New York
The city of eternal possibilities, full of life, colourful culture, romance and independence, freedom and success, simply call it New York. Today New York is the ultimate cool, vivid, city of freedom that everyone should visit at least once in their life. The stories of Wall Street, Central Park, Times Square, and Empire State Building, music culture, freedom, variety and the cosmopolitan atmosphere are never ending and familiar to all of us.
No matter how familiar the city is for us through the TV series and movies, only few of us know where the popularity started. The first European to explore New York was Giovanna Di Verrazzano in 1542, however the person getting credited for finding ‘The Big Apple’ is a Dutch explorer Henry Hudson. To honor him New York was interestingly first known as New Amsterdam.
In 1644 the British took over the city. England then renamed it New York after James, Duke of York. The city kept on growing and even became the capital due to its outstanding, central position. In the 1800’s it was called ‘the empire state’ because of the great exchange market.
New York still deserves its fabulous reputation as it is the city that shows the direction for trends, style and development.
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BARCELONA
Barcelona is Spain’s most vibrant city and the world’ cool, cultural Mecca. The city’s history is filled with interesting twists and turns and every change has influenced the personality of Barcelona we get to enjoy today.
Carthaginians as founders, Visigoths and then the Muslims as invaders and the countless fights for and against Catalonia and its culture have all acted a role in Barcelona’s birth and forming.
Barcelona is worth of visiting solely for its beautiful, complex infrastructure by a famous architect called Gaudi. His designs can be seen everywhere and it is made sure they are looked after and fixed to match the original version whenever needed.
The coolest thing about Barcelona would have to be all the arts and culture found there. The city’s biggest attraction is the Picasso Museum. Also, the famous church, Sagrade Familia, is ‘a must see’. The church as well was designed originally by Antoni Gaudi. He died in 1936 when only one tower was finished. Gaudi is known as an artist who improvises and as such hardly any drawings of the master piece were left behind. Ever since different architects have had their go in building the church, however it is still far from finished.
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CASINO
Casinos are cool because they are a mixture of excitement and glamour.
Again, the history of casinos includes a surprise. Most people would surely guess an American origin; however this is not the case. When it comes to gambling, the start of it is impossible to define as it has been part of the human nature for so long.
Then again, the history of the different games can be researched. Ancient Chinese culture has been the provider of many games; Keno was the original form of a lottery game in China. Roulette has possibly been started in Babylonia thousands of years ago, as soon as a wheel saw its birth. In ancient Greece the soldiers are known to have played dice. Europe is the host of most games; examples include Baccarat, Black Jack and Craps.
Funnily enough Casinos originally had nothing to do with gambling, they were centers of entertainment, culture and social activities. This only really changed at the start of the 19th century. The most famous Casino opened in Monte Carlo in 1861.
Today, Las Vegas is known as the city of Casinos and luxurious life. For a long time, it was the only place in the U.S. where casinos were legal. The U. S. is also the ‘host city’ for many Casino Movies such as James Bond and the movie ‘Casino’.
Of course, as an addition to today’s virtual world, gambling in Cyber Space has seen enormous growth and popularity and changed the way of gambling dramatically.
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