Not exactly close for me either now that I live in California (~4300km as the crow flies), but I have family out that way so it's easy for me to justify the trip. NVScene is a lot more convenient, but seems to be focused solely on modern stuff. I imagine you have quite a good selection over in Europe though.
I believe almost ones happen in Scandinavians countries and Germany... not much in France and as my English is crap it would be a pain to come and not be able to exchange much because of a stupid language barrier (but that is my problem).