I met a chatter whose name is Ulrich in my favourite chat channel. She was very sweet and charming girl. I spoke with her for fifteen minutes. I was stunned when she told me that she lived in small village called Fucking.For a sudden, I thought that she was joking with me. She was serious and insisted on living there. I opened my Google Earth map and searched for Fucking. She was right.There has been a village called Fucking for more than 1400 years.

Fucking: A small village in Austria

Fucking is a small village in Upper Austria. The exact location is 33 kilometers north of Salzburg and near German border. It is in the municipality of Tarsdorf.

It takes it's name from a traveller whose name is Focko. As far as I know, Focko is the name of a man who travelled this village in the 6th century. Fucking means “the place of Focko's people”.

The most surprising thing in Fucking is the traffic signs at the entrance and exit of the village. Most of the people seeing this sign stop there and take the photo of it. However, this sign has been stolen many times.

Fucking is rich in oxygen and fresh air since it is situated in the forest region. Due to it's natural beauty, it is one of the beautiful picnic areas of Tarsdorf. Even though it is a very small village and it's population is only 93, it is one of the well-known villages in Austria as a natural result of media interest.

Would you like to go Fucking and be one of the Fuckers? So, this is your guide.

Joseph was a painter. Ingrid was a sculptor. Peter was a photographer, his girlfriend a designer. The terrible dancer in the middle of the floor with the curly ponytail and Euro-tight suit was an "odour artist". He painted with crushed strawberries and, er, less pleasant-smelling natural materials. Every single person I met in Antwerp was an artist.

Rags to riches

Famed for being the world's diamond capital, with four of the 22 existing diamond exchanges sitting in its diamond district, pop stars and princesses still flock to Antwerp to shop for precious gems. But the city has proven it has more to offer than priceless jewels. Antwerp's tradition of inspiring and retaining its home-grown artists dates back to Rubens and Van Dyck, who were lured back to their hometown after exploring Italy's grandiose architecture and ancient art tradition. The Eighties saw the rise of the Antwerp Six (Ann Demeulemeester, Dirk Bikkembergs, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene, Walter Van Beirendonck and Marina Yee), who helped make the city's Royal Academy of Fine Arts fashion department world famous.

But it's not all glitz and gloss in Antwerp. Like its Benelux neighbor in Holland, it has a fully operational red-light district, complete with ladies of the night (and day, if you're up for it) behind windows advertising their wares and services. In the tradition of Paris' Pigalle and London's Soho districts, where there's sex on sale there's likely to be a trend-setting cackle of media-crats not too far behind. Style gurus and slaves have already set up shop in Antwerp's bawdier streets and it's worth a trip just north of the center to check out Café d'Anvers and Phil Collins - two of the city's places to be seen - even if you're not looking to purchase a romp.

Flandy is dandy

There's no shortage of trendy establishments in Antwerp: over 4000 nightspots for a city of some 450,000 inhabitants. Like Zürich, the city's former industrial quarter in Het Eilandje - the area around the old port - is getting a face lift. Dozens of designer bars and fusion eateries are popping up along the bank of the Scheldt River and the abandoned warehouses now house anything from small creative consultancies to empty beer bottles and bare dj tables, as many of these are used as venues for exclusive unsanctioned parties.

Het Zuid, just south of the center, is the liveliest district for hip drinking spots, especially if you're looking to bag a creative type. The Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst van Antwerpen (Museum for Contemporary Arts of Antwerp) or MUKHA is nearby, as is the Museum voor Fotographie (Photography Museum), increasing your chances of stumbling into the arms of a frustrated young art student over the course of the evening.

But let's face it. Anyone going to Antwerp is likely to have just one thing in mind. As much as we all appreciate good food and raw talent, there's nothing like a strong dose of retail therapy to make a holiday worthwhile. Shopping in Antwerp is an experience. The high-street shops are restricted to the high street so there's no danger of a Gap lurking around every corner. The Antwerp Six are easy to find, as are other big names, but the lesser-known local designers and upmarket fringe shops might pique your curiosity more.

The same goes for interiors shops with antique and ethnic-influenced gallery-style stores littered around Kloosterstraat. In association with Mode 2001, a series of Fashion Walks were conceived to allow tourists to combine the city's important fashion landmarks with that crucial shopping spree, further blurring the lines between fashion and art in Antwerp.

Lines duly blurred, not to mention eyesight after a few Belgian whites, an Antwerp break is the grown-up alternative to a weekend in Amsterdam. Refined, yet naughty and, above all, fiercely cutting edge.