The United Kingdom

Tower Bridge

The United Kingdom is an island state with a population of some 63 million.

Famous for so many things, including its parliamentary buildings, its Big Ben clock tower, its Thames River, its castles and chateaus left from the Middle Ages, its museums, its double-decker buses, its crowded city squares and its wide, green parks. This is the UK today.

The British were very capable when it came to spreading their culture and language throughout the world. In fact, during the 19th century, they had control over more than one-fourth of the world. Interestingly, the study of the English language is a pursuit for so many that it brings billions of dollars of profit to the UK every year.

London rush hour traffic can be quite heavy; things are made more difficult by the lack of underpasses and overpasses in the city. Sometimes, things can come to an absolute standstill on London roads, with drivers simply sitting and waiting.

At the same time, authorities are always working to try and fix traffic problems. One regulation put into place is that cars entering the center of the city between the main traffic hours of 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. have to pay 10 pounds sterling, or around TL 40, in “traffic jam” money. This particular project has been quite successful at reducing traffic loads.

London's underground

It's a whole different world underground in London. Everyone is in a rush; nearly every district in London has a Tube stop, the London Underground public rapid transit system. The system gets tens of thousands of passengers every day, allowing people to get to their homes and workplaces with ease. One cannot even imagine how bad the traffic above ground would be if all this didn't exist!

We used the Tube for our engagements while in London. Especially in the mornings and evenings, the wagons were absolutely stuffed when we got on board. So much so, you'd think there were actually more people below ground than above ground.

The London Tube, whose first line opened in 1890, is one of the world's largest metro systems.

We head out of London, trying to get a better idea of the country by seeing its countryside. Our goal for the day is to see Warwick Castle, two hours from London and a classic example of Middle Ages architecture. During the summer months, there are live re-enactments of events from the Middle Ages that occur here, with thousands visiting to see the castle and these live re-enactments. Right next to Warwick Castle is the world's largest catapult, capable of flinging an 18-kilogram cannonball some 150 kilometers. As we stand there, people are preparing the catapult to fire a cannonball into an empty area near the castle.

Over the past 10 years, some six million pounds sterling has been spent on the restoration of this castle. But this vast amount is easily recovered in the money spent by visitors coming here. Seeing all this makes us think about the number of things that could be done back in Turkey with our own historical edifices.

Trafalgar Square

London Eye

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QUICK FACTS

UNITED KINGDOM

Capital: London
Ethnic groups: White 87.2 percent, black/African/Caribbean/black British 3 percent, Asian/Asian British: Indian 2.3 percent, Asian/Asian British: Pakistani 1.9 percent, mixed 2 percent, other 3.7 percent (2011 est.)
Languages: English
Government: Constitutional monarchy and Commonwealth realm
Chief of state: Queen Elizabeth II (since Feb. 6, 1952); Heir Apparent Prince Charles (son of the queen, born Nov, 14, 1948)
Area: 243,610 square kilometers
Population: 63,742,977 (July 2014 est.)
Gross domestic product (PPP): $2.435 trillion (2014 est.)
Religions: Christian (includes Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist) 59.5 percent, Muslim 4.4 percent, Hindu 1.3 percent, other 2 percent, unspecified 7.2 percent, none 25.7 percent (2011 est.)