Travel Forum / Destinations / Europe / March 2004

I've always been curious about this one. Perhaps someone has this
wisdom..
Why is it that names get either anglicised for english speakers, or
get different names when being spoken in different languages? For

We are finding it hard to get reasonably priced direct (or even
in-direct!) flights from UK to Crete in early April so we thought we
would do it in two stages - fly to Athens then take either a ferry to
Crete or one of the regular internal flights from Athens to Chania.

I'm beginning to gear up to visit Germany for two months next year (probably
October-November 2005.)
It's a kind of Sabbatical for me, and I'll spend the time studying the German
Language at the Goethe Institute.

Never been across the pond. What are some good cities for "first timers" ?
London? Amsterdam? Paris? Rome? Barcelona? Brussels? Vienna? I'm a 24m.

INSEE is the French statistical research institute which measures a number
of things, its web site provides information in English and some of the
reports are in English.
http://www.insee.fr/en/home/home_page.asp

I am torn between Germany and Alsace for vacation this year.
Last year, I went to Germany to discover the country, its food and its
beer and I had a great time. I was thinking about going to Alsace in
France to have a good time discovering the region, its food and wine,

The Bed & Breakfast Casa Eleonora is a characteristic villa of 1878, with
annexed barn, locally called "tabià", fine restructured.
It is situated at 1400 m. asl in one wonderful dominant panoramic position,
on the top of the Biois Valley, encircled from the famous Dolomitics tops of

I am thinking of planning a trip to Norway in June. Can anyone suggest any
places that would be worth visiting. I have thought of Oslo, Bergen and
around the Fjords, but was also thinking of heading up north to experience
the midnight sun, but have only ten daysto do all this in.

We are going to Sweden and Norway next year, the question is when.  This will
be about a two week trip, very early in the planning.  While we want as good
weather as possible we don't want to get caught up in crowds.  I'm guessing
that August is not a good time and therefore we are ...

Please comment, I want to hear from you.
First, some assumptions...
1) I need a mobile phone while in Europe on vacation.  Yes it can be
costly vs. calling cards, but it gives me immediate access, as well as

I'm staying in Florence, but have a flight out of Rome (Fiumicino) at
12pm on Sunday.  I can take the Eurostar from Florence to Rome, which
arrives at Rome Termini at 9:30am.
1.) Is the Eurostar reliable (will it actually arrive at 9:30am?)

I did a google search on this subject but want to make sure I am not
jumping to the wrong conclusions.
My wife and I plan a trip to Europe.
We plan to fly into Frankfurt and rent an automobile.

Since Gaston needed his dog walk we walked up to Montparnasse to
see of Starbucks was open yet. I already explained it is near
the corner of Montparnasse and the Darth Vader Tour.
Anyway for lovers of Starbucks it was full. We did not go in

best airport with slowest waiting time is?

This was departure day, and our flight left at 11.30 a.m. Accordingly,
there was no great opportunity to add to our travel experience. This
final instalment is appended to allow me scope to make a few general
remarks.