While Sightseeing

by Inna Kovtutska

When I have some holidays I always try to visit new cities. The best way to discover the city for me is sightseeing. There are a lot of different tourist attractions in every city or countryside. I can choose historical places or modern amusement parks, museums or zoos, monuments or castles, theatres or cinemas, art galleries or even mountains, lakes and forests.

Sightseeing can be done in various ways. First of all I can plan it myself. It is quite difficult to plan my trip, I can easily put too much into one day than I can actually see. But every tourist city has a list of 5-10 must see sights so I can find them on the internet and make my own list. It is quite cheap to plan trip on your own. And I can choose how much time I spend in every place. But I need to think about entrance in some attractions, about how to get from one place to another, about café where I can have good meals. So the most popular ways of sightseeing for many people are by tour bus or coach, some companies offer sightseeing walking tours. It's a good idea to be a member of some group of tourists.I can share my feelings about some place, ask for help and exchange photos. Long distance sightseeing tours often provide tourists with few guides. These are guides based in a particular town or at a specific attraction.Aside from coaches, sightseeing tours can also take place on city trams or trolleys adding to the atmosphere of the tour, and even trains. But when I choose sightseeing tour I cannot decide what to see and how long to do it. So it depends on my mood what way of sightseeing I choose.

I have always dreamtof visiting New York. New York City is a professional tourist's dream – it has some of the world's greatest and most iconic attractions, including the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Wall Street, Greenwich Village, the Rockefeller Centre, and the list goes on… First of all I can visit the Statue of Liberty, one of the favourite New York attractions.A universal symbol of freedom, the copper-plated sentinel stands 305 feet tall from the bottom of her base to the tip of her torch. No charge is made for entrance to the national monument, but there is a cost for the ferry service that all visitors must use. Also reservations are required for a tour of the statue's interior. Then I can walk and rest in Central Park. Central Park is the most visited park in the United States as well as one of the most filmed locations in the world. There are 29 amazing sculptures, 7beautiful lakes, an exciting amusement park and 4 outdoor restaurants in Central Park. It's worth seeing. As I always take a camera with me I can take photos at every step.

I am looking forward togo sightseeing in a new place.

Follow-up questions:

1. Are you excited when you are waiting for travelling?
2. What places do you like to visit?
3. Do you make a list of places you would like to visit? What do you use for searching: the internet, friend's stories, travel agencies?
4. Do you look for a guide?
5. Do you like sightseeing tours?
6. How do you get from one place to another?
7. Do you like hiking? How often do you hike?
8. Do you need a map while sightseeing?
9. Do you take your camera? Do you prefer photo or video?
10. Do you prefer cafes or restaurants?
11. How long do you stay in the same place to discover it for yourself?
12. Do you have favourite places in city you are visiting?
13. Are you worried about money you take with you?

Tense focused questions

1. Are you passionate about sightseeing?
2. Do you like sightseeing with guides? Why?
3. Where are you going to sightsee this year?
4. What can you do while sightseeing?
5. How often do you go on sightseeing?
6. Do you collect something from places you go on sightseeing?
7. Would you like to be a sightseeing guide?
8. What city would you like to be a guide in?
9. When do you prefer to go for sightseeing? What season?

Descriptive ideas

1. What are the best/worst places for sightseeing?
2. What city would you like to visit for sightseeing?
3. Plan a sightseeing tour for your city.

Role plays

Advising. Imagine you are a visitor of a travel agency. You don’t know what city you want to visit, say about your wishes and needs. Tour guide offers possible variants.

Compromising. Imagine you are travelling with your friend. You want to visit only historical places and your friend wants to explore night life of the city.

Persuasion.Imagine you are going on sightseeing with your friend. You want to use sightseeing bus but your friend doesn’t want.

Controversial ideas

1. Do you agree or disagree? Express your opinion.
2. All sightseeing places should be free.
3. People should go on sightseeing in their country once a year.