A Summer In Europe

The Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget is the ultimate guide to exploring this fascinating continent on a shoestring, with coverage of all the top sights, the clearest mapping of any guide and handy hints on how to save money. Discover the highlights of Europe, from the vibrant capitals of London, Paris and Rome to the great outdoors, whether skiing in the Alps, hiking in the Tatras or surfing on the Portuguese coast. Read about Europe's great attractions from the Sistine Chapel in Rome to the Aya Sofia in Istanbul. And with coverage of four new countries - Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and Bosnia-Hercegovina, The Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget is more comprehensive than ever before. Find practical advice on travelling around Europe, whether by InterRail, Eurail or bus, and what to see and do in each country. With up-to-date descriptions of the best hostels and budget hotels in Europe, bars in Europe, cafés, cheap restaurants, and European shopping and festivals this guide is the budget-conscious traveller's must have item for European trips.

On her thirtieth birthday, Gwendolyn Reese receives an unexpected present from her widowed Aunt Bea: a grand tour of Europe in the company of Bea's Sudoku and Mahjongg Club. The prospect isn't entirely appealing. But when the gift she is expecting--an engagement ring from her boyfriend--doesn't materialize, Gwen decides to go. At first, Gwen approaches the trip as if it's the math homework she assigns her students, diligently checking monuments off her must-see list. But amid the bougainvillea and stunning vistas of southern Italy, something changes. Gwen begins to live in the moment--skipping down stone staircases in Capri, running her fingers over a glacier in view of the Matterhorn, racing through the Louvre, and taste-testing pastries at a Marseilles cafe. Reveling in every new experience--especially her attraction to a charismatic British physics professor--Gwen discovers that the ancient wonders around her are nothing compared to the renaissance unfolding within. . . "A thinking woman's love story, it swept me away to breathtaking places with a cast of endearing characters I won't soon forget. Bravissima!" –Susan McBride, author of Little Black Dress Praise for Marilyn Brant's According to Jane "A warm, witty and charmingly original story." --Susan Wiggs, New York Times bestselling author "Brant infuses her sweetly romantic and delightfully clever tale with just the right dash of Austen-esque wit." –Chicago Tribune "An engaging read for all who have been through the long, dark, dating wars, and still believe there's sunshine, and a Mr. Darcy, at the end of the tunnel." --Cathy Lamb, author of Such a Pretty Face

Reprint of the original, first published in 1876.

This book is about the European health spas of the nineteenth century: what they were, how they operated, what life was like there and how their functions evolved to the point where their original medicinal purpose was relegated to a secondary place by the unintended uses of spas as stages of social and political interactions. These popular resorts were nicknamed ‘the summer capitals of Europe’ because of the tendency of nations’ governing classes to gather there. Every summer between 1814 and 1914 (and in a few cases during World War I) continental watering places became a microcosm of cosmopolitan aristocratic Europe, incorporating its conventions, tastes, concerns and interests. As the nineteenth century advanced, fashionable watering stations increasingly became associated with social bonding, matchmaking, pleasure, career building, conspicuous consumption and diplomatic activity that took place during the high season.

When war broke out in Europe in 1914, it surprised a European population enjoying the most beautiful summer in memory. For nearly a century since, historians have debated the causes of the war. Some have cited the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand; others have concluded it was unavoidable. In Europe’s Last Summer, David Fromkin provides a different answer: hostilities were commenced deliberately. In a riveting re-creation of the run-up to war, Fromkin shows how German generals, seeing war as inevitable, manipulated events to precipitate a conflict waged on their own terms. Moving deftly between diplomats, generals, and rulers across Europe, he makes the complex diplomatic negotiations accessible and immediate. Examining the actions of individuals amid larger historical forces, this is a gripping historical narrative and a dramatic reassessment of a key moment in the twentieth-century.