Choices, shmoices

I've finally come to some money, so tomorrow is going be The Shopping Day, i.e. we get to go shopping and buy all those things we've put off buying since we moved. I've been thinking about buying some new games - Mah Jong is for granted, since we have to have have a set when my sister and her boyfriend come in August - but I've been thinking about some others too and I was wondering if any of the readers could give me their opinions.

Firstly, Puerto Rico seems to be a firm favourite amongst BoardGameGeeks and it seems like a fairly typical trading game. Lot of depth: complex but easy to learn. Those who have played it, is it really as good as they say?

Secondly, I've picked up on Ticket to Ride Europe, a new game that has just come out. It's based on original award winning Ticket to Ride game which took place in America - so naturally for me Europe would be the better addition, plus they have added new rules that make the sequel even better than the first one. Anyway, this sounds like a very fun game to play so if anyone has played this I'd love to hear recommendations.

And of course if anyone has any other suggestions for must have board games, they are welcome too. Our collection is pathetically small, so I bet almost whatever you'll suggest we won't have.