Visiting And Shopping Inside And Outside The Former Soviet Union.

[latinmajorac]

Sooooooo,

i am going to europe this summer for 2 months on a backpacking trip. i am going with a female friend and i a decidedly paranoid about safety. i was wondering three things

1. are there laws regarding carrying weapons for self defense across borders? (not guns, but a knife or a steel baton)

2. those of you who are/were in the military what are your opinions regarding small personal defense weapons? i know a knife can be as dangerous to an inexperienced user as it is to an enemy, but i am just looking for opinions

3. how safe is europe in general? i have heard good things, but not being able to understand the language and traveling with a rather attractive woman i am rather nervous

the countries i am visiting are

Egypt (not europe but still waaaaay cool)
Greece
Italy
France
Belgium

thanks to anyone who has an opinion or comments, and i apologize for being so far off topic, but this is the one place i know i can get a lot of informed opinions in one spot. thanks again!