Happy Friday, readers. Try to rouse yourself from your Iron Man 2– and Cinco de Mayo-induced stupors for this last day of the week—tomorrow’s Saturday and you can sleep in!

Next week’s Europe Week, and the festivities kick off tomorrow with EU Open House Day, as all the EU embassies open their doors to the public and host special events. Eat Viennese pastries at the Embassy of Austria, drink Bulgarian wine at the Embassy of Bulgaria, and play with LEGOs at the Embassy of Denmark.

Meanwhile, over in Europe itself, the mood isn’t so celebratory. Following the collapse of the Greek government and the EU’s $146 billion bailout of the nation, there are deadly riots caused by protesters reacting to the government’s planned tax hikes and pay cuts. And in Britain, Gordon Brown’s woes continue following an election in which no party garnered a majority vote, resulting in an uncertain immediate future for the country’s government.

The good news for Americans is that the exchange rates for both the euro and the Pound are awesome. European vacay, anyone?

And while we’re on the subject of Europe: this day in history, Vladimir Putin was inaugurated as Russia’s president in 2000, and he continued his control of Russia Dmitry Medvedev assumed the office in 2008. Who needs to be elected president when you can just become prime minister?

Wizards fans, rejoice: Gilbert Arenas is a free man again, after completing his month-long halfway house sentence at a facility in Montgomery County. Of course, he’s still got 400 hours of community service to complete. Good thing the basketball season isn’t for another five-plus months.

Eiffel Tower picture courtesy of cercle-europe.supelec.fr.

Medvedev-Putin cartoon courtesy of Russian Politics for Dummies.