SEP
12

armchair_diplomat_europe.jpgThe Armchair Diplomat on Europe: The Ultimate Slackers' Guide to Our Continental Cousins

So much pre-travel reading is devoted to 'where to go', and 'what to see'. Melissa Rossi's Armchair Diplomat series of books offers the traveler something completely different; an education on the nuances of history, culture and geopolitics for 25 EU nations. This book was just released in August of this year, and another book titled 'What Every American Should Know about Who's Really Running the World' is expected to hit store shelves by December. In 1996 Rossi wrote a book on Courtney Love and since then has been devoted to travel writing exclusively. This Armchair Diplomat series figures to be a big hit.

It happens all the time: you're watching the Champion's League, pondering Robert Kilroy Silk's unnatural glow, reading the latest newspaper debate about EU bendy banana laws, and thinking: what's really going on in Europe? Does anyone actually know what they're talking about? And where are Riga and Vilnius anyway?

You needn't worry any more. With this armchair guide you'll discover the strange and fascinating world that calls itself Europe - without ever having to leave your own home. There are insights into culture (how to join the Finns beating themselves with birch twigs in the sauna); the lowdown on the people that matter (porn stars turned politicians in Italy); fascinating facts and explanations of historical rifts (and you thought the relationship between Britain and France was bad). You'll find out how to talk like Berlusconi, unravel the workings of the EU and guide yourself from the Baltics to Belgium, Portugal to Poland.

The Armchair Diplomat: Europe offers the basics of euro-education for very little pain. Perfect for slackers with a passion for travel.

The Armchair Diplomat Website [Source Credit]
The Armchair Diplomat: Europe [Penguin UK]

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AUG
02

ljubljana_slovenia.jpgLjubljana Is Injecting New Life Into Old Europe, Drawing Comparisons To Pre-Tourist Prague

"From the 16th-century fortress walls atop Castle Hill, the view of Ljubljana is exquisite: waves of red-tiled roofs, turquoise domes, spires and, here and there, lacy bridges spanning the green Ljubljanica River, stitching the two sides of Slovenia's capital city together. The overall effect is that of a snow-globe town in the foothills of the Alps.

But as lovely as the view is, there is nothing in that macro-shot that suggests the current source of Ljubljana's vivacity - an intrinsic hum of energy that has, in recent months, generated avid comparisons to the city that everyone seems to long for: Prague circa 1995. The evidence, I decided, must lie in the streets below, so on a recent summer morning, I headed past Ljubljana's weave of medieval, Baroque and Art Nouveau buildings toward Preseren Square, the city's bustling social hub, which is anchored by the 17th-century Franciscan Church of the Annunciation and monastery and the Triple Bridge."

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