Pickpockets were plentiful. Toilets were rare. Trash bins were nonexistent. In other words, this was not Julia Roberts's and Hugh Grant's Notting Hill . Choose your European festivals wisely.
Visitors can expect wildflower-festooned processions, bouzouki music, and lambs roasting on spits.
The last weekend in May is when jet setters will descend on Monaco for the Monte Carlio Formula One Grand Prix. The Fourth of July falls on a Wednesday next year. Since 1825, Venice's strongest and swiftest gondoliers have competed in a race down the Grand Canal on the first Sunday in September. The best view, of course, is from a window overlooking the Grand Canal. The first two weeks of October are the focal point of the Irish Ttheater season, when the venerable Dublin Theatre Festival coincides with the edgier Dublin Fringe Festival.