Another way to think of Europe is through the lens of the multiple empires that ruled portions of this nebulous Europe at different point in history. The boundaries get even more confused.

Lets start with some great historical caricature maps of Europe (Click on the maps for a much bigger version and the source web site):

As for the Empires I'll just start with the Romans(section in pink) in year 1 and year 400:

Click on the maps for a bigger version and the source web site.

In the year 800 version of the same map you can see the Moorish presence on Iberian Peninsula

Then you have the growth of the Ottoman Empire (purple), the Austrian and then Austro-Hungarian Empire (dark green) and the Russian empire (light green):

Click on the maps for a bigger version and the source web site.

The post WWII Europe:

The caption reads more or less: Zone of western influence,  Pro-western states not aligned in 1945, States benefiting from the Marshall Plan, Neutral states, Zones of Soviet influence. The situation of Finland is then described in more detail.

Millennium Europe:

and how the EU maps onto that by year of membership, expected membership or, in the case of Turkey, membership negotiations:

Finally, Europe from a railway perspective - the way France is centered on Paris becomes quite apparent here (only major rail routes are on this map I couldn't find a more detailed map- maybe Dodo has some on hand for the next train blogging).

Click on the map for a much larger version