Giverny is famous for the gardens that Claude Monet spent so much time painting. Following the old chestnut "April showers bring May flowers," the annual pilgrimage to Giverny starts in the spring and lets up in August a bit. But August is actually a good time to visit the gardens, according to local guide Ariane:

"August is one of the best time to visit Monet’s gardens at Giverny. The pond is covered by water lilies. The nasturtiums invade dramatically the main alley. And all the summer flowers give their big show."

But it doesn't stop there. The giant flowers come in late summer and early fall, " Sunflowers of course, and also giant dahlias, rudbeckias, cosmos or helianthus as thick as walls of flowers."

And best yet, the big Giverny festival is going on in September. Find out about the festival and how to visit the village of Giverny even if you don't have a car, and get some ideas of how to spend your time in the artistic Haute Normandy with our Giverny Travel Guide.

The first auto race I attended happened to be in north Holland, at Zandvoort. It was a club race, nothing like Formula One--meaning the racing was close, spirited and interesting all day. Not only that, the track fries were hot and served with mayo, as is the tradition in northern Europe. Yum. Who would ever again think of putting sugared tomato on fries once they've tasted them with mayonnaise?

In any case, I still don't don't think of The Netherlands as a hotbed of auto racing, but they've initiated a new racing formula: Formula Zero. The zero refers to the amount of emissions each flashy race car produces. Zero. They're running on hydrogen fuel cells. The first grand prix was held over the weekend in Rotterdam. You can read about the program and get the results from the Formula Zero web site.

Just as you think the summer's almost over, you realize that if you were in Florence you could be enjoying all sorts of music in historic venues through the end of September at Firenzestate 2008, the big Florence summer festival.

If pots are more your thing, you could spend October 4th and 5th in Piazza SS Annunziata for the Ceramic Fair.

As for me, I'm a hands-on fresco kinda guy. I'd likely head out for the Fresco Workshop.

So little time, so much summer.

Florence: What You Need to Know: Florence Transportation | Florence Maps | Florence Travel Essentials | Florence Train Station, Santa Maria Novello, in Detail

With the withering dollar, why would anyone go to Europe these days? Yes, that's the question on everyone's lips and I wish they'd wipe it off.

I go to Europe twice a year to find facts to give to you freely. Surprisingly, I never seem to notice prices going up as fast as the dollar has gone down.

But this morning I was updating our Munich travel planner and found something interesting. The article recalled that we had stayed in the Hotel Europäischer Hof for € 99 in 2002. The link to the hotel was broken, so I set out to fix it. Well, was I surprised. According to the hotel's web site, their daily best rates for a double (drum roll please...) were now € 77.

You see, it's the sign of the market at work. Fewer tourists mean that smart service providers have to reduce prices to lure folks in.

So here's what we've learned:

1. Prices of tourist services aren't rising as fast you you might have feared.
2. Look at a hotel's web site before you book through a booking engine. You might be pleasantly surprised at the prices.