Europe
Europe is the land of many ethnic cultures with common roots of Christian and Jewish religions and a savage heritage of war. For hundreds of years Europeans have longed for the unity and Pax Romana of the ancient Roman Empire with a common currency, law, borderless trade and language. Only recently through the European Union and European Commission has such a dream finally been realized. In an uncommon era of peace and prosperity, borders have been relaxed and a common currency, rules and regulations have been adopted making it far easier to travel through the Old European cities particularly in Eastern Europe with freedom and wonderful awe celebrating the wonderful diversity of cultures preserved and working peacefully together for common prosperity. Now is the time to celebrate these new found freedoms and reach out and travel to rediscover your neighbors and their heritage. The cities of Moscow, Kiev, Prague, Vienna, Gdansk, Krakow, Sophia and Budapest await your pilgrimage of new life and new discovery of old heritages.
Join that to travel by rail pass through Madrid, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Munich, Berlin, Warsaw, Stockholm, Rome, Zurich and Trieste and crown yourself as a true European Continental traveler of world class.
Europe area is about 10,000,000 square km, population is 727 million people. It is washed by Atlantic and Arctic oceans including their seas. Isles area is about 730.000 square km., peninsulas occupy 1/4 of Europe area. (Kola Peninsula, Scandinavian Peninsula, the Iberian Peninsula or Iberia, the Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula, Balkan Peninsula). Average height is 300 m; max height is 5642 m (Mount Elbrus).
Plains (east-European, Central European, Central - and Bottom Danube, the Parisian pool) dominate in the area, mountains occupy 17% of the territory (main are Alps, Carpathian Mountains, Pyrenees, Apennine Mountains, Ural Mountains, Scandinavian Mountains), Active volcanoes are in Iceland and the Mediterranean.
The climate is moderated on the main part of the territory (in the West - oceanic, in the East - continental, with snowy and freeze winters), on the northern isles - sub arctic and arctic, in the Southern Europe – Mediterranean. There is congelation on the Arctic Isles, in the Iceland, Scandinavian mountains; congelation area is more than 116000 square km.
Main Rivers Are – Volga, Dnieper River, Don River, Pechora, Northern Dvina, Danube, Vistula, Oder (Odra), River Elbe, Rhine River, Loire River, River Rhone, Tagus.
Main Lakes Are - Lake Ladoga, Lake Onega, Lake Vanern, Lake Balaton, Lake Geneve and Lake Chudskoe.
There are Arctic deserts and tundras in the Arctic isles and along Arctic seaside, Southern - forest-tundras, taiga, mixed woods, forest-steppes, steppes, a subtropical Mediterranean wood and bushes; in a Southeast - semi deserts.
Major Europe Cities - London, Paris, Prague, Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Moscow, Madrid, Warsaw, Vienna, Stockholm, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest.
Europe Languages and Cultures
Germanic languages - Norway, Sweden, Germany, most of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, Denmark, Netherlands, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Iceland, Belgium, the Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Finland, and South Tyrol in Italy;
Romance languages - Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Romania, Moldova, Belgium, Switzerland. All Romance languages are derived from the Roman language, Latin;
Slavic languages are spoken in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe - Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine;
Uralic languages are spoken in Finland, Estonia and European Russia;
Altaic languages - Turkic Languages are spoken in Turkey, Azerbaijan, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (recognised only by Turkey), parts of Bulgaria, parts of Greece, parts of Romania, parts of the Republic of Macedonia, parts of Moldova, parts of Russia, parts of Ukraine and parts of the Caucasus;
Baltic languages are spoken in Lithuania and Latvia;
Celtic languages - Ireland, Scotland (UK), Wales(UK), Cornwall (UK), the Isle of Man (a British Crown dependency) and Brittany (within France);
The Greek language - spoken in Greece, Cyprus and parts of Turkey, Albania and Italy.