It’s overcast and rainy where we are. So we’re thinking of the Netherlands. Sue us.

Here’s a little list of current Dutch gems.

1. Ahead of the game, Dutch budget holiday boutique VakantieXperts has published their Winter Guide. Those in NL might want to stop by a shop and start dreaming of snow.

2. A frighteningly enormous Lego Man has appeared in Zandvoort. Thanks for freaking us out, Amherstdam.

3. Our guiltiest pleasure right now is Monique Smit’s “Wild,” a fluffy bit of Nederpop, currently at Number 18 in the Dutch Mega Top 50.

4. Leafe Sawntjin, a restaurant located in the fields of Friesland, looks like a great place to blow a weekly travel budget.

1. TUI AG (the parent company of low-cost airline TUIfly) announced second-quarter earings today that seriously bummed investors out. Among other issues, TUIfly’s load factor is down a startling 12 percent, to 79.5%. But as if without a care in the world, TUIfly today released 555,000 €5 fares for travel through October 31. Taxes and surcharges will jack these fares up by between €18.16 and €52.80, and are on sale through midnight on Sunday (German time).

2. As we reported the other day, Ryanair announced two new bases today: Valencia (21 routes, up from 10) and Alicante (17 routes, up from six.) The new Valencia routes will kick off in October, with the new Alicante routes following in November and December. Our favorites among the new routes: Valencia-Santiago and Valencia-Malta.

Exciting: EasyJet recently announced that they’ll soon be flying to Romania. Today’s new route annoucement goes one better: From November 3, the UK low-cost carrier will be flying between London Gatwick and Sofia three times a week.

With one-way journeys starting at £27.99 (€41.30; $57), the airline is directly challenging Wizz Air on the London-Sofia route. Currently, Wizz Air flies from London Luton to Sofia. The cheapest one-way fare we found for that route from mid-November on: £30.29, slightly more expensive than easyJet’s starting fare of £27.99.

We had a bad experience with easyJet last summer when they cancelled a flight and gave us no workable option to obtain a refund. That acknowledged, easyJet’s routes into eastern Europe (especially at a time when Ryanair’s route expansion appears to have more or less stalled) are pushing us to reconsider the orange and white.

In July, Ryanair filled their planes impressively, managing a load factor of 90%. This number is identical to the Irish low-cost carrier’s July 2006 load factor numbers. Even more impressive is Ryanair’s 21% increase in passengers carried in July of this year against July 2006 numbers. Clearly, this summer’s fare war helped to fill planes in July.

Earlier this year, SkyEurope had a clear advantage over Ryanair in these monthly face-offs. This advantage appears to have vaporized. While the Slovak low-cost carrier’s load factors are improving—July’s 87.6% load factor is up 3.4% over July 2006’s 84.2% load factor—they now lag behind Ryanair on this measure. And their percentage increase in passengers flown in July against July 2006 is also less impressive, at just 11.8%.

Also of note, yesterday’s FT reports that Ryanair has entered the race to control the Spanish low-cost market with all guns blazing. Shortly, we can expect an announcement that the airline will be setting up two additional bases in Alicante and Valencia.

Calling all Puccini lovers. It’s time to make a pilgrimage to Lucca to experience the 53rd annual Puccini Opera Festival, to experience opera as the master himself wanted to hear it. Started in 1930, following a 1924 letter from Puccini exclaiming his wish to hear his opera in the “open-”air,” the Puccini Opera Festival attracts 40,000 opera lovers a year to hear the music they lave in Lucca’s open-air theater just steps from where Puccini lived, worked and is buried.

This year’s festival is going on now, through August 16, with shows of Puccini’s greats, from Tosca to La Boheme. Puccini and beautiful Lucca. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Visiting Barcelona? Watch out for Woody:

The BBC reported Monday that the city of Barcelona is coughing up € 1,000,000 to Woody Allen, covering 10% of the budget of his upcoming film, which is set in the city and currently filming around town. In addition, the regional Catalonian government is chipping in another € 500,000.

Residents are annoyed with the amount of public funds going to the project (75% polled found the contribution “excessive”). Locals and tourists are annoyed by some shut-downs around town: the Ramblas was recently closed for filming. And Barcelona filmmakers are annoyed that the government isn’t willing to donate the same amount to cash to local directors.

But there’s an upside: Who wouldn’t want to sneak a peak at the lovely Scarlett Johansson, and Spanish stars Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. And the film is likely to be good for the city’s tourism industry, as Allen promises the movie to be a “love letter to Barcelona.” Barcelona Mayor Jordi Hereu insists, “It’s a huge advertisement for the city that will be seen all over the world.”

More on this: BBC news, The Guardian, UPI

Meanwhile, we can’t get enough of the city-sponsored bike program movement sweeping through Europe. We’ve posted about Paris (a couple of times). Barcelona launched their own modest program back in March and has been steadily increasing the number of bikes accessible to would-be riders. Earlier this month, the city increased the number of cycles to 1,500 available at 100 stations throughout the city.

Now, Barcelona plans to double both those numbers–aiming to get 3,000 public bikes available at 200 pick-up stations by the end of 2007. So far, 80,000 eager cyclists have signed up for the program, far exceeding the 15,000 riders projected by city planners.

The bike program costs € 24 a year to join, but allows for an unlimited number of free 30-minute rides (and 30 cents per half hour thereafter).