Happy New Year!

Here we are, in the early days of 2009. What an appropriate time to check into what the various countries of Europe are promoting as their top events for the upcoming year. 

A good place to start for researching this topic is with the official tourist information agencies for the countries themselves. The Tourism Offices Worldwide Directory is a handy Web site to bookmark in order to easily find any given country’s official source of tourist information. Here’s a quick country-by-country look at some of the events you may wish to check out through 2009:

Austria: www.austria.info

Around the world and particularly in Austria, 2009 is being proclaimed as Haydn Year. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Joseph Haydn, who started his musical career as a member of the Vienna Boys Choir. Look for various events centering around his life and work throughout the year.

Belgium:  www.visitbelgium.com

Brussels is gearing up for the opening of a museum celebrating the works of René Magritte, a surrealist painter of the 20th century. Magritte and his contemporaries, including Salvador Dali and Max Ernst, ignited a global movement that impacted all media, particularly advertising, theater and movies.  The New Magritte Museum will open June 2, on Brussels’ Place Royale, and will contain some 200 of his works.

Something the kids might enjoy is the Balloon Day Parade, which will be held Feb. 28, a date that coincides with Brussels’ celebration of carnival. Gigantic helium balloons depicting comic strip characters, animals and other objects will crisscross the city on a route running from the North to the South train stations.

Estonia: www.visitestonia.com

Every five years, the country hosts a song and dance festival, and 2009 is one of those years. Festivities will take place July 2-5, a time of year when this northern land is bathed in light almost round the clock.  For a small country, this is a big event. In 2004, 34,000 performers entertained 200,000 guests. The event, titled “To Breathe as One,” takes place in the capital of Tallinn and throughout the rest of the country.

Germany: www.germany-tourism.de

Several cities are marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with special events. Celebrations to honor unification include a dramatization of the fall of the wall in Berlin on Nov. 9, 1989, with concerts and a street party at the Brandenburg Gate in the evening, and a light festival in Leipzig on Oct. 9.

Italy: www.italiantourism.com

Fans of Futurism will have a good chance of finding exhibitions to their liking upon the occasion of the centennial of the movement  in Rome, Brescia, Aosta, Milan and Venice.

Netherlands: http://us.holland.com

Throughout 2009 and into 2010, Holland’s largest cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht host a cultural event titled Holland Art Cities.

Scotland: http://visitscotland.com

Homecoming Scotland 2009 is a yearlong event commemorating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns. Festivities kick off Jan. 24-25 and will run through November. Burns Light is a procession of lanterns and a fire show wending its way through Dumfries, whereas Celtic Connections is a music festival running Jan. 15- Feb. 1 in Glasgow. Some of the other 100-plus events revolve around whisky, books, pipe bands and highland games. 

Are there any special events on your 2009 travel calendar?