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GREAT BRITAIN

The British Isles is the name given to England, Scotland, Wales and the whole of Ireland in the geography books. TheUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ( the UK ) is the name of the land the Queen reigns over. GreatBritain is surrounded by the Atlantic-ocean. The highest mountains are in Scotland and Wales: Ben Nevis andSnowdon. The south coast has a mild and sunny climate. The east coast is flat and it is dominated by agriculture.The population is 57 million and currency is Pound Sterling (, font). The capital is London and the spoken languagesare English and Welsh.The governmental model called Constitutional Monarchy. This means that it has a monarch (king, queen) as the Headof State. The monarch has very little power and can only reign with the support of Parliament. Parliament consists of wo houses: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. There were several well-known prime minister in the UK.

Margaret Thatcher was the first woman Prime Minister. John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown is the current one.Queen Elizabeth II. has been reigning in the country for more than 50 years.British people watch a lot of television and also said to be the worlds most dedicated home-video users. This doesntmean that theyve given up reading. In Britain more papers are sold than in any other country in the world. Some of hese people have the reputation of being shy and reserved with strangers. But others are extroverts and talk to anybody.

British people dont like answering personal questions about their private lives. You must never ask them how mushmoney they earn, or how old they are. Everybody knows that all Englishmen wear bowler hats, pinstripe suits and carryumbrellas; Scotsmen are mean, hate spending money and drink whisky all day long; Welshmen do nothing play rugbyand sing (and some British people tell jokes about Irish ). Interestingly enough, the English drive on the left. Touristsmust be very careful if they want to drive and walk in England. It is difficult to get used to their traffic. Whats more,he steering wheel of their cars is on the right side.

RegionsScotlandThere are three large geographical areas in Scotland: the Highlands, the Lowlands and the Islands, 5 million people liven Scotland. Edinburgh is the capital; Glasgow is the chief industrial and commercial city. Places to visit:

- The Edinburgh Festival for music and drama- Loch Ness to catch a glimpse of the monster?England- Hadrians Wall named after the Roman Emperor Hadrian was completed in the 2 nd century. It is huge

fortification all along the Scottish border.- The Lake District an area of mountains and lakes which looks larger than it really is. It has dramatic, romanticscenery.- Stratford-on-Avon the birthplace and burial place of William Shakespeare. The Royal Shakespeare Companyplays here at the Festival Theatre as well as in London.- Stonehenge (it is made of stones, the great circle of standing stones is believed to have had some religious or astronomical purpose)- Windsor the town on the River Thames. Its castle is a royal residence.- Eton close to Windsor. The famous public school here was founded in 1440.- Canterbury the cathedral and the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is the religious head of theChurch of England.

- Oxford and Cambridge the famous (and the oldest) university towns in Britain.

The Sights of London

The Tower of London (an ancient fortress; to play an important part in British history; to serve as a palace and aprison; to be a museum; crown jewels; to be guarded by beefeaters), raven (holl)- Buckingham Palace (residence of the queen; changing of the guard at 11:30)- Westminster Abbey (to contain tombs and monuments of famous Britons; to be the scene of coronations androyal weddings)- Houses of Parliament (to have parliamentary sessions; a flag on Victoria Tower; Clock Tower Big Ben), Houseof Lords, House of Commons- ST. Pauls Cathedral (second largest dome in the world; built by Sir Christopher Wren in the 17 th century)- Trafalgar Square (heart of London; fountains and pigeons; Nelsons Column (Nelson was an admiral, whodefeated Napoleons troops in a battle at Waterloo ; The National Gallery)- The Monument (to commemorate the Great Fire of London in 1666)- Downing Street No. 10. (residence of the Prime Minister; Gordon Brown, to be guarded all day)- Famous bridges: Westminster Bridge, Tower Bridge

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- Famous museums: The British Museum, The New London Museum, Tate Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum- Madame Tussauds Waxworks (in Baker Street, famous people, politicians, actors in waxwork)WalesThe capital is Cardiff. There are 2.9 million inhabitants in Wales. The highest number live in the industrial areas of South Wales. There is a Welsh language. Welsh folklore and language strengthen each other. Every year a nationalfestival of traditional poetry and music is held. Its called the Eisteddfod.

Northern Ireland

The countrys capital is Belfast. It is a land of lakes, rivers and a varied sea coast. It is a great place for outdoor sportsand for tourism when times are peaceful. Above all, the Northern Irish people are friendly and generous.

The most well-known festivals in England

14 th February: Its St Valentines Day; many people send a card to the one they love or someone whom they have fallenn love with. People usually do not sign these cards and a lot of time is spent trying to guess who has sent them.

31st October: Halloween means holy evening and takes place on 31 st October. Although it is a much more importantfestival in the United States than Britain, it is celebrated by many people in the UK. It is particularly connected withwitches and ghosts. At parties people dress up in strange costumes and pretend they are witches. They cut horrible facesn potatoes and other vegetables and put a candle inside, which shines through the eyes. People may play difficult

games such as trying to eat an apple from a bucket of water without using their hands. In recent years children dressedn white sheets knock on doors at Halloween and ask if you would like a trick or treat (csokit vagy csalunk). If you

give them something nice, a treat, they go away. However, if you dont they play a trick on you, such as making aot of noise or spilling flour on your front doorstep.

5th November (Guy Fawkes Day): In 1605 King James I was on the throne. As a Protestant, he was very unpopular withRoman Catholics. Some of them planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament on 5 th November of that year, when theKing was going to open Parliament. Under the House of Lords they had stored thirty six barrels of gun powder, whichwere to be exploded by a man called Guy Fawkes. However one of the plotters spoke about these plans and Fawkes wasdiscovered, arrested and later hanged. Since that day the British traditionally celebrate 5 th November by burning adummy, made of straw and old clothes, on a bonfire, whilst at the same time letting off fireworks. This dummy is calleda guy and children can often be seen on the pavements before 5 th November saying, Penny for the guy. If theycollect enough money they can buy some fireworks.

(Blow up explode; Carol a Christmas hymn; Dummy an object made to look like a real person; Hanged -killed byhanging from a rope tied round the neck; Public holiday a day when nobody goes to work; Witch a woman whouses magic)

HUNGARY

Hungary is situated in Central Europe. The country occupies a territory of about 93,000 square kilometers andthere are about ten million people living here. There are nineteen counties. Our country can be divided into threelarge regions: Transdanubia, the Great Plain and Northern Hungary. The Transdanubian part is mainly hilly withthe exception of the northern region, which is called the Small Plain. The soil is exceptionally good there for crops and vegetables. A similar area is a Great Plain, where most of Hungarys crops are grown. NorthernHungary is fairly mountainous and the countrys highest peak can also be found there. Europes second largestriver, the Danube can be found in Hungary. The Tisza is another long river and Lake Balaton is the secondlargest freshwater lake in Central and Western Europe.

On the north Hungary is bordered by the Czech and Slovak Republic , on the north-east by the Ukraine , on the east Romania , on the south by Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia while on the west the country borders on Austria. The officialanguage of Hungary is Hungarian.

Tourism also plays an important role in our economy as millions of tourists come to Hungary from year to year.I think one reason for so many tourists coming to our country is the hospitality of the Hungarians. Besides, theCarpathian Basin is at cross-roads for the traveller from north to south, from east to west. Hungary also hasvarious tourist attractions. Visitors can enjoy the wonderful sights of Budapest, relax on one of the numerous

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beaches of Lake Balaton, go and see the lovely Hungarian villages where traditions of folk art are preserved andtreasured or visit some of the smaller but beautiful towns like Veszprm, Kszeg, Eger or Szentendre. The cango for outings to the romantic Puszta, the Great Hungarian Plain, where they can see the famous Hungarianstud farms. Hungary has a lively cultural life . The most popular cultural events attended by a lot of touristsseem to be the open-air summer festivals held in different towns, such as the Szeged Open-air Festival, theSopron Festival Weeks, the Szentendre Summer or the Veszprm Castle Concerts while in spring the greatestevent is the Budapest Spring Festival. Apart from festivals, the Opera House, concert halls, open-air theatres andmuseums are also visited by a lot of tourists who are genuinely interested in the cultural life of the country.

Budapest is the Hungarian capital: 2000 years ago the Romans called this settlement Aquincum that is the city

of waters because there were and still there are a lot of hot water springs and medicinal baths in this region.Real urbanisation began in the fifteenth century when under the rule of Sigismund of Luxemburg the royalcastle on the Buda hills was built. The later centuries, especially the nineteenth century saw the flourishing of Pest lying on the other side of the River Danube. Today Budapest is a busy metropolis with a population of 2million people. The city is extremely rich in historical and cultural monuments, works of art and natural

beauties.

If you have a foreign guest you have to show him/her the Castle District with the Matthias Church, the FishermansBastion and Szcsenyi National Library in the Royal Castle. Looking over the river Danube there is Europes mostbeautiful House of Parliament. In the middle of the Heroes Square there is a one hundred and eighteen foot highcolumn with the Archangel Gabriel on the top. At one side of the square there is the Museum of Fine Arts where you

can see wonderful pictures. The other important museum is the National Museum, where the Revolution and War of Independence started on 15 th March, 1848. The Opera House designed by Mikls Ybl is as famous as the Opera Housen Vienna. The building was renovated recently so it is much nicer now. If you want to see elegant clothes and all kinds

of people from different nationalities you have to go to Vci Street, the pedestrian zone and at the end of the street theVrsmarty Square with the famous Caf Gerbaud. St. Stephens Basilica is the second centre of Christianity inHungary after the Basilica of Esztergom. Margaret Island is a perfect place for recreation. You can take long walks,admire the beautiful flowers and trees there and you can go for a swim there. The Gellrt Spa Bath, Szcsenyi Bath, theKirly and Rudas Baths are world famous and you can feel artistic atmosphere, too. Among the nine bridges famousones are: the Chain Bridge built and designed by Adam Clark. At the bottom of the bridge there are the beautiful lions.The bridge joins the Pest side with the Gellrt hill. The other bridge is the Elizabeth Bridge, the first suspension bridge.Liberty bridge has at one foot of it the technical university and at the other foot is the market-hall.

Public and traditional holidays in Hun gary

15 th March (the fifteenth of March)

We commemorate the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of eighteen-forty-eight and fourty-nine. Wewear kokrda (national sign, emblem) on this day on the left side of our suit or coat where our heart is.

1st May (the first of May Labour Day)

It is a spring holiday when maypoles are put up in gardens. The beer and the Vienna sausage occur to me about thispublic holiday mostly. Lots of interesting programmes are usually held and a board is stood upright, too.

20 th August (the twentieth of August)

It is the day of Stephan the first. On this day we commemorate the founding of our state almost a thousand years ago.This is the day of new bread.

23 rd October (the twenty-third of October)

We celebrate the declaration of the Hungarian Republic and commemorate the revolution of nineteen-fifty-six