Greece’s uncertain future as a euro member pushed Italian and Spanish borrowing costs higher at debt sales on Monday, while investors seeking refuge in higher-rated government paper further drove German six-month yields towards zero at auction.

The two largest countries most vulnerable to a worsening of the euro zone debt crisis tapped the markets as investors globally dumped riskier assets, unnerved by the prospect of fresh elections in Greece that would probably hand first place to a leftist anti-bailout party.

Both Italy and Spain, which JPMorgan said could find themselves cut off from market access if Greece were to leave the euro, also saw a sharp rise in the risk premium their 10-year bonds pay over German Bund ahead of the auctions.

Italy’s yield gap with Germany topped 450 basis points on Monday, easing slightly after the sale as Rome raised the top planned amount of 5.25 billion euros in bonds and paid cheaper yields to sell its three-year benchmark compared with what was available on financial markets.

Spain’s spread against Germany hit a new euro lifetime high of around 490 basis points after Madrid failed to persuade investors with a new plan presented on Friday to clean up its banks over soured property loans.

Spain raised 2.9 billion euros in 12- and 18-month paper, just under the top of the targeted range.

“The (Italian) Treasury can take some comfort from the fact that the (three-year) yield … came in a tad under secondary market levels,” said Nicholas Spiro at Spiro Sovereign Strategy.

“This was a challenging auction given the rapidly deteriorating external backdrop, so the result is, relatively speaking, not bad at all. However, the degree of differentiation between Italy and Spain is becoming less pronounced as the Greek crisis escalates.”

A deeper economic recession, banking troubles, high private debt and a larger budget adjustment required put Spain on a weaker footing than Italy.

However, pressing refinancing needs stemming from the world’s fourth-largest public debt pile make Italy vulnerable to worsening funding conditions for the euro zone’s periphery. The Bank of Italy said on Monday the country’s debt hit a new record in March at 1,946 billion euros ($2.5 trillion).

Italy has completed 44 percent of an estimated annual bond issuance target of around 215 billion euros. Madrid is just shy of 54 percent of its yearly plan ahead of an auction on Thursday of 2015 and 2016 bonds for up to 2.5 billion euros.

A drought of medium and long-term redemption, or repayments to holders, in May and June heightens Rome’s funding challenge, as it leaves Italian investors without flows to reinvest in domestic bonds.

GLOOMY BACKDROP

Italy paid 3.91 percent to sell three-year paper, with a fractional increase from a mid-April sale enough to push the yield to a new high since January.

Solid demand helped the Treasury sell the top amount of 3.5 billion euros at a higher price than the one prevailing on the secondary market – where the bond had seen its yield jump by more than a third of a percentage point from Friday.

“Given the overall backdrop, I think they’ll be happy with it but the overall trend is of higher rather than lower yields,” said Alan McQuaid, at Bloxham Stockbrokers in Dublin.

Italy also sold three longer-dated lines it no longer issues on a regular basis.

Spain’s 12-month borrowing costs rose to 2.99 percent from 2.62 percent last month, while it paid 3.3 percent on its 18-month paper, up from 3.1 percent last month.

By comparison, on Friday Italy paid 2.34 percent to sell one-year bills at a well-bid 10-billion euro short-term sale, with an half percentage point drop from a mid-April auction.

On Monday, a radical Greek left-wing party refused to join a final round of coalition talks following fruitless negotiations at the weekend.

With polls showing the anti-bailout leftist SYRIZA party would come first in a new vote investors accepted negative real yields to park their money into German debt. Six-month auction yields for Berlin declined on Monday to 0.04 percent from 0.07 percent at a 3.3 billion euro sale.

For the espresso obsessed (like me), visiting Italy is like journeying to Mecca: Caffeine-loving crusaders seek answers by crossing time, language and cultural barriers to visit the drink’s motherland. And although it’s not a sip from an Islamic holy well, this potent secular beverage does transport devotees to a higher plane — if only until the jitters wear off.

Sacred spots are scattered across Italy: Each major city has its own coffee tradition, and limiting myself to one or two would feel as incomplete as sticking to decaf. As a barbecue fanatic must bounce not only between the Carolinas but also through Missouri, Tennessee and Texas for meaty enlightenment, I won’t fulfill my pilgrimage simply by slugging a few espresso shots in Rome.

Truffles aren’t grown. They are found. So when our hosts from the Italian Tourism Bureau promised us a truffle hunt, the entire group was excited about the adventure. We were only briefed that we’d need to wear the proper footwear—preferably boots we didn’t mind getting muddy–and that we’d be traveling to the village of Acqualagna.

A quick look at the map let us know that the ride might be a bumpy one, and it certainly was. Acqualagna is seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but the journey from our hotel on the Adriatic Coast of Italy’s Marche region to our destination was an incredibly picturesque ride through the spectacular Furlo River Gorge, and the rolling hills of Italy.

When we arrived in the village, it was obvious we were in a place that was famous for its truffles. References to truffles could be seen everywhere. Acqualagna hosts three different truffle festivals each year: the Regional Superior Black Truffle Fair the second-to-last weekend in February, the Regional Summer Black Truffle Fair in August, and the most famous of the truffle festivals, the national White Truffle Fair in October and November.

During those seasons, it is also possible to take a truffle hunting tour, like the one all of us were so excited to begin. The Gilligan-esque “three-hour tour” was only $35 an hour; a very reasonable price for truffle fans to watch the masters in action.

We pulled into the compound of our truffle hunter, Giorgio Remedio, who also doubled as the town’s Chief of Police, and immediately heard the dogs barking. Giorgio had dozens of them, all in various stages of truffle hunting training.

He filled us in on the training technique as his assistant fetched his prize truffle dog. “The dogs have very developed senses of smell,” he told us through the interpreter, “but they also have a very good sense of taste.” He was smiling as he spoke. “They know good truffles when they smell them, so the trick is to make sure they don’t eat them, too. With the finest white truffles going for $3,000 a kilo, that’s like eating money!”

He showed us how he buried little film canisters filled with truffles for the dogs to find before letting them graduate to actual truffle-hunting. After he demonstrated the technique, we met the star of today’s truffle hunt, the most famous truffle hunting dog in the entire region, Chicca. Her travels have taken her around the world, including a visit to the White House at the tail end of the Clinton Administration.

“How much is Chicca worth?” one of the members of our tour asked.

“She is not for sale!” Giorgio replied.

“I know,” the woman continued. “I’m just curious how much she would be worth if . . .”

“Not for sale,” Giorgio said once again. He looked like he had been asked to part with one of his children.

Giorgio released Chicca from her leash, and we all followed.

“She knows where to look,” Giorgio said as we slowly trotted behind her. “At the base of the trees. The white truffles are up to sixty centimeters under the ground, but it is not yet white truffle season. It is the tail end of the black truffle season, so those will be a little easier to find, only ten to twenty centimeters under the ground.”

Our amazing truffle hunting dog stopped abruptly at the base of a small oak tree and started digging. Giorgio saddled up beside her and crouched on a knee. “Aha, see here, she has found one.”

After he wiped the dirt off, he held it up for all to see. It still looked like a black clump of mud in his hand, but when he passed it around, we could immediately smell the fine musky aroma of the black truffle.

For the next thirty minutes or so we followed Chicca around as she dug for gold. We began to figure out where to look, so we started hunting for them, too.

“I found one!” one of the ladies in our party said.

Giorgio looked at the clump she had in her hand. “Ah,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “That is a brown truffle.”

“A brown truffle?” she asked.

“Yes, probably the droppings of a porcupine or a wild boar.”

She dropped it immediately.

Perhaps it was best to leave the truffle hunting to the professionals.

There is not just one Italy, but many Italys. (The country wasn’t politically unified until the 19th century, after all). For the modern traveler, that means a wealth of different cultural, culinary and historical experiences for all tastes. The best way to navigate the abundance is with the help of an expert guide. Here are five specialty tours of Italy geared to a variety of interests and needs.

1. The art histoy lesson

A guided tour depends on expert knowledge — just what most of us need in approaching the vast artistic heritage of the country that gave us the Renaissance. Bravo Italian Tours focuses on the art centers of Florence and Rome, working directly with clients to customize a trip. Under Bravo’s tutelage, you can spend your days in Rome in careful study of the Trevi Fountain, the Michelangelo-designed Piazza del Campidoglio or the impressive Piazza Navona; or craning your neck in contemplation of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican; or marveling at the Titians, Caravaggios, Raphaels and Berninis that made the Borghese family the premier collectors of their time.

In Florence, a thorough browsing of the permanent collection at the Uffizi Gallery could follow a visit to the Michelangelo’s larger-than-life David at the Accademia. Cross the Arno River for an artisan’s tour of the Oltrarno that highlights Florentine leatherworkers, silversmiths, shoe manufacturers and hatmakers. Rounded itineraries include food and wine experiences, along with other activities and confirmed lodging. Rates (not including airfare) vary depending on timing and level of travel. (312-238-9040, bravoitaliantours.com)

2. The Ferrari road trip

The Italian roads drive a little more smoothly behind the wheel of a Ferrari, the country’s famed luxury sports car, manufactured in Maranello since 1947.

For its Ferrari Tour of Italy, Red Travel will set you up with a current model — options include a Ferrari 458 Italia/Spider, a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti F1 and others — and craft a one- to eight-day vacation through various combinations of regions, including Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio and the Northern Lakes (Maggiore, Como, Garda), and cities such as Milan, Rome, Florence, Venice and Naples.

A personal tour director, also an expert driver, will explain the finer points of the Ferrari driving experience, clarifying how the controls work, and differentiating between models. Don’t worry about getting lost; a tour director follows in a separate car to make all arrangements and care for the vehicle each night.

Red Travel’s Ferrari tour is at the luxury level and includes Michelin-starred restaurant reservations, top hotel bookings and white-glove service. Prices, which vary, are available upon request. (011 39 011 6165 219, red-travel.com)

3. The food and wine tour

Every trip to Italy is a food and wine trip — you can’t help but feast your way across this country of enduring culinary traditions and hearty eaters.

Ciao Andiamo’s excursions build on that basic experience by tapping a network of small, family-run businesses. For example, in Tuscany, you can learn how to make pasta in a 17th century villa, visit a sheep farm to see how pecorino cheese is made and taste Chianti Classico and Vino Nobile wines. In Emilia-Romagna, makers of prosciutto di Parma, Parmigiana reggiano and balsamic vinegar will guide guests through production, while in Piedmont you can join a hunt for seasonal truffles, and then nibble the finest cheeses in Bra, which hosts a major cheese festival every other September. In southern Campania, you can learn to make limoncello, the popular Italian liqueur; drop by a buffalo farm to learn about mozzarella di bufala; talk with producers of fabled San Marzano tomatoes; and dine at the pizzeria that claims to have invented Neapolitan pizza 150 years ago.

Stefania Berton and Ondrej Hotarek drew attention this season by winning the first ever Grand Prix medal for an Italian pair skating team at the 2011 Cup of Russia. They also came close to the podium at the European Figure Skating Championships in the past two years, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

The bronze medal from Cup of Russia was a big motivation for the team.

“This is really, really important,” Hotarek, 28, stressed. “The medal means a lot to us and shows why we started skating together. It gives us confidence and is an encouragement that we can do more. We received appreciation from the judges and from the people. Everybody gave great response to our programs and to the way we skate.”

While the pair was happy with the first half of the season, Berton, 21, felt that they could have skated better at the European and World Championships.

“Our season started well, but at the end of the year we were lacking a little,” she said. “We would have liked to go back to Detroit (to work with Jason Dungjen and choreographers Angelika Krylova and Pasquale Camerlengo) before Europeans, but we couldn’t afford it financially.”

However, the team now receives more financial support and plans to spend more time training in the USA.

In Italy, they continue to train with Franca Bianconi.

“Since January, we both are members of the Italian police, like Carolina Kostner for example, and we get a salary,” Berton revealed.

Their plans include choreographing two new programs.

“Our vacation we take in June and July as usual,” she added.

The Italians – the Czech-born Hotarek was naturalized as an Italian citizen in September 2010 – were very happy with the work of Krylova and Camerlengo, and therefore have decided to go back. They picked the dance coaches because they wanted to bring a touch of ice dance into pair skating. Both skaters are tall and make an elegant, good looking couple on the ice.

“We are trying to use everything that makes us different to our advantage,” explained Hotarek. “Granted we can’t make a triple twist five meters up into the air, but I think we can make the difference in the feeling between each other and skating more like ice dancing.”

Although the Italian Champions felt their programs this year were a success, there is no doubt that they want to change them for next season.

“We are always looking for a challenge,” said Berton, who thinks it would be too boring to keep the programs for another season.

“We are thinking about where we can go next and where we can improve,” added Hotarek. “What kind of surprising things we can bring in next year.”

The focus on choreography and programs is especially important to the pair. They take pride in the fact that even ice dancers approved of their short program step sequence.

“We really want to bring more emotions and dance, because that is our strength,” Berton explained, chuckling at the fact that there is nothing they could do about their eight-inch height difference. “We just need to use it to our advantage.”

The team improved technically as well, and added the triple twist and more difficult lifts to their repertoire.

“The throws are getting stronger and we are more together through all the patterns,” Berton pointed out. “We’ve only been skating together for two and a half seasons, and I have never done pairs before. I was not used to having someone with me on the ice, but right now I appreciate it a lot.”

Berton was not only a successful single skater, but also has ice dance experience.

“I did dance when I was eleven years old. I still need to try men’s singles,” she offered, laughing. “The funny thing is that I never thought about pairs in my life. I thought if I’m going to switch from single skating it would be to ice dancing, but then I was already 18 years old when I thought my singles career was done. Of course you cannot start ice dancing at 18. I probably would have continued to study.”

Then she got a call from Hotarek.

“I never thought I would do pairs,” Berton admitted. “To me it looked so dangerous that I didn’t think I’d ever put myself in such a danger.”

However, Berton trusted Hotarek enough to try pair skating with him as she had seen him skate with his former partner Laura Magitteri, and felt safe with him right from the start.

“I could rely on him when something went wrong in a lift or an element,” said Berton. “He made me change my mind because I saw pair skating wasn’t that scary. I was scared like hell for two years doing lifts and twist, but now it’s better. Much better. Now I really enjoy it because I have more confidence in myself. I must say he was the reason why (I did pairs).”

When Hotarek and Magitteri split, Hotarek had to make a decision about his future. He pondered his options and then decided to call Berton.

“I was always pretty strong in the jumps,” he said. “This was the main reason why I was searching for a girl with two really secure triple jumps. In Italy, there was only Stefania who was really the type of skater I could ask to do a try-out. The pair stuff, in time, everybody can learn and I knew that. So I asked her.”

He never regretted it.

“She kept surprising me by doing the elements,” Hotarek recalled. “The first year we were skating together we didn’t miss one throw in the most important competition, and we didn’t miss one lift. This was incredible.”

Hotarek feels that Berton was the right choice, and not only because of her ability to land throws and jumps.

“She brought so much into the pair with her presence and with the way she acts on the ice,” said Hotarek. “It made the bigger difference than the fact that she can jump. It was really like something that I wasn’t expecting so much.”

“The times have changed,” Berton continued. “I think that the future of the sport is more about equal partners. It’s not about the biggest guy and the smallest girl. It is more about two athletes and two people on the ice.”

“She has a normal body,” Berton further explained. “You wouldn’t really say, ‘Oh, this is definitely a gymnast or a small figure skater’. We just want to show that we are average people, and with a lot of work you can achieve something.”

Berton, however, doesn’t like the word “average”.

“I would say different!” she stressed. “We want to say the same thing but in a different way. Sometimes we fight about that.”

However, there are no serious fights as the skaters are getting along very well. They are friends, but they are not dating and spending their free time together.

“We like to spend our time away from each other,” said Berton. “Actually, I love to spend time with my family that I don’t see that much. My little brother is my love. My mother and father really appreciate it when we spend time together.”

She lives with her mother and brother in Milan where her father also resides. In her spare time, Berton enjoys going out dancing and visiting her friends.

“I love Latin dances and ballroom dance,” she revealed.

Hotarek, on the other hand, is rarely seen outside the ice rink as he teaches skating quite a bit.

“I even teach one little pair team,” he said. “There are not so many people who can teach pair skating technically in Milan. I have a few other students and like teaching some adult skaters, which is fun.”

As Hotarek lives alone, he also takes care of his apartment and cooks for himself.

“I actually enjoy cooking,” he said. “Italian food, Czech food. I have a lot of cooking books and I watch the cooking shows.”

Berton confirms that he is a good cook.

While Hotarek is pretty sure that he’ll go into coaching one day, Berton is still undecided.

“There are a lot of things I’d like to do, first of all studying,” she offered. “I’m not sure yet what, but I love acting. I would love to try acting and probably study psychology because it is one of my passions, too. That’s not a plan but that’s what I would like to do.”

Hotarek moved from the Czech Republic to Italy in 2005 when he was partnered with Magitteri. Receiving Italian citizenship was an important step for him.

“Going to Italy changed my skating life,” he said. “I did all my accomplishments in Italy and I think going to the Olympics is something that not only I deserve, but also Italy deserves. Italy gave a lot to me and I am happy to skate for Italy.”

Hotarek came without knowing the Italian language, but picked it up fast by watching TV and listening to the people around him. Berton has only praise for him.

“He speaks really good Italian,” she said. “People sometimes don’t notice that he is not originally from Italy.”

Together, they are a new force in pair skating and could become the first Italian pair skating team ever to win a medal at an ISU Championship.

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Inspired by tales of expats on Italy’s Grand Tour during the the 18th and 19th centuries to the modern dream-come-true of Frances Mayes renovating and living in a Tuscan villa, many travelers yearn for the experience of renting a villa in Italy.

Renting a villa in Italy allows us to live like Italians — if only for a week or two. Plus, for those who plan it right, or who are traveling with family or a group, the cost of renting a villa or apartment in Italy can be much less than renting hotel rooms.

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If you’re considering an Italian villa rental, here are five quick tips to make sure the rental experience goes as smoothly as possible:

Be sure there is someone nearby 24/7: I learned the importance of this first-hand when I rented a villa in Tuscany and none of the toilets worked. Fortunately, the owners had a local handyman nearby to respond and fix the situation. If the agency or owner can’t guarantee a speedy, local response, pass. Your vacation is too short to wait days for something to be fixed.

Decide if you really, truly want to be in the countryside: I’m amazed at how many of my readers rent a villa and then realize that they can’t walk into town or it takes a half-hour to drive to a local restaurant or vineyard. Think about the location of the villa and what you plan to do each day. If you’re focused more on cooking meals with local fresh ingredients, lounging in the garden and swimming in the pool, being deeper in the countryside won’t matter so much.

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Ask for references: Renting a villa in Italy can be a major investment. Ask the owners or rental agency if you can e-mail or call previous renters. Be sure to ask the renters what they liked least about the rental and or anything they wish they had known beforehand. For example, maybe the local supermarket is closed on Sunday and they weren’t able to get groceries. Good to know ahead of time.

Do some online sleuthing: One villa can be represented by the owner directly as well as several villa rental agencies. Most companies “disguise” the villa by giving it a different name. So take some of the key descriptive terms as well as the town where it is located and Google. Also look at an image search. You might find the same villa offered at a cheaper price.

If you’re renting through an agency, ask if they agency owners or the person you are talking to has personally visited the property: At the best Italian villa rental agencies, at least one key staff member has visited each villa or apartment rental in person. You really want to talk to someone who has been there. That way you know if there’s a noisy café next door or a garbage dump down the road. Sometimes photos on a rental website don’t tell the whole story!

For more tips on renting a villa in Italy and a list of recommended villa rentals and agencies, download Dream of Italy’s Free Guide to Renting a Villa in Italy.

Not long ago, the words ‘summer’ and ‘vacation’ could scarcely be used separately. Not any more. As the academic year grinds to a hot, sweaty halt for school children, a large number of them are beginning to refer to these vacations as ‘holidays’. As nine-year-old Tarun Mendonza puts it: “If there’s no school it’s a holiday. Only when my papa, mama and I take a plane and go somewhere for one week, it is a vacation.” Tarun was a little miffed because his mother Cithara had explained to him that they wouldn’t be going anywhere this summer as they were saving for a European holiday “soon”. The truth was a little different: “Actually, my husband is working on a 180-day project and cannot even think of a vacation till Christmas. But we cannot explain that to him, so we have promised him a trip to Europe as compensation,” says the hassled 34-year-old soft skills trainer.

Courtesy corporate jobs, heavily loaded workdays, six-day-weeks and minimal breaks, the concept of the family summer vacation is fast becoming a pipe dream.

It’s difficult to make my son understand sometimes,” says Prashant Subramaniam*, who works with Wipro. “This year, the salary hikes have been cancelled and people have been laid off. Even asking my boss for a few days off can be fatal,” he says, tugging at his already loose tie. His worry is genuine. After having taken his wife and son to Italy, Rome, Greece and Spain last year, he fears that he may not be able to match the experience. “It so happened that last year we got a great deal from a travel website and we had some money saved up. Now, every time my son keeps saying that he wants to visit Disneyland, I can almost sense his disappointment,” he says.

While people who work in the insurance and banking sectors say that they plan at least a week’s vacation for the child’s sake, people in the IT and business development sectors say that it’s getting increasingly impossible. “My father worked at IOB for 32 years and he always took us for at least three days to Arni, Yelagiri or at least an uncle’s house. It was like a tradition,” remembers R Vasudevan, fondly. It is one of this civil engineer’s greatest regrets that he is unable to do the same for his two children. “My wife gets to spend a lot of time with them and takes them to my in-laws place,” he adds.

With an estimated 16 million Indians undertaking foreign trips in 2012, the tourism ministry and industry are quite at ease. “More and more families like packages. If it looks good to them and the price is affordable, they’ll take it. We have seen that many young couples plan a whole eight months in advance to take a summer vacation,” explains Suresh Krishna, a senior travel agent.

Despite what people say, there are still a good number of people across the State who manage to find the time to take their wife and children to their native places during summer, he adds. “Even if I may not be able to take more than three days off, I ensure that I take my wife and children to our village near Tirupur every May 1. After spending three days there, I leave them there for a month and go back to fetch them by early June. It gives me some bachelor time,” says Sudhakaran, an MTC bus conductor. After next year, he might not need to go fetch them as his son will be 15 by then, he adds. “This is something of an Indian tradition. Every time a child reaches 10 or +2, we find that their family vacations end from the next year,” adds the agent.

Interestingly, a large number of students say that they are usually prepared for what is to come that summer. “By March, I confirm what my parents have planned for me because my friends and I have to make plans on when we can meet and go for movies, otherwise,” says Bhuvana, a ninth standard student. They usually can tell when there are no summer vacation plans, when their parents start looking for summer camps and workshops to “make their time useful”.

If there’s one group of children that is lucky enough to have quality vacation time, it’s those who have teachers for parents. “Every summer is a mandatory vacation,” smiles Angeline, whose father is a school headmaster and mother works in a city college. She says, “My parents get time off in May and also on all the other holidays, so there’s no problem with finding time for a vacation. The problem is, after a while it seems like they have a little too much time!”

No Travel On Cards Now

A family of four, the Ravindrans have spent many vacations in Kodaikanal, Mysore, Bangalore, Yercaud and Hyderabad. Their daughter, Helen Cheruba, has just completed college and will be starting work soon. Younger son, Jonathan, has finished schooling this year.

Pearl Ravindran, a librarian at a city school, says, “When the children were still in school, we took family trips in summer. After Helen joined college, we went during September, as the school vacations clashed with her exams.” This year, Pearl says they haven’t planned any trip as a family yet, but the children are going to Bangalore with their cousins.

It’s a Family Get-together

Six-and-a-half year old Advik is a true son of the soil, says his proud mother Anupama. “He’s somehow never had a vacation that’s beyond the State border but has been to many places inside the State,” she adds with a laugh. Every year, for Anupama and her family, deciding where to go during the summer vacations is a reasonable easy task. “Somehow, our family has made a habit of scheduling weddings during April-May. So, its always been easy to decide where we will be vacationing as we make sure we go for the wedding and spend time exploring the place,” she informs.

Considering Advik has just completed his class I and will have a long and hot Chennai summer to contend with, his parents take care to ensure that he spends time with his “country cousins” and visit family during this time. “We are native of� Tenkasi, while other relatives live in and around Madurai and Tirunelveli. As my husband’s family has migrated to Chennai, we ensure that he gets to visit his roots and spend time down south,” she says. The spiraling inflation hasn’t really made a large difference to them, considering their vacations have been South-bound and mostly family-related.

As her husband works with the government, getting time off for a long vacation isn’t too easy for the college lecturer’s family. “At best, he’s managed to get about a week or so during summer. This is why we also take short breaks every time there’s a long weekend, even if it’s not during the conventional holiday season.”

Son’s Fun Comes First

Vacationing with a five-year-old involves putting his priorities first, says Anand N A. Before their child, Alan Joshua, was born, Anand and wife Sumitha took adventure and hiking trips to places like Ooty, Kodaikanal and places along the Kerala border.

“At that time both of us were working in the private sector, and used to take our vacations during November or December. It gave us a chance to spend time together, and since it was off-season in most of the places, we did not have crowds to deal with,” he says.

Now, trips are more conventional, as they have to factor in what the child would enjoy. Anand says, “Before we had Alan, we stayed in places where there wasn’t even proper food. Now we cannot do that. Even though we have gone to places like Valparai, Mettur and Nagarcoil again, our activities have changed.” Their time of vacation has also changed since Sumitha now works in a college, and Alan is in school, they travel in April, May or June.

Trip to Holy Land

Event manager and freelance musician Dayan Selwyn likes taking his wife and two daughters on weekend getaways. His eldest Jerusha, is four and younger one Jessica is two. His wife, Kavin, a dentist, is now a homemaker. “Sometimes when Jerusha gets back from school on Fridays, we leave in the evening, drive down to Pondicherry or Yelagiri for a couple of days, and get back in time for school on Monday,” says Dayan. Streamlining vacations to May and September even before their elder daughter started school has made sure the long vacations are maintained. Dayan says the only difference is that they had freedom to take longer trips before the children started school. “We went to London a few months after Jerusha was born and to Sri Lanka after Jessica was born.” This year, a trip to the Holy Land is on the cards — Israel, Egypt and Jordan.

Since last November, the European Central Bank (ECB) has reduced its policy rates and undertaken two injections of more than €1 trillion (S$1.64 trillion) of liquidity into the euro zone banking system.

This led to a temporary reduction in the financial strains confronting the debt endangered countries on the euro zone’s periphery (Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Ireland), sharply lowered the risk of a liquidity run in the euro zone banking system, and cut financing costs for Italy and Spain from their unsustainable levels of last fall.

At the same time, a technical default by Greece was avoided and the country implemented a successful – if coercive – restructuring of its public debt.

A new fiscal compact – and new governments in Greece, Italy and Spain -spurred hope of credible commitment to austerity and structural reform. And the decision to combine the euro zone’s new bailout fund (the European Stability Mechanism) with the old one (the European Financial Stability Facility) significantly increased the size of the euro zone’s firewall.

But the ensuing honeymoon with the markets turned out to be brief.

WHY RECESSION WILL WORSEN

Interest-rate spreads for Italy and Spain are widening again, while borrowing costs for Portugal and Greece remained high all along. And, inevitably, the recession on the euro zone’s periphery is deepening and moving to the core, namely France and Germany.

Indeed, the recession will worsen throughout this year, for many reasons.

Firstly, front-loaded fiscal austerity – however necessary – is accelerating the contraction as higher taxes and lower government spending and transfer payments reduce disposable income and aggregate demand.

Moreover, as the recession deepens, another round of austerity will be needed. And now, thanks to the fiscal compact, even the euro zone’s core will be forced into front-loaded recessionary austerity.

Moreover, while uber-competitive Germany can withstand a euro at – or even stronger than – US$1.30 (S$1.62), for the euro zone’s periphery, the value of the exchange rate would have to fall to parity with the US dollar to restore competitiveness and external balance.

After all, with painful de-leveraging – spending less and saving more to reduce debts – depressing domestic private and public demand, the only hope of restoring growth is an improvement in the trade balance, which requires a much weaker euro.

Meanwhile, the credit crunch in the euro zone periphery is intensifying: Thanks to the ECB’s long-term cheap loans, banks there do not have a liquidity problem now, but they do have a massive capital shortage.

Faced with the difficulty of meeting their 9-per-cent capital-ratio requirement, they will achieve the target by selling assets and contracting credit – not exactly an ideal scenario for economic recovery.

DETERIORATING POLITICAL MILIEU

To make matters worse, the euro zone depends on oil imports even more than the United States does, and oil prices are rising, even as the political and policy environment is deteriorating.

France may elect a President who opposes the fiscal compact and whose policies may scare the bond markets.

Elections in Greece may give 40 to 50 per cent of the popular vote to parties that favour immediate default and exit from the euro zone.

Irish voters may reject the fiscal compact in a referendum. And there are signs of austerity and reform fatigue both in Spain and Italy – where demonstrations, strikes, and popular resentment against painful austerity are mounting.

Even structural reforms that will eventually increase productivity growth can be recessionary in the short run. Increasing labour-market flexibility by reducing the costs of shedding workers will lead – in the short run – to more layoffs in the public and private sector.

THE ROAD TO EXIT

The trouble is that the euro zone has an austerity strategy but no growth strategy. And, without that, all it has is a recession strategy that makes austerity and reform self-defeating. This is because, if output continues to contract, deficit and debt ratios will continue to rise to unsustainable levels. Moreover, the social and political backlash eventually will become overwhelming.

That is why interest-rate spreads in the euro zone periphery are widening again now. The peripheral countries suffer from severe stock and flow imbalances.

The stock imbalances include large and rising public and private debt as a share of GDP. The flow imbalances include a deepening recession, massive loss of external competitiveness and the large external deficits that markets are now unwilling to finance.

Without a much easier monetary policy and a less front-loaded mode of fiscal austerity, the euro will not weaken, external competitiveness will not be restored, and the recession will deepen.

And, without resumption of growth – not years down the line, but this year – the stock and flow imbalances will become even more unsustainable. More euro zone countries will be forced to restructure their debts, and eventually some will decide to exit the monetary union. PROJECT SYNDICATE

Nouriel Roubini is chairman of Roubini Global Economics (www.roubini.com) and professor at the Stern School of Business, NYU.

Few cars have established the reputation and history of Ferrari. Now, Ferrari is paying tribute to their legacy by opening the Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena, Italy. The Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari opened on March 10, 2012, a little over a month after Enzo’s February 18th birthday. While the museum itself did not open until March, the town most certainly honored his memory well before then. The creator of the famed cars that bore his name was born in Modena in 1898 and every year they honor his birth.

Entitled “The Origins of the Myth,” this first exhibit presumably covers the early days of the automakers life. The museum itself is a piece of history, being built around the preserved, original home and workshop of Enzo. The roof of the museum is a beautiful aluminum yellow “bonnet.” Ferrari fans will know that yellow is the official color of Modena and the color that Enzo chose as the background of the famous Prancing Horse Ferrari logo. The exhibition tells the story of his life as a designer and racer during his heyday in the 1900′s. During that time he was the biggest name in motorsports and won numerous races on the professional level.

His original home already hosts a multimedia display chronicling his life. Ferrari’s motto was “if you can dream it, you can do it” and his life reflected his saying. To Enzo, the automobile was more than just a car, it was a work of art that strived for perfection. He used the races as a testing ground for new designs and technologies to further his quest for the perfect driving vehicle.

Of course, no Ferrari museum will be complete without actual Ferrari’s. The cars on display are collected from the most prestigious collections and museums and will be displayed as the works of art Enzo envisioned them to be. Additionally, each vehicle has its own showcase complete with the original documents, designs and memorabilia from Enzo’s own collection. Modena, already rich with history and culture, welcomes the museum with open arms.

Just like the cars it gives home to, the museum itself is also a work of art. It was designed by the famous Future Systems of London. The 54,000 square foot facility will also host a conference room, archives, a gift store and of course, a coffee shop. There are currently no plans to open a Ferrari dealership at the museum. All in all, the museum is a fitting and beautiful tribute to the man who gave us one of the most amazing cars ever made.

Scouting for wedding venues, perhaps?

On Tuesday, Justin Timberlake and fiancee Jessica Biel were photographed having a romantic dinner outside Naples, Italy. According to a source, the engaged couple first arrived in the southern Italian city, took a drive in the countryside – and stopped for pizza! — and then enjoyed a two-day stay at a luxury hotel.

The singer-actor, 31, and actress, 30, then moved on to the quaint town of Bernalda, Italy and stayed at Palazzo Margherita. Owned by legendary director Francis Ford Coppola, the ancient villa-turned-resort was where his daughter, Sofia Coppola, wed Phoenix rocker Thomas Mars last August.

Although the locale as to be determined, the hot couple plan to tie the know “this summer at a private estate,” one insider told Us Weekly. Timberlake proposed to Biel in late December in the mountains of Jackson, Wyoming.

Sans her husband-to-be, Biel was also spotted last week in Paris — where she was spotted on a luxe shopping trip. Alas, the New Year’s Eve actress reportedly did not pick out a wedding gown during her sojourn there, according to sources.