Here are a few more information which might convince you to travel to Europe this Spring:

Check out travel sites which offer winter packages. These are off-peak vacation packages which, surprise surprise, include travel in March and April.

Check out Fodor's Europe: 9 Ways to Save On Your Next Hotel Room. One of those tactic should work for you.

Fare Sale to Europe are being offered by Major Airlines. Act fast to get yourself a seat.

April 13, 2005: Few women have 20,000 admirers visit them every day, yet “Mona Lisa” seems positively blasé about it. Ensconced behind 4-centimeter-thick glass, La Joconde, as Leonardo’s iconic painting is known in France, has a high-tech new home in the Louvre’s refurbished Salle des Etats, now renamed the Salle de la Joconde. Redone in tones of beige and lit from above, the room also houses over 50 Venetian Renaissance paintings, including “The Marriage at Cana” by Veronese.

This article is not recent, but according to us is still an issue today since the severe rules on hand luggage still cause some problems and rules are not always clear. Try to ask an italian airport official if it's ok to buy a bottle of wine in the milanese airport if you have to take several transfers going back to your country ...

by Steve Johnson, Nov. 6, 2006
The International Herald Tribune
Brussels, AP

Gadgetry:

To save battery power turn off mobile phones - being connected to or looking for the network drains the battery.  The same is true for laptops and wi-fi signals.  Turn em off.

When you get to a hotel room, open your computer and look for an unsecured wi-fi signal.  You’ll be surprised often.

Invest in lots of camera memory (lSD cards, memory sticks).  You do not want to consistently be hamstrung by a camera that is full of pictures.  A 1GB card with 5megapixel photos was enough for us.

Wrap your computer in some sort of sealable plastic bag before packing it away.  Wetness happens.

People can’t steal what they don’t see.  Limit gadgetry use in public.

Here is an excerpt:

10) Travel light

Borsa Italiana, in its official announcement on August 6^th, stated that September 17^th 2007 is the date established to begin the trading of the ordinary shares of Tessitura Pontelambor, which was admitted for listing on the MAC of Borsa Italiana with the official announcement on July 18^th.

Centrobanca S.p.A. assisted the company as Sponsor during the process of admission and it also acts as Specialist.

Residents of Italy's capital entered a new era on Saturday night as they turned their cell phones on.

In a technological leap, a futuristic urban map made its debut, featuring the dynamics of the city in real time. The map project, known as "Wiki City Rome," is continuously fed data through wireless technology such as cell phones and global positioning systems on city buses and taxis.

Developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the project was launched during Rome's Notte Bianca (White Night), an all-night festival of 400 events, which drew about 2.5 million people in Rome's streets.

Northern Ireland leader Ian Paisley and the head of state of the Irish Republic, President Mary McAleese, shook hands Monday for the first time — another symbolic milestone on Ireland's road to reconciliation.

Paisley, 81, for decades rejected any role for the Irish Republic in Northern Ireland, a predominantly Protestant part of the United Kingdom. Last year, he accused McAleese of being a deceitful politician who talked nicely in public but privately loathed Northern Ireland's Protestant majority.

Since taking the helm of a new Catholic-Protestant administration in Belfast four months ago, First Minister Paisley has demonstrated a sudden zeal for cooperating with the predominantly Roman Catholic south.

Do you collect purses the way Imelda Marcos collected shoes? If so, you'll want to plan a trip to the newly reopened Museum of Bags and Purses in Amsterdam.

The French take chocolate seriously, and Paris is home to several great chocolatiers. Although there are dozens to choose from, the five purveyors we list here are unusually distinguished for excellence and originality.

Pierre Hermé
In his tireless quest for the new, the pastries can sometimes flounder, but the chocolate never wavers. Assortments of dark and milk-chocolate bonbons are worth the splurge.

La Maison du Chocolat
This is the gold standard of chocolate. Robert Linx's silky ganaches are unparalleled in subtlety and flavor. The pastries -- notably the macarons -- are icing on the cake.

The new Acropolis museum is seen in front of the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple in Athens on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007. Greece's Culture Minister has angered architects and conservationists by clearing the way for demolition of a protected architectural gem in central Athens to improve the view from the landmark new Acropolis Museum.

George Voulgarakis' decision, signed Aug. 30 but made public Wednesday, revoked state protection for the ornate art deco building "to allow an unimpeded view of the Acropolis (from the new museum)."  It added that demolition of the 1930 building - and of an adjacent house owned by Oscar-winning composer Vangelis Papathanassiou - would allow the plot to be excavated "to reveal antiquities whose existence is considered highly likely."

But residents, who have launched an international e-mail campaign to save the structure, vowed Wednesday to challenge the decision in court.

The Magic Fountain is a large fountain built in 1929. When the fountain is active, it constantly changes color and shape.

The Font Màgica or Magic fountain was part of a project built for the 1929 Universal Exhibition. The exhibition took place on Montjuïc, a hill on the eastern end of Barcelona.

Cascades and Fountains
The project, designed by the engineer Carles Buigas consisted of a series of cascades and fountains between the Palau National, the main exhibition center on the Montjuïc, and the Plaça d'Espanya at the foot of the hill. It took one year to complete the project. The most spectacular part was the monumental Magic fountain. It was originally intended to show people what could be achieved with filtered electrical light.

The Italian city of Bologna is to offer free high-speed wi-fi beginning on 12 June, according to an announcement on its website.

The city's deputy mayor said in a statement the Iperbole Wireless Project is the first to offer coverage within a historic centre in a major Italian city.

The network was deployed by Acantho, a local ISP, and Hi-Tel, a RoamAD partner. Financial backers of the project include the City of Bologna, Laboratori G Marconi and the University of Bologna, according to a statement from RoamAD.

If tiny Belgium splits in two, the European Union has a signal warning at its doorstep: Unresponsive government's fissures eventually turn into major breaches and perhaps even bring about the state's destruction. Unless, that is, it starts responding to the will of the people. That is true even in a 177-year-old federation which has figured in Western history's major episodes since the days of Metternich.

Three months have passed since Belgium's elections, and no government has formed. About 60 percent of Belgians are Dutch-speaking Flemings, concentrated in the wealthier north (Flanders), while about 30 percent are French-speaking Walloons, mostly in the poorer, more socialistic south. As our Europe Watch columnist, Paul Belien, explained Wednesday in this section, for decades a deliberate "frenchification" of Belgium has been underway, buttressed by the country's underrepresentative political arrangements which hand a de facto veto over policy to the minority Parti Socialiste, Wallonia's largest party. Francophone political figures have admitted that French-speaking North African immigrants were admitted without background investigations in support of "frenchification." Meanwhile, the Flemish are hit squarely in the pocketbook.

BUCHAREST – When describing the attractions of Romania's capital, people have a tendency to speak conditionally.

"Bucharest could be one of Europe's most beautiful cities," says Petru, a young student I met in a sidewalk café in the historic Lipscani district.

"There's a lot of history and culture here. It really should be a popular city . . . but things have prevented it from becoming one."

Some of those "things" would be 50 years of Communist rule – the last 24 (until 1989) under the murderous dictatorship of Nicolae Ceacescu – then a bloody revolution followed by lingering political corruption and economic disorder, which left an impression that everybody here was either on the take or on the make. So, Bucharest was largely avoided as other post-Communist Eastern European cities opened up to Western travellers.

McLaren-Mercedes have withdrawn their appeal against a points penalty the team received during last month's Hungarian Grand Prix, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) announced on Tuesday.

The Formula 1 team were deducted 15 points due to them in the constructors championship after Fernando Alonso was found to have voluntarily impeded team-mate Lewis Hamilton in qualifying.

Hamilton went on to win the race, with Alonso finishing fourth at the Hungaroring.

Technical and design innovations, new materials, an unusual design or simply exciting and unusual ideas - Europe´s biggest bicycle trade show will be held in Cologne. Plenty of action on two wheels, a unique array of testing opportunities both inside and out, informative special zones, high-quality congresses and the sizeable bicycle tourism centre presenting dream trips around the world - the IFMA supporting programme will once again wow tens of thousands of trade visitors and members of the public this year. 

The new hall structure has been set for IFMA Cologne 2007 and caters for both the commercial and event sides of the exhibition perfectly. For example,nearly all the exhibitors will be presenting their bike and accessory innovations in the ideal commercial atmosphere of halls 6 and 7,while hall 9 will be devoted to testing and events. The entire indoor supporting programme,including the e-bike test course, will be held here. The big IFMA stage, which features attractions such as the travel talks, the tourism centre and special attractions such as the Cruiser Show are being moved to hall 9, for action-packed activities all in one place.