Fact File

Before starting this project, I did not know many things about the U.K. I only knew that it is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, whose capital city is London and that it has rainy weather.

It is located on the northwestern coast of continental Europe.

It has borders with Ireland. United Kingdom is a member of the E.E.C. since the 1st January of the year 1973.

Talking about the landscape, I find important to say that it is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.The climate of this country is classified as a mid-latitude oceanic climate, in other words, warm summers, cool winters and plenty of precipitation throughout the year.

A big parte of the U.K. was once almost entirely covered with woodlands. Today, much of the woodland has been lost and less than 10 per cent of the country is now forested. Moorland and heathland occupy about a quarter of the country. Some common trees are the oak, beech, elm and ash. We can find many types of wild flowers.

The size of this country is of 244,110 km

The economy of this country is based on market exchange rates. The United Kingdom is today the fifth largest economy in the world and the second largest in Europe after Germany. It`s GDP PPP per capita in 2007 was the 22nd highest in the world.

This country is one of the world's most globalised countries. The capital, London, is a major financial centre of the world, in front of New York City, Hong Kong and Singapore.

People and languages

The U.K. has a population of 60,975,000.

The present day population of the UK is descended from varied ethnic groups, such as pre-Celtic, Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Norman and so on.

According to the race population indentified themeselves in the year 2001, the 92.1 % is white, another 2.0% is black. The other 5.9 % is mixed, chinese…

The U.K. does not have an official language but the predominant spoken language is English. There are also recognised regional languages, which mean they are official in an area. These languages are: Welsh, Irish, Ulster, Scottish, Gaelic and Cornish.

The minority states within the country are Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The traditional meal is known as meat, potatoes and two vegetables, but these days people in The U.K. are just as likely to eat Italian, Chinese, Thai, Mexican, or junk food.

In fact, the country’s current favourite is Indian food, which has been adapted for British tastebuds and is served in thousands of Indian restaurants all over the country. There is also a growing number of vegetarians. To sum up, we can say there is not a typical or special meal that makes a difference comparing to other countries meals. Despite the traditional English drink continues being the tea.

The stereiotype of the people in this country is that they are serious. However, this is not true according to several tourits. They are friendly people in general. There has been very intelligent and important English people too, such as William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton and Alexander Fleming.

Talking about drugs and alcoholic problems, I think it is important to talk about the Hoolingans` case. These people are famous all over Europe because they drink too much alcohol when they are away from the U.K. watching football matches.

Interesting places to visit

London is the biggest city of both England and the United Kingdom. It is a major tourist destination. It is also one of the world`s business, financial and cultural centre.

As far as I am concerned, the most important things to see are London Bridge, which is an important tourist attraction. The royal botanic gardens is a very interesting place to visit too. And don’t forget about the Big Ben, a big clock which is seen by all the tourist who come here.

Apart of London, in the U.K. we can find more interesting viallages or cities too. Some of those are Manchester and Liverpool, which both have a very big industrial importance.

Belfast is also an interesting city in northern Ireland. This city is really beautiful and it has a big industrial importance.

Apart of cities, we can find many spectacular places. Some of them are Eilean Donan Castle and the famous loch Ness, both in Scotland.

Some great things to do

I think the cheapest way of travelling here is by plane, and the best time of the year is May or June. A good place to sleep would be a campsite, which are quite cheap and far away from the city noise, for example, the Lee Valley Camping, not far away from London. Going to a campsite is a really cheap way of visiting this country and they are all over The U.K.

In this two months take place many festivals, such as, the Lady`s day at Royal Ascot, which will be all about outrageuos hats. Moreover, there will be a chance to see the British Royal family.