This Friday, the Vancouver Olympic Opening Ceremonies will take place. If you’re on the west coast, you can watch most of the events in real time, but if you’re on the east coast, it may be difficult to keep up! Fortunately, the coverage is generally quite good. Regardless of where you’re watching the Winter Olympics, one thing is for sure: it’s going to be an exciting year!
Olympic veterans like Apolo Ohno (speed skating), Shaun White (snowboarding) and our local favorite Seth Wescott (snowboarding) have what it takes to bring home the gold, and there are a whole plethora of young talented athletes who have their eyes on the prize. Even comedian Stephen Colbert has secured his place in the Olympics by being made an official assistant sports psychologist on the US Olympic speed skating team.
Who will you be rooting for in this years Olympic games? What are your favorite events? One more thing that is worth noting, Canada has hosted the Olympics two previous times (Montreal 1974, Calgary 1988) and has never won a gold medal on it’s own turf. Let’s hope they can bring home a gold this year!
I initially thought not too much had happened over the weekend. While reading the news this morning, I had skipped over some more Tiger talk, weather stories, and cute animals when all of a sudden, I found a headline that truly shocked me. It read, “Italian Prime Minister Bloodied by Attack.” Apparently over the weekend, a 42 year old man decided to throw a heavy model of Milan’s Gothic Cathedral directly into the face of Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, who was signing autographs in Milan. The choice to use that particular item as a weapon was strange, but it was also effective, as the attacker managed to break Berlusconi’s nose, two of his teeth, and give him a cut lip with the flying church. The incident was captured on video, but be warned it’s pretty graphic.
Berlusconi is no stranger to the media spotlight, having an “interesting” sense of humor to say the least, but why anyone would want to do this is beyond me. I understand that politics makes people emotional, but an attack of this nature is not going to do any good for anyone. According to Italian Police, the attacker has a history of mental illness, but no prior criminal record. Regardless of his motives, I’m sure we can all agree that such actions should not be tolerated.
We are all getting excited for the World Cup that is going to be held in Johannesburg in 2010, but here’s a valuable lesson on post game celebrations that proves you have to be careful no matter who you are. Back in October, Serbia was playing a match against Romania which, if they won would guarantee them a spot in the World Cup. They ended up winning big time and really made a statement as they beat Romania 5-0.
Everyone who is anyone in Serbia was there, including the President of Serbia, Boris Tadic. Feeling a surge or pride for his country, he decided to raise his glass and toast the team of the moment. Unfortunately for him, there is a law banning all alcohol in any stadium in Serbia, and he was nabbed by the champagne police. Okay, he wasn’t really nabbed, but he was summoned and had to plead guilty in a Serbian court. He claimed he was unaware that it was illegal, and took full responsibility for his actions. He was fined €400 for the toast.
Do you think an exception should have been made for the Serbian President?
For many, nothing brings out the holiday cheer quite like a well placed snow globe. However, travelers may find it more difficult to spread the joy. The TSA has decided to ban snow globes from carry on luggage because they can’t tell how much liquid is in them. This is unfortunate for anyone wishing to bring one home, as liquid filled glass containers generally don’t fare too well against baggage handlers or cargo holds on planes. You have to wonder how this will effect the snow globe industry, as the globes from the airport are a great last minute gift idea for people you may have forgot about while on vacation.
While the specific origin of the snow globe is not entirely clear, they originated in France in the early 1800’s, and have been stuffing stockings of people ever since. Many snow globes now contain lights and music boxes. While they make great decor in the right setting, they also make an awful mess when they break in your luggage. While on vacation in Germany, or anywhere else for that matter, the best way to get the snow globes back home will be to ship them in lots of bubble wrap.
This past Monday, hundreds of dairy farmers gathered in Brussels to apply pressure on the agriculture ministers meeting there to discuss low milk prices. Farmers have been dumping milk stocks and withholding product, as the price of milk has fallen across Europe. The reason for the falling price is the simple rule of supply and demand. Looking to make an impression and be heard, many farmers rode in their tractors, threw eggs, dumped milk into the streets, and many even brought cows! The end result that the farmers are hoping for is more regulation of the market, which would ensure that when times get tough, things abundance’s don’t happen to them. There was a notable police presence, and judging by this photo, it looks like the farmers have no shortage of creativity when it comes to finding methods of protest.
Somewhere, there is a flock of flying pigs soaring majestically through the streets of Paris, as it has been announced that one of the world’s most famous museums will soon be selling Happy Meals. Yes, the Louvre has announced plans to open up a McDonald’s franchise. I for one, find this not only appalling, but against everything that real art stands for. Maybe I shouldn’t be so harsh. I’m sure they will make uncanny amounts of money after all, perhaps some of it will trickle down into a French charity that feeds homeless artists. Read the full story here.
What are your thoughts on this? Would you eat at the McLourve during your next vacation in Paris?
When planning my last vacation, I had to ask myself, how much do I really need to communicate when I’m trying to get away from it all? The answer as it turned out, was a lot. Planning on not using my cell phone in a major city was not a good idea, and I ran out of battery life before the trip was through.
When traveling, there are many ways to stay connected. Cell phone technology has changed so much in the past few years, it’s hard to keep up. Netbooks will show you that computers have also gotten smaller, and far more convenient for your next vacation. I remember a time not so long ago, when if you wanted travel information, you had to actually bring along a book. Not so much anymore. How important are these things to you? Is having a smart phone a priority for you on a vacation, or would you just assume leave it at home in lieu of a digital camera?
Speaking of digital cameras, we are always taking submissions for our Travel Trivia photo series! If you have any landmarks, feedback, or other stories, feel free to email me at hans@autoeurope.com
From its inception, Virgin Galactic has been inspiring people the world over to think about what a look at the Earth would look and feel like from the capsule of a space ship. It would appear, that we are inching closer to that reality. For those unaware, the idea behind these flights is to have a large ship, ascend to the height of 50,000 feet and then drop a smaller ship, which will then take space tourists about 65 miles above the earths surface at a speeds of over 2500 mph.
So far what’s been announced has been pretty amazing. A space station known as Spaceport America is already being built in New Mexico, and the larger ship, the VMS Eve has taken several test flights, including one with Sir Richard Branson himself. It was the 16th flight and so far seems to be working smoothly. Virgin expects the ship to make an active drop by the end of 2009.
Another unique aspect of Virgin Galactic is how green it is. Great measures have been taken to make the ships as environmentally sound as possible. The engineers have basically taken what we know about space travel and started over, and so far it has paid off in a big way.
Speaking of paid in a big way, the price tag to get on to one of these flights is $200,000. So in the meantime, I’ll be sticking to regular flights to Europe for my next vacation!
More than 200 years after his death, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart continues to inspire and enchant the world with two new pieces of music that were recently uncovered. According to experts, the pieces are believed to be written by a young Mozart when he was 7 or 8 years old. The two works, Piano Piece in G and Concerto Movement in G were discovered in the archives of the International Mozarteum Foundation. They contained no name, but the experts there have determined through the use of handwriting analysis that they are in fact, original Mozart works.
The handwriting is actually the work of Wolfgang’s father, Leopold who would often transcribe his works as he would write them.
Austrian pianist Florian Birsak recently performed these works on Mozart’s piano for a slew of journalists and music lovers. It’s intense for anyone to hear, and nearly impossible anyone writing such a complex piece of music at such a young age.
We have been receiving updates from many of our suppliers of rental car shortages at various locations throughout Europe. The most sensitive locations are Ireland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Croatia. Automatic vehicles and vans are always in high demand, so if you are going to be in need of one in August or September, now would be the time to confirm your rental. Even manual vehicles are being booked up in some locations. There are upgrade specials and discount promotions with Auto Europe that expire on July 31st, making now the best time to guarantee your vehicle at the best possible rate.
Just so you know, with Auto Europe there are no penalties for cancellation or change of reservations.
While the specific origin of the snow globe is not entirely clear, they originated in France in the early 1800’s, and have been stuffing stockings of people ever since. Many snow globes now contain lights and music boxes. While they make great decor in the right setting, they also make an awful mess when they break in your luggage. While on 
