Liverpool and Merseyside will come alive with a host of SeaBritain events in 2005. Regattas, festivals, maritime themed entertainment and an exhibition on the golden years of transatlantic liner travel all feature.

On February 12 you can wish your friends and relatives a Happy Chinese New Year. On this day the Chinese celebrate the start of their New Year. Would you like to celebrate with them? You are very welcome in the Nieuwmarkt quarter, the Amsterdam Chinatown. Come and enjoy the fireworks, without which it is quite impossible to celebrate the Chinese New Year, and the traditional Lion Dance.

"Aphrodisiac Adventures", a stately home soirée and romantic train rides are among the delights Britain will have on offer in February 2005 for the coming Valentine's season.

Cardiff has a thriving calendar of events planned for 2005. As the Capital of Wales, the city takes huge pride in promoting all things Welsh. Cardiff is home to such national gems as the National Museum of Wales; the Museum of Welsh Life; and the newly built Wales Millennium Centre and is now established as a leading venue for a whole range of festivals, arts, music and sporting activities.

On a cold winter day there is nothing nicer than nestling down in a big armchair with a book and a cup of coffee or tea. Budapest now has several bookshops which offer just this service for visitors. Right in the center of the city, on the great boulevard of Andrassy ut, you will find the Irok Boltja (Writers Bookshop).

The county of Derbyshire in central England is to be the backdrop of a big screen adaptation of Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice". Starring Keira Knightley and Dame Judi Dench, the movie will be released in 2005 and features locations such as Chatsworth House, home to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire and Jane Austen's model for Mr Darcy's country house.

From 8 pm to 3 am on New Year’s Eve, Lake Zürich and the upper Limmat Riverwill provide one of the most attractive holiday settings in Switzerland. 150,000 or more people are expected to show up to be enthralled by New Year’s Eve fireworks.

Every New Year at midnight, the Hogmanay celebrations in the town of Stonehaven centre around a large, fireball-swinging procession which marches through the town down to the harbour and then throws the flaming orbs into the sea.