Europe is a smorgasbord of cultures, languages, cuisines, histories, art and architecture. However, look beyond the well trodden museums and galleries and you'll find that europe holds many unexpected card up its sleeve. Where else might you attend a wife carrying competition, jump in and out of freezing water before being beaten by birch twigs, celebrate the summer solstice in a prehistoric stone circle, or choose between sweltering beaches, semidesert,permafrost,glaciers,volcanoes,hot springs and arctic. The europe boo draws together the charms and the surprises of this magnificent continent.