Ex. 7. Read about the sights and monuments of your city and discuss it

SIGHTS AND MONUMENTS

It is difficult to imagine now, that in the mid-19 century thedowntown area was covered with wild taiga and tigers walked there? The memories of those times are in the names of the streets and hills The Tigrovaya Hill is well observed from Korabelnaya-Naberezhnaya street: at this place the city was started and here its first streets were laid. Svetlanskaya is the first street in Vladivostok. It was named after the crew of the frigate "Svetlana" that first cleared the route for it 1881. It is a main ”tourist" street. Many historical buildings constructed at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, museums and monuments and central shops are located in this street and the streets adjacent to it.

The Vladivostok monuments are mostly dedicated to the seamen. The monument to the Admiral G.I. Nevelskoy was the very first one in the city. It was opened in 1877. The admiral was the great traveler who made a great contribution to the modern geographical knowledge he was the first to prove that Sakhalin is the island. The symbol of Vladivostok is a Monument to Fighters for the Soviet Power in Far East. It was established in 1961 in the central square of the city.

The "spirit" of Vladivostok is in its unusual landscape, buildings are placed like an amphitheatre on the slopes of the hill You can observe half of the city from any point of the hills. Due to the irregular coastline, which forms numerous small bays and peninsulas, the view which will open before you is really unique. There are several specially arranged view points in Vladivostok. They are located in the Southern extremity of Shkot (Egersheld) Peninsula, on Goldobin Cаре, in the area of Tikhaya Bay and on the Orlinoye Gnezdo (Eagles Nest hill), which is located a little higher than the upper Funicular Station. You can view Vladivostok both in the daytime and at night. In the evening the city looks mysterious and awakens fantasy and imagination.

The center of Vladivostok and its suburbs are of great contrast. There are some half-destroyed pre-revolutionary dwellings, located in the very heart of the city. And not only there. The majority of the buildings located in the center have been restored during the last 10years. Construction of new residential and office buildings is being carried out. All the districts are built with 5-, 9- and 12-story residential houses.

Ex. 8. What sights and monuments do you know? Describe them.