The 20th century hasn't been too kind to the United Kingdom. The last 100 years have witnessed the fall of its empire, the loss of its trading base, and the nation's stubborn refusal to adjust to its new (diminshed) role in the modern world. Yet many of the British symbols and institutions which played such an important role in shaping that world remain robust, cherished and intact. The august institutions at the cornerstone of British life have muddled their way into the late 20th century, keeping a stiff upper lip and a strong sense of protocol. Dinosaurs some of them may be, but the chord they strike in visitors can make. Britain seem strangely familiar. Don't let this blunt your perceptions, for Britain is a strange land that can shock the unprepared with its foreignness. Despite its historic role on the world stage, it remains a secretive and indecipherable country, which adds to its allure and charm.              
                  Shaped like a witch riding a pig, according to Paul Theroux, the island of Britain lies off the north-western coast of the European mainland. It comprises the geographical entities of England, Scotland and Wales, and is separated from France by the narrow English Channel and from Scandinavia by the North Sea. England occupies the southern two-thirds of the island and is bounded by Wales to the west and Scotland to the north. The island measures just under 560 miles north to south and around 250 miles east to west at its widest point.

           France lies on the western edge of the European continent and shares borders with six neighbours: Belgium and Luxembourg to the north, Germany and Switzerland to the east, Italy to the southeast and Spain to the southwest. Thus it forms a bridge linking northern and southern Europe and joining the countries in the central part of the continent to those in the east. Its extensive coastline gives France a natural outlet toward America and Africa. France ranks as a medium-sized country on the world scale. However, it is the largest country in Western Europe, bigger than Spain, Germany or the United Kingdom.
        Because of its extensive network of modern communications, France is a real hub in Europe. The eastern reaches of the country abut the great industrial and urban area stretching from the mouth of the Rhine to the plains of the Po River. It is also within easy reach of the industrial centres of the United Kingdom and the other countries lying on the North Sea. To the south it is an integral part of the Mediterranean arc running from Catalonia to central Italy.
       The Eiffel Tower from Trocadero. This view of the Eiffel Tower is unsurpassed and is particularly pretty when the fountains in Trocadero plaza are on.
Paris spread out beneath the Sacre-Coeur at Montmartre. The basilica is set on the highest hill in Paris, providing extensive views over the city.
              Notre Dame from the Pont de l'Archeveche. Standing on the bridge behind Notre Dame, you'll have breathtaking views of the east end of the cathedral, ringed by flying buttresses, surmounted by the spire.

             Germany wears its riches well: elegant big-city charm, pagan-inspired harvest festivals, a wealth of art and culture and the perennial pleasures of huge tracts of forest are all there for the enjoying. But Germany's history, both recent and still in the making, weighs heavily. No visitor will remain untouched by this country's complex past and the way it impacts on the nation today.

              Europe's kinky over-the-knee boot has it all: popes, painters, polenta, paramours, poets, political puerility and potentates. Its three millennia of history, culture and cuisine seduces anyone not suffering exam deja vu. In Italy you can visit Roman ruins, gawk at Renaissance art, stay in tiny medieval hill towns, go skiing in the Alps, explore the canals of Venice and see more beautiful churches than you imagined could exist in one country. Naturally you can also indulge in the more elementary pleasures of enjoying good food and wine, improving your wardrobe and seeking out la dolce vita.

             Switzerland may be neutral but it is certainly not flavourless. The fusion of German, French and Italian ingredients has formed a robust national culture, and the country's Alpine landscapes have enough zing to reinvigorate the most jaded traveller. Goethe summed up Switzerland succinctly as a combination of `the colossal and the well-ordered'. The untamed majesty of the Alps and the tidy, just-so precision of Swiss towns prevent Switzerland from ever being as one-dimensional as some pundits like to try and make it. Switzerland sits squarely in the stomach of western Europe, landlocked by France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria and Italy.

             The Netherlands has managed to combine liberal attitudes with one of the most orderly societies on earth, in a community which manages to be radical and sensible without being silly or staid. The Dutch aren't bogged in their clichés, even though bikes, dykes, windmills and blazing flower fields are pretty much the norm outside the major cities.
For travellers, the integration of the clog and the microchip works well. The Netherlands is easy to travel in and the locals are friendly and speak excellent English, but towns are still surrounded by canals and castle walls, the endlessly flat landscape which inspired the nation's early artists still stretches unbroken to the horizons, and the dykes still occasionally threaten to give way.
             Although the Dutch have the cute habit of calling anything higher than a speed bump a mountain, the Netherlands is largely a flat and soggy bog. Most of its land has been reclaimed from the sea over the centuries and the drained polders are protected by dykes, very few of which are plugged by little boys' fingers. More than half of the country lies below sea level and only in the south-east Limburg province will you find hills. The Netherlands is bordered by the North Sea, Belgium and Germany. The Rhine is the major river, slurping up runoff from the proper mountains in Germany and Switzerland and slopping it out all over the flat lands.
           One of the country's worst disasters hit in 1953 when a high spring tide coupled with a severe storm breached the dykes in Zeeland drowning 1835 people. To ensure the tragedy would never be repeated, the Delta Project blocked the south-west river deltas using a network of dams, dykes and a remarkable 3.2km storm surge barrier which is only lowered in rough conditions. In 1995 the largest mandatory evacuation in the Netherlands since the Zeeland disaster was carried out after heavy rain in France and Belgium caused the Meuse and Waal rivers to flood. Some 240,000 people were relocated from Gelderland, the region based around Nijmegen, due to fears that dykes along the two rivers would burst.
Forget about wilderness in the Netherlands. This is Europe's most densely populated country, but it feels like the most organised place in the world. The western hoop of cities including Amsterdam, the Hague and Rotterdam is one of the most densely populated conurbations on earth and even out of this area it doesn't get exactly isolated. Towns often blur from one to the next, linked by highways and bicycle paths. Neat, flat, muddy fields and tame and pleasant woodlands act as buffers; there are even places where you can hear the twittering of birds above the constant traffic drone.
            The Netherlands has a temperate maritime climate with cool winters and mild summers. It can get pretty drizzly here, especially in autumn and spring when it can seem as though it's going to be grey forever. But because the Netherlands is such a flat slab of a place, changes sweep through quickly when the wind starts to blow.

We hope you get chance to experience some of them, as well as find some personal favorites of your own.

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