For the second year running, Rome becomes a city that doesn’t sleep. The White Night (www.lanottebianca.it), on September 18, is a citywide, all-night culture fest, when even Rome’s stuffiest institutions open their doors, shops are apt to hand out wine and the transport is free. The site is a bit scant, and though it claims to have versions in four languages, like a struggling linguist, it lapses back into Italian when you look up one of the 100 events. But you will get a flavour of what is on offer. As this is an all-night party, you don’t really need anywhere to stay, but last year there was a 3am downpour, and exhausted revellers will need somewhere to crash on Sunday — www.rentalinrome.com/index.htm has self-catering apartments all over the city. Located by the Spanish Steps, they start at about £50 per night; in the arty district of Trastevere, prices start at £65. While you are in Europe, Lille, this year’s European City of Culture, lists its complete schedule on a cramped site (www.lille2004.com), which, frustratingly, doesn’t sell tickets.
2 FOOD AND DRINK
Munich’s Oktoberfest, the ultimate hop-lover’s event (September 18-October 3: www.oktoberfest.de), is the biggest annual public festival in the world. Although it includes parades, folk music, ox-roasting and rollercoasters, most of the 6m visitors are there for the beer. It is too late to book accommodation packages from the tourist office site (www.muenchen-tourist.de), but camp ing (www.campingplatz-muenchen.de) is a cheap option, with per-night charges of £4.60 for car and tent, £3 per adult and £1.35 child. A shower is 65p and warm water is free. There’s a surcharge of £1.35pp during the festival; no reservations. Eurostar doesn’t sell tickets to Munich, but you can buy and print Paris-Munich tickets at the impressive www.bahn.de (one-way £72). It also sends extremely polite e-mails when you register — GNER et al, please note. Find alternative routes at www.seat61.com. Closer to home, www.foodfestival.co.uk has details of Ludlow’s food festival (September 10-12). The site needs to rethink its terrible use of space, but there are good links, including www.southshropshire.org.uk, which lists hotels and B&Bs (from £25 per night), as well as self-catering apartments (from £150 per week).
3 SPORTING HIGHLIGHTS
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Staged in England for the first time this year, the ICC Champions Trophy (September 10-25) is second only to the World Cup as an international one-day cricket event. The 10 Test-playing nations will contest 15 games, played over the 16 days, and www.icc-cricket.com has links for ticket sales from the three venues: the Rose Bowl, Hampshire; The Oval, Surrey’s ground; and Edgbaston, home of Warwickshire. Admission to the Rose Bowl costs £20-£35 at www.hampshirecricket.com, the best of the three county sides’ sites. Don’t fancy the soothing sound of willow on leather in the autumn? Then the Burghley Horse Trials, one of the world’s top eventing competitions, runs from Wednesday to Saturday in the grounds of one of England’s stateliest homes. Its site, www.burghley-horse.co.uk, wastes space on static menus, but at least you can buy tickets (£4-£15; £2.60 supplement for credit cards, 50p for debit cards).
4 ICE-SKATING
The coolest venue for the hottest winter sport, Hampton Court is grander even than the courtyard at Somerset House, where the annual installation of a winter rink has helped kick off the current trend. It is open from December 4 to January 16, but online booking is available now: adults £9, under-16s £7, concessions £8, family (one adult and three children/two adults, two children) £28. Joint admission tickets to skate and visit the palace are available. For children aged 5-16, there is a six-week course of lessons on Saturdays from December 11 (£60). Or learn to skate before you go: at IceSheffield (www.icesheffieldskatingacademy.co.uk ) there are courses at all 10 National Ice Skating Association (Nisa) levels from September (though online booking is not available). The Nisa site (www.iceskating.org.uk) lists local rinks and clubs, but if Skate UK is its “flagship learn-to-skate programme”, as the site maintains, where are the direct online links and ticket sales?
5 FEATS OF SKILL
Kung-fu fighting sounds more than a little bit frightening, but as practised by the Shaolin Monks (pictured), who invented the sport, it is awesome. The inspiration for dozens of martial-arts films, the back-flipping, wood block-splitting, Buddha-worshipping monks perform their renowned displays of speed, co-ordination and strength from September 7 to October 2 at Sadler’s Wells, London (www.sadlerswells.com). And now everybody can get their kicks: the Shaolin Temple in London (www.shaolintempleuk.org) has details of courses (trial classes £5; no online booking), though the “Shaolin shop” misleadingly refers to its offline facility. Sticking with cultural diversity, at the Barbican (www.barbican.org.uk), the next event in the World & Roots season is Youssou N’Dour, the world’s greatest exponent of traditional Senegalese mbalax music, with the Fathy Salama Orchestra (October 20, online tickets £17.50-£35). If you would rather be performing yourself, www.learntodance.com offers a directory of countrywide classes, illustrates the steps of rumba and sells merengue or salsa DVDs for absolute beginners (£15, excluding delivery).
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6 ART AND FILM
The Renaissance superstar and renowned womaniser Raphael is the subject of the National Gallery’s autumn blockbuster (www.nationalgallery.org.uk). Raphael from Urbino to Rome (October 20-January 16) includes the Madonna of the Pinks, recently acquired with £22m of public money, and will be making a countrywide tour. The online information is a bit dull, but timed tickets are available (adults £9, plus £1 booking fee), though you can’ t return to the home page from the booking page. The shop sells the catalogue for £25/£40 (paperback/hardback), plus £6 delivery. Also starting on October 20, and running until November 4, is the London Film Festival (www.lff.org.uk), “the only important showcase for international cinema in Britain”, according to Barry Norman. The programme will be online from September 15; tickets go on sale on October 7.