UNITED KINGDOM SUMMER PEARLS: London's architectural gems along the banks of the Thames
MUSIC: Europe's best pop and rock gatherings
BAGPIPES: The plaintive sounds of Scotland
SUBMARIUM: Journey to the bottom of the sea FESTIVALS: Fun in the sun in West Belfast
MORE ..
FRANCE and SWITZERLAND VULCANIA: Blow your top at France's volcano park
ART: Berthe Morisot, the unknown Impressionist
FESTIVALS: Aix-en-Provence has it all
ART: The Barbizon School painters come to life
ART: Take a stroll through medieval gardens of delight
MORE ..
SPAIN, PORTUGAL, ITALY and GREECE SALAMANCA: The city splashes out on culture
MUSIC: God's rock stars: the singing Greek monks
FOOD: Italy's unusual culinary delights
FILM: Great outdoor viewing in Rome
MORE ..
GERMANY and BENELUX HORTICULTURE: The world blossoms at Floriade
BRUGGE: Belgium's second city shines
ART: Berlin's homage to multiculturalism ART: The best of the world's artists on show at Documenta 11
DANCE: Czech twin ballerinos steal the show in Hamburg MORE ..
CENTRAL and EASTERN EUROPE ART: Yugoslavia's modern art museum is back
ART: A retrospective of Samizdat art and writing from the Communist bloc
GRAZ: Austria's little-known city of culture
MORE ..
THE NORDIC REGION DESIGN: Denmark celebrates Arne Jacobsen
MUSEUM: Get a blast from the past at Stalin World
STOCKHOLM: Welcome to the Venice of the North
MUSIC: Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes on tour MORE ..
PLUS LISTINGS: Other things to see and do in each region
Norse Myths, Icelandic Pop and Swedish Dance
REYKJAVIK: Iceland's gift for mixing high and low world
culture with local lore is on show at the Reykjavík Arts
Festival. Classics from Wagner to the Kronos Quartet; trads
from Gypsy band Taraf de Haïdouks to Japanese flutes (and
tango!). But top of the pops is indie band Sigur Rós'
collaboration with composer Ilmar Örn Hilmarsson on Odin's
Raven Magic — an orchestrated song cycle of a Norse legend
that's achingly hip. to May 31 • tel: +354
552 8588 • www.artfest.is
BERGEN: The city's packed 50th International Festival
launches on a wing and a prayer with the world premiere of the
dance Lux Aeterna, which is set in heaven and choreographed
by Jo Strømgren for Norway's Carte Blanche company. May 22-June 2 tel: +47 55 21 06 30 www.festspillene.no
TALLINN: Estonia's capital has a burgeoning reputation
as an oasis of cool. Can it survive hosting the Eurovision Song
Contest? Or can the 24 contestants for once convince us that
120 million TV viewers can't be wrong every year? May 25 tel: +372 627 2725 www.eurovision.tv
HALSINGLAND: Tired of the tango? Try the Hambo,
a Swedish style of polka that calls for nifty footwork and plenty
of room. When 500 pairs from Scandinavia and the U.S. go toe-to-toe
at the Hälsinge Hambo, they get plenty. Starting
at 6.30 a.m., they dance for 12 hours at four stages along a
70-km stretch of road until the champs are crowned. July 7 tel: +46 (0)278 254 93 www.halsingehambon.x.se
SKANDERBORG: The Smukkest pop festival must be doing something
right after 22 years. The secret? "Music is for the soul,
trees and plants are for light and air, children are for love,
garbage cans are for garbage, cold beers are for your throat,
the night is your own." Headliners Suede, Elvis Costello
and Faithless seem to agree. Aug. 8-11 tel: +45 8793 4444 www.smukfest.dk
COPENHAGEN: The biennial Golden Days festival is a chance
to show off. This year's theme focuses on the extraordinary
flowering of Copenhagen from 1870 to 1890. With over 100 exhibitions
and events covering the art, architecture, literature, music
and cakes of the city, Copenhagen is especially full of itself
this summer. Sept. 1-22 tel: +45 35 42 14 32 www.goldendays.dk
RIGA: "We cannot be catalogued," boasts the
"Arsenals" Film Festival. In Soviet times, it brought
inaccesible movies to the masses. Now a stop on the international
circuit, it sticks to its unconventional guns by giving Best
Director awards to all the finalists and drawing the winner
of the $10,000 first prize from a hat. Sept. 21-29 tel: +371 7221620 www.arsenals.lv
And a last tango in ... SEINÄJOKI: Finland has had a thing about the tango
for so long that a local subvariant of the dance has evolved.
This annual festival includes concerts and the election of a
Tango King and Queen. But the highlight has to be the 100,000
visitors dressed to the nines, tangoing in the streets of Seinäjoki.
July 10-14 tel: +358 6 420 1111 www.tangomarkkinat.fi
