London’ s Cuisine Worst in Europe, but Capital Boasts Best Free Attractions
TripAdvisor Survey Reveals Highs and Lows of European Cities
It may be home to some of the world’s finest chefs, but London’s cuisine has been voted the worst in Europe, in a survey of travellers’ perceptions of European cities by TripAdvisor(R), the world’s most popular and largest travel community.
Yet whilst the capital’s food may fail to whet travellers’ appetites, its feast of cultural sights and open spaces meets with approval. London emerged as the best European city for both free attractions and public parks in the survey of 2,376 European travellers. As one TripAdvisor reviewer writes, “I have travelled quite a lot and there are NO parks in the world like the ones in London, especially St James’ Park.”
Copenhagen took the accolade of Europe’s cleanest city, whilst London was crowned the dirtiest, for the second year running. One TripAdvisor reviewer writes, “When I went to London last I was looking for a bin at Victoria Station. I couldn’t find one so asked security and they told me to just throw it on the floor.”
Travellers also ranked London the most expensive city in Europe, whilst Prague was voted the best bargain. And when it comes to architecture, Barcelona boasts Europe’s finest, whilst Warsaw has the ugliest, with one TripAdvisor reviewer noting that, “There really isn’t much to see architecturally… The castle, which is located in the square, was uninteresting. There was also this huge ugly building, which is the Ministry of Sciences – that was ugly but BIG.”
BRITONS STILL PLANNING TRIPS TO EUROZONE
Despite the strength of the euro, the survey reveals that a staggering 93% of British travellers intend to travel within Europe in the coming year (beyond their own country) – higher than their Spanish counterparts (90%), the French (91%) or Italians (91%).
However, when it comes to travel budgets, Britons exercise the most caution. More than one in two Brits (57%) will stick to a tighter budget than on previous European jaunts, compared to 30% of French travellers, 38% of Italians and 48% of Spanish.
Luke Fredberg, TripAdvisor spokesman, says, “Europe’s capital cities all have their highs and lows, but no other continent offers travellers’ such a wealth of culture and sights within such short distances. Despite London emerging as the dirtiest and most expensive city, its fantastic free attractions prove that you don’t need to be a millionaire in order to enjoy the capital.”
TRIPADVISOR’S EUROPEAN CITIES SURVEY: RESULTS OVERVIEW
Best Free Attractions: 1. London (35%) 2. Rome (9%) 3. Barcelona (9%)
Most Over-Rated: 1. Paris (25%) 2. London (12%) 3. Dublin (6%)
Most Under-Rated: 1. Krakow (7%) 2. Bruges (6%) 3. Edinburgh (5%)
Friendliest Locals: 1. Dublin (15%) 2. Amsterdam (14%) 3. Edinburgh (8%)
Least Friendly: 1. Paris (36%) 2. London (17%) 3. Moscow (6%)
Most Boring: 1. Brussels (14%) 2. Zurich (9%) 3. Dublin (6%)
Most Tourist Traps: 1. London (30%) 2. Paris (15%) 3. Rome (10%)
Most Romantic: 1. Venice (29%) 2. Paris (21%) 3. Rome (11%)
Most Expensive: 1. London (23%) 2. Paris (19%) 3. Venice (8%)
Best Bargain: 1. Prague (16%) 2. Amsterdam (9%) 3. Istanbul (8%)
Best Nightlife: 1. London (27%) 2. Amsterdam (17%) 3. Barcelona(11%)
Cleanest: 1. Copenhagen (9%) 2. Zurich (8%) 3. Stockholm (7%)
Dirtiest: 1. London (36%) 2. Paris (9%) 3. Athens (7%)
Best cuisine: 1. Paris (18%) 2. London (17%) 3. Rome (13%)
Worst cuisine: 1. London (10%) 2. Moscow (7%) 3. Warsaw (6%)
Best Architecture: 1. Barcelona (15%) 2. Rome (14%) 3. London (12%)
Ugliest Architecture: 1. Warsaw (8%) 2. Berlin (7%) 3. Brussels (6%)
Best Public Parks: 1. London (50%) 2. Paris (7%) 3. Barcelona (6%)
Best Dressed: 1. Paris (26%) 2. Rome (23%) 3. Madrid (8%)
Worst Dressed: 1. London (20%) 2. Dublin (6%) 3. Moscow (6%)
2,376 European travellers participated in the survey, including 638 British travellers
Source: TripAdvisor
Black Hat Europe 2009 to Showcase Six New Vulnerabilities and Twelve New Tools
Highlights include Attacking Backbone Technologies, Advanced SQL Injection and SAP Penetration Testing
Black Hat, the world’s leading family of information security events, today announced that Black Hat Europe 2009 will showcase six new vulnerabilities and twelve new tools at this year’s event happening April 16-17 at the Moevenpick City Center in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Black Hat EU 2009 will host over 500 digital security experts, bringing together public and private sector security professionals and underground hackers. For more information visit http://www.blackhat.com/.
The TechWeb-produced event brings together thought-leaders from around the world to dissect the latest security trends. Highlights include Attacking Backbone Technologies, Advanced SQL Injection and SAP Penetration Testing.
New tools and vulnerabilities presented at Black Hat EU this year include:
- All Your Packets Are Belong to Us – Attacking Backbone Technologies by Enno Rey and Daniel Mende – New Tool
- Advanced SQL Injection Exploitation to Operating System Full Control by Bernardo Damele Assumpcao Guimaraes – New Vulnerability and New Tool
- SAP Penetration Testing by Mariano Nunez Di Croce – New Vulnerability and New Tool
- Fun and Games With Mac OS X and iPhone Payloads by Charlie Miller and Vincenzo Iozzo – New Tool
- Hijacking Mobile Data Connections by Roberto Gassira and Roberto Piccirillo – New Vulnerability
- Yes it is Too Wifi, and No, it’s Not Inherently Secure by Rob Havelt -New Tool
- Open Office Security Design Weaknesses by Eric Filiol – New Vulnerability
- WiSHMaster – Windows SHellcode MASTERy by Benjamin Caillat – New Tool — Alice in User-Land: Hijacking the Linux Kernel via /dev/mem by Anthony Lineberry – New Tool
- Shuntaint: Emulation-based Security Testing for Formal Verification by Bruno Luiz – New Tool
- Stack Smashing as of Today: A State-of-the-Art Overview on Buffer Overflow Protections on linux_x86_64 by Hagen Fritsch – New
Vulnerability
- Tactical Fingerprinting Using Metadata, Hidden Info and Lost Data by Chema Alonso and Enrique Rando – New Tool
- VAASeling: VNC Attack Automation Suite by Rich Smith – New Tool
- Masibty: a Web Application Firewall Based on Anomaly Detection by Stefano Zanero and Claudio Criscione – New Tool
- Taming The Beast: Assess Kerberos-Protected Networks by Emmanuel Bouillon – New Vulnerability
“Despite the fact that new vulnerabilities are worth so much on the open market these days, we have numerous researchers willing to share their discoveries,” said Jeff Moss, founder of Black Hat. “We had our strongest field of submissions yet for a European event.”
Black Hat provides briefings and training to leading corporations and government agencies around the world. Black Hat differentiates itself by working at many levels within the corporate, government, and underground communities. This unmatched informational reach enables Black Hat to be continuously aware of the newest vulnerabilities, defense mechanisms, and industry trends. Black Hat Briefings and Trainings are held annually in Amsterdam, Las Vegas, Singapore, Tokyo, and Washington DC. Black Hat is produced by TechWeb. More information is available at http://www.blackhat.com/.
TechWeb, the global leader in business technology media, is an innovative business focused on serving the needs of technology decision-makers and marketers worldwide. TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed media brands in the business technology market. Today, more than 13.3 million* business technology professionals actively engage in our communities created around our global face-to-face events Interop, Web 2.0, Black Hat and VoiceCon; online resources such as the TechWeb Network, Light Reading, Intelligent Enterprise, InformationWeek.com, bMighty.com, market leading, award-winning magazines such as InformationWeek, TechNet Magazine, MSDN Magazine, Wall Street & Technology and The Financial Technology Network. TechWeb also provides end-to-end services ranging from next-generation performance marketing, integrated media, research and analyst services. TechWeb is a division of United Business Media, a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion.
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