Places of Interest

26 – PLACES OF INTEREST

The United Kingdom

Stonehenge - Stonehenge is a prehistoric World Heritage Site two miles (3.2km) north of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. It is made of ahenge, with standing stones in circles. There are also several passage tombs nearby. No one knows who built Stonehenge or why they built it. During the summer solstice, the sunrise lines up with some of the stones in a particular way. This suggests that the arrangement of stones may work as a calendar. In Egypt and South America, similar ancient buildings can be found. They also show the time of the solstice. between 2640 and 2480 BC.

Oxford - Oxford is a city in England on the River Thames. It is a very old city, and some of its buildings were built before the 12th century. It is famous for its university, Oxford University, which is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. Almost 165,000 people live in Oxford. Two rivers run through the city, the Cherwell and the Thames. These two rivers meet south of the city centre. Besides its university, there is a number of buildings famous for their architecture (the style in which they were built), like the Radcliffe Camera. There are also lots of museums and other places to visit for tourists

Stratford-upon-Avon - a town in England. It is famous as the birthplace of William Shakespeare.

Edinburgh - the capital city and second largest city in Scotland. Edinburgh lies on the east coast, where the River Forth flows into the sea. The central part is Edinburgh Castle, at the top of a steep hill. The castle has a military display every year, called a tattoo, where soldiers show their skills at marching and competitions, and there are brass bands and bands of bagpipes.

Loch Ness - a loch in the Scottish Highlands. Loch Ness is 36 kilometres long and only 1.5 kilometres wide. It is the second largest Scottish loch by surface area at 56.4 km2. In popular legend, it is the home of the "Loch Ness Monster", a myth which was promoted by a faked photograph.

The United States

New York

The Empire State Building is a skyscraper in New York City, United States. It is 381 meters (1,250 feet) tall and has 102 floors. For forty-one years it was the tallest building in the world. It is named after the popular nickname for New York, The Empire State. It was completed in 1931 and is one of the most famous landmarks in the US. It has been the tallest building in New York City since the September 11, 2001 attacks, though it is expected to be surpassed again in 2013 when the new World Trade Center is completed.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is a modern art museum in New York, New York, United States, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been called the most important museum of modern art in the world. Some of the artists featured at the museum include Jackson Pollack, Vincent van Gogh, Andy Warhol, and Robert Indiana.

Washington, D.C. was planned before it was built. Pierre L'Enfant drew a plan for the city that said where all the streets, parks, and important buildings would be. Unlike most U.S. cities, D.C. has many roundabouts or traffic circles. The city was supposed to have long and wide avenues, and many open spaces for monuments and parks. The National Mall, a large park that connected the US Capitol to the Washington Monument, was one of the most important parts of L'Enfant's plan.