A 71-year-old Venetian gondolier set off down the river Danube from Vienna on Friday for Budapest in a bid to link the two cities by gondola for the first time.
Vittorio Orio is covering about 60-70 kilometres per day, with a first stop in Slovakia’s capital Bratislava.
In total, the 300-kilometre trip is to take about five days, with Orio due to arrive in the Hungarian capital tomorrow.
The Danube is the second longest river in Europe and a major navigation route, running from Germany to the Black Sea via Austria, Hungary, Serbia and Romania, among others.
Bond’s golden anniversary
Some of the biggest stars from the James Bond films are to take part in a golden anniversary celebration of the series.
Popular Bond Sir Roger Moore, Richard “Jaws” Kiel and Britt Eckland, who played Mary Goodnight in The Man With The Golden Gun, will carry a gold case containing the first box-set of all 22 Bond films on Blu-ray as it travels the length of Britain in 007’s Aston Martin DBS.
The case will tour a number of memorable filming locations in the UK from today until September 24.
Each location will be presented with a unique gold disc commemorating its involvement and its part of Bond history. Next month sees 50 years since Dr No was released.
Purring cat off to Disney
When an Ohio woman packed her bags for a Disney holiday, her cat did not want to stay behind. Bob-bob the cat found his way into Ethel Maze’s suitcase, made it through screening at Port Columbus International Airport and was loaded on to a flight to Orlando, Florida.
The black cat popped out when Ms Maze unzipped her bag after checking into her hotel. She said the 14-month-old cat was shaken but still purring.
€17m ticket throwaway
A New Zealand man threw away a winning lottery ticket worth NZ$27 million (€17 million) after reading the wrong results and thinking it was useless.
It was not until the following day, when he heard the lucrative prize had not been claimed, that he searched for the ticket and found he had won.
The man had bought the ticket on a whim, spending money he had set aside for a haircut after he went to his hairdresser and found it closed.
The NZ$27m (€17m) prize consists of NZ$25,592,110 (€16,170,186) in cash, a Lamborghini Gallardo, an Audi Q7, a speedboat, a credit card topped up to NZ$50,000 (€31,592), as well as NZ$50,000 (€31,592), worth of travel and NZ$675,000 (€426,000) cash towards a holiday home.
Doctors’ killer handwriting
Doctors’ handwriting has never been renowned for its elegance, but an Indian medical group is so concerned about sloppy scrawls that it has started an awareness drive to prevent fatal errors.
More than 100 doctors across Maharashtra state met last week and found handwriting legibility to be one of the most alarming issues they faced, according to the non-profit umbrella body Medscape India.
“Due to lack of clarity in doctors’ written prescriptions, the number of deaths caused in India and internationally are on a shocking rise,” the group’s president Dr Sunita Dube said. Medscape India plans to produce a handbook to serve as a guide for doctors, and will be offering workshops on techniques for writing quickly and clearly.