MY NEW YORK

          The last borough I am going to talk about is the one that I live in. Now here is a question. Why are the other boroughs named with just the name but you always say The Bronx? Give up? The reason goes way back when the Dutch lived here. One family owned most of this Borough and that was the Bronk family. They owned the lower part and the van Cortland family owned the upper part. So when people came here they would say we are going to the Bronks. Later the ks was changed to an x but it was always The Bronx.

          Of all the boroughs I like this one the best. That is why I saved it for last. It does not have the frenetic pace of Manhatten but is more like the other four. It has many private houses and many hi rise apartments, co ops and condominiums too. It has very good shopping areas and since it is the only borough connected to the main land it is easy to shop in the malls in Westchester county. The transportation is very good with many bus lines and subway lines.

          There are also quite a few things to visit. One is the World Wildlife Association aka The Bronx Zoo which is one of the finest in the USA. Its Childrens Zoo is larger than most Zoo's and most of the animals are outside in their natural habitat. One little known fact is that the last of the Bison herds was sent to the zoo and from those few animals all the rest of the Bison today were descended. There is a bird house which is 3 stories high and parts of it the birds are flying free. If you want to see the zoo be prepared to spend at least 2 or 3 days visiting. Believe me it is something worth seeing.

          Another very interesting place is the Bronx Botanical Garden which is also one of the best in the USA rivaling the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. There you can take courses in Botany which Universities will accept. You can go into a Green House and travel from a tropical rainforest to a desert and see the plants native to each climate. In addition during the Christmas Holiday Season they have electric trains running through parts of the green house which is called the Conservatory. That is only one part of the garden. There is the Rose Garden, the Rock Garden and the only virgin forest left in New York among other gardens. This also requires at least 2 days to see.

          There is also a very nice beach called Orchard Beach which is very nice for swimming since it is on Long Island Sound and has no waves. Next to the beach is City Island which has some of the best sea food restaurants there are. Also on City Island you can rent a boat and go fishing on the sound. They also have party boats leaving in the morning and staying out for 4 hours.

          Well this is just a little bit of The Bronx. I could write a book about my borough but I will close now by saying. I hope you will visit my city some day and I will be here to show you around.