Clocks across the majority of European countries sprang forward by one hour on Sunday morning as the continent moves to daylight saving time.
Clocks in most European nations including Germany were advanced by one hour at 0100 GMT to 0200 GMT, heralding longer evenings and brighter days.
This means that for the coming months parts of Europe will be on Central European Summer Time (CEST), before moving back to Central European Time (CET) in the autumn, when clocks go back again by an hour on October 26.
Britain for its part moves from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) to British Summer Time (BST), while the east of the continent moves from Eastern European Time (EET) to Eastern European Summer Time (EEST).
The biannual clock changes on the last Sunday in March and October have always been controversial and never failed to spark debates ever since their introduction in many countries from the 1970s onwards.
While some relish the additional daylight time won, others argue that the changes may disrupt sleep schedules, for example.
The European Commission proposed a directive to end the twice-yearly clock changes across the European Union in 2018, but it has so far not seen any progress.
(dpa)