 11th Septembers victims. After the Run, there is a big celebration, with music, children's activities, performance, food and drink.