The Milky Way, a benchmark for understanding disk galaxies, is studied in terms of its structural and kinematic properties. The Galaxy is a barred spiral with a central box/peanut bulge, a dominant disk, and a diffuse stellar halo. It is located in the "green valley" region of the galaxy color-magnitude diagram. The review covers key integrated, structural, and kinematic parameters of the Galaxy, highlighting uncertainties and future directions. Galactic studies are crucial for understanding universal processes over cosmic time, and the upcoming ESA GAIA astrometric mission will provide valuable data on star distances and velocities. The Galaxy's components, such as the bulge, disk, and halo, exhibit strong overlap due to shared Galactic potential and migration of stars from their formation sites. The review discusses the challenges in separating these components and the implications for stellar populations. The Galaxy's location, distance, and other parameters are discussed, including the Galactic Center, which coincides with the supermassive black hole Sgr A*. The review also covers the Solar offset from the Galactic plane and the tilt of the true Galactic disk plane. The central black hole's mass and properties are estimated, and the Galaxy's position in the $(M_{\bullet}-\sigma)$-relation is discussed.The Milky Way, a benchmark for understanding disk galaxies, is studied in terms of its structural and kinematic properties. The Galaxy is a barred spiral with a central box/peanut bulge, a dominant disk, and a diffuse stellar halo. It is located in the "green valley" region of the galaxy color-magnitude diagram. The review covers key integrated, structural, and kinematic parameters of the Galaxy, highlighting uncertainties and future directions. Galactic studies are crucial for understanding universal processes over cosmic time, and the upcoming ESA GAIA astrometric mission will provide valuable data on star distances and velocities. The Galaxy's components, such as the bulge, disk, and halo, exhibit strong overlap due to shared Galactic potential and migration of stars from their formation sites. The review discusses the challenges in separating these components and the implications for stellar populations. The Galaxy's location, distance, and other parameters are discussed, including the Galactic Center, which coincides with the supermassive black hole Sgr A*. The review also covers the Solar offset from the Galactic plane and the tilt of the true Galactic disk plane. The central black hole's mass and properties are estimated, and the Galaxy's position in the $(M_{\bullet}-\sigma)$-relation is discussed.