1 comments about Frommer's England 2008 (Frommer's Complete).

1. It's probably too much to ask any one book to cover all of England in detail. But Frommer's has packed this 800-page monster with all the information they could in an attempt to do just that. Did they succeed? Mostly. For starters, they offer over 20 "Best of" lists that help you zero in on the finest the country has to offer in all sorts of categories ranging from museums to pubs and everything in between. Basic travel information is offered for those completely new to the country to help you start off on the right track. There's even a short offering to help you learn a bit about art and architecture so that you can better appreciate what you will see on your visit. And, of course, there are four suggested itineraries for complete trips. Finally, the remaining 700 pages detailed information on the various geographic areas of England.
   
   Without diminishing the rest of the book, I found the "Best of" lists and the itineraries a great starting point because it helped me zoom in on the part of England that I would most want to visit. From there, I started worrying about the specifics of what I would do there and that's when the rest of the book started to come in handy. But I also purchased The Unofficial Guide to England (Unofficial Guides) and found that I often went back and forth between the two. For information on the Cotswolds, Lake District, and some other aspects of the trip, I found Frommer's to be the most helpful. At the same time, when it came to reviewing the sight-seeing attractions in London I preferred the content and format that the Unofficial Guide used. It's not that Frommer's didn't cover it at all, or that the coverage was poor. But comparing the two, I definitely found the Unofficial Guide easier to use for touring London. Leaving London aside, Frommer's has certainly put together the most comprehensive guide you will find on England. It has every city you could possibly be interested in as well covering the Lake District, the Cotswolds, and other rustic areas of interest to tourists.
   
   In summary, I found the Frommer's Guide to be highly useful and I certainly recommend it to anyone planning a trip to England. I also believe that no one book will have everything when covering a place as diverse as England, so don't limit yourself to just one book.

No comments about Top 10 Copenhagen (Eyewitness Travel Guides).

No comments about Stonehenge (Wonders of the World).

5 comments about Rick Steves' European Christmas (Rick Steves).

1. This is a great combination of travel information, historical background, holiday traditions, great photographs and even recipes, all describing the European Christmas experience. There are chapters on England, Norway, France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland. Rick Steves even adds a personal touch as his family joins him to celebrate a snowy Christmas in Switzerland. This is a book you will pick up every Christmas to reread and enjoy.



2. Lovely table book with information about how Christmas is celebrated in Europe. Complete with recipes and pictures of family celebrations. Because it was by Rick Steves I was disappointed that there was not specific information on where to stay during the actual Christmas holiday.



3. This is actually a DVD and not a book like the previous two reviews have mistaken. There is a matching book to this DVD and probably what they have mistaken in this case. Now, on to the DVD.
   
   I cannot recommend this DVD enough! My family has sat down to this program for the past two years and everytime I find something new to appreciate about it. Rick Steves takes us on tour in his usual style through several European countries and their unique customs. This time however we are allowed into the homes and traditions of the native peoples families. 7 european cultures are explored through their Christmas and holiday traditions. Italian, Swiss, British, French are to name a few of the places Rick takes us to on Christmas eve and the preceding days of celebration. What I like about the DVD most is the way you are shown each countries holiday traditions seperatly right up to Christmas eve then you are treated to the mounting Christmas eve excitment from all countries as they get ready for Father Christmas's visit or for some cultures the pinnacle of the season that evening. It shows the flashy city wide celebrations as well as what the average family does for seasons greetings. If you want to see humanity at its best this DVD will surely do your heart some good to see the common excitement in all childrens eyes and in the adults voices. Like I said I can't say enough. However, I will break a cardinal rule here and tell you that I would splurge here a little and go to www.ricksteves.com and purchase the Christmas set which includes the DVD, the book that the other two reviewers are refering to, as well as the matching CD that contains all of the carols that are in the DVD. Belive me once you see the performances you will want the CD! This package sells for around 35 dollars and is well worth it! Wishing you a happy holidays whatever time of the year you read this!



4. The Rick Steve's Video "Christmas In Europe" is a very enjoyable video presentation based on his regularly featured public televison program. He travels to Britain, Norway, France, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland giving a presentation of how the Christmas holidays are celebrated in each of these countries. The vast majority of the celebrations are based on traditions and if you are the type of person who enjoys "traditional" things you will love this program. It is colorful and has a large segment of musical presentations scattered throughout it. The DVD was created from the televison program that first appeared on public televison in 2005 or so. The DVD also contains several full presentation musical concerts, a presentation of Italian nativity sets as displayed each season, an interview with the traditional German Christmas angel and an enjoyable slide show of scenes taken from the presentation set to traditional Christmas music. As I said, if you enjoy traditional Christmas topics as I do, you will enjoy this program very much. If your taste are more modern and secular you probably will not enjoy it very much. A reasonable part of the program is centered around Christmas being the birthday of Jesus and this message is found repeatedly throughout the show. Since the birth of the Christ child is an important part of my celebration of the holiday I enjoyed this very much. It was a nicely presented message of the meaning of Christmas that also included some of the pleasant secular tritions along with it. It was a nice balance. Presentation time is about 2 hours long.



5. Does not talk about a lot of cities (one per country). The cities it does talk about hold a lot of information

1 comments about Who Was Marco Polo? (Who Was...?).

1. I agree with reviewers who commented on other books in this series-- these are an excellent introduction to biographies and chapter books. My husband and I have read almost all of these "Who was..." books to our now 11 and 9 year old over the past year. I find them easy to read aloud and appropriately illustrated. They lead our family to deeper discussion of the person or history and politics of the time. Marco Polo is my nine-year-olds favorite bio. I found the Einstein bio to be very interesting, my husband like Darwin, my three-year-old liked Edison, and my nine-year-old son's favorite was Annie Oakley.

No comments about Europe's Monastery and Convent Guesthouses: A Pilgrim's Travel Guide.

5 comments about Frommer's Scotland (Frommer's Complete).

1. I'm planning a trip to Scotland (leaving next week), and have never used Frommer's guides before. It has good suggestions for interesting touristy places to visit in Scotland, and gives a well written, concise historical description of the sites, which I like.
   
   However, for booking hotels, I haven't selected a single suggestion from Frommers. This is because their suggestions are generally way too expensive. For example, looking for accomodations in the Orkney Islands, you'd think it was impossible to spend less than $150 a night if you relied exclusively on this guide. On the web, I found that there are at least a handful two and three star hotels in Kirkwall that were less than $100 a night, and look very nice.
   
   Also, it says in Frommer's that it's ~$100 to travel by train to Edinburgh from London, but it doesn't mention that there are actually a huge range of fares, from ~$20 to more than $200 at www.virgin.com/trains, that depends on how early you purchase the tickets, and how flexible you want the ticket to be.
   
   From these and other examples, I've decided that Frommer's is a fine place to start for an overview and figuring out where I want to go, but I'd end up unnecessarily spending a fortune if I relied on it for the practical stuff.



2. I have an older edition of the Frommer's Scotland, and I really love it. It is arranged nicely (by region mostly), and gives a lot of details about the biggest cities and most popular tourist attractions. However, it also gives some great regional information and stuff about the smaller towns. I like that it gives you admission prices, hours etc. for most attractions (the prices in my book are outdated, but still a good general idea). I haven't traveled to Scotland yet, but this book has got me very excited about my upcoming holiday. Very practical information!!



3. Purchased this book to help with planning for a forthcoming trip to Scotland. Seems fairly informative, but can only really review it after taking the trip.



4. If you are planing on spending more than a few days in Scotland, you should read this book.



5. Wonderful book. Gives all of the information that you could ever need while visiting Scotland. I know where to sleep, where to eat, where to drink, what sites to see, and everything in between now. Thank you!

5 comments about Time Out Cheap Eats in London (Time Out Guides).

1. I bought this book in planning for a trip to London. With today's exchange rate, I really need to get the most for my money and this book is a great help. The reviews are clear, well-organized and have been invaluable in helping me plan my trip!



2. We took this book on a trip to London (obviously), and went to several of the restaurants in the guide. All of the restaurants that we visited were fabulous. We would look up a restaurant and then go to that part of town to eat, which really helped in getting us out to other parts of London that we might not have normally visited. Highly recommended. Also went to eat a couple of times at "Wasabi", a Japanese fast food chain. It wasn't in the book, but I really enjoyed it. The sushi was very fresh and super reasonably priced.



3. Cheap eats is a complete waste of money, the places listed tended to be fast food knock offs and the info un-updated. Yet, the most frustrating thing was that the vast majority of food choices in this book tended to be very non-British. If your going to London, England you want to eat foods that are English, yet page after page of Time Out consists of pizza, chinese, thai, indian, chinese, russian, middle eastern, chinese again. And the page listing a few pie and mash shops or Fish and Chip shops could have been updated it is very frustrating making a trek to a location only to find it has been closed down for some time. And the final complaint here is the huge number of pages that are dedicated to advertisements for surprise surprise places they chose as a Cheap eat.
   This book was so frustrating and worthless that after, three different closures I tossed it out with the rest of the garabage. No if you wish to find Cheap Eats that are truly worth eating save your money talk to a bus driver, cabbie or my favorite a policeman who'll walk you to the location and introduce you to his buddies at the pub and maybe buy you a pint.



4. Although, originally we felt that its origanization into different areas would be helpful, we ended up paging around the book a lot to figure out where we wanted to eat. I'm not sure exactly how to fix the problem, but it seemed like there might be a better way to group the maps and the reviews closer together.
   
   Being Americans traveling in London with the weak dollar these days, we were always looking for just the cheapest places. It would have been very helpful to have lists like the Top 50 Single Pound Sign Restaurants rather than having to page around looking for them.
   
   In the end, it saved us money and had us eating at a few interesting places, but it was just a bit harder to use than we initially thought.



5. London is no longer about pie n mash,fish n chips, mushy peas,roast beef n yorkshire pudding - or jellied eels! Thank goodness for that,as we have to live here! And nobody wants to come on vacation to eat only that!
   
   This book gives a true,budget update of what people really want to eat (including olde worlde English carveries and traditional stuff) in a carefully-chosed cross-section.
   
   We enjoyed plotting out all the places and didn't find any that were closed!

3 comments about A Traveler's Guide to D-Day and the Battle for Normandy.

1. What makes this book stand out for me is the eyewitness reports, which are dotted throughout as you read this account of the D-Day landings. They bring alive the personal experiences of those who fought and help the reader appreciate the scarifices made.

   The book is a nice mix of the history of this particular military campaign, and what the traveller to Normandy can hope to see today. This means the book is a good read for either the armchair military buff or the interested tourist.

   Lots of photos and clear maps also add to this very good and highly readable book.




2. This is a great guide to take with you on a trip to Normandy. I carried it with me throughout my tours and was able to read aloud about the events that took place-standing on Omaha Beach and reading about the various divisions that struggled where I stood was of great value to myself and my husband.

   The eyewitness accounts bring it to life as well.

   If you plan on touring the D Day beaches and sites, bring this one with you!




3. Mike Tolhurst's father fought in the battle for Normandy. Perhaps that is why the narrative portion of this book reads with such emotion, not just military matter-of-factness. This book would succeed, I believe, simply as an account of this part of the war, even without the "travel guide" aspects. Eyewitness accounts and quotes from German as well as Allied soldiers bring what was happening to life.

   I had already decided to go to Normandy when I purchased this book. But it was invaluable in helping me decide which places to see, since I knew my time would be limited. Each chapter consists of a narrative of part of the battle, then an accompanying suggested tour which touches on cities and places mentioned in that chapter. I ended up not following the plans exactly, but still basing my choices of places to go on the authors' narratives.

   I found Normandy to be beautiful and welcoming, and would recommend that every American, Canadian and UK native visit these sites if you can, most especially if a relative fought in the war. If you do you'll need some guidance as to what to see and where it is, and this book will help a great deal.

4 comments about Sweden (Eyewitness Travel Guides).

1. I usually like Eyewitness Travel Guides, and this "Sweden" issue was also as useful as the others I have owned. I am glad Stockholm has its own chapter and in great detail. The scenery pictures are nice, and graphics explaining detailed floor plans of buildings and museums are very useful. The pictures alone are enough to make me want to go there! I also like the Traveler's Needs section, especially the accomodation divided in categories of location and price. Although accomodation nowadays is easy to find from the internet, Eyewitness has saved me a lot of precious time trying to compare each hotel between websites. I would recommend anyone who is going to Sweden to get this book. You will get all the information you need, and more!



2. No matter where you wander, the DK Eyewitness Travel Guides are the best guides to introduce you to a region. Color illustrations, great maps, with a focus on really neat things to do and places to see. This one is no exception. Although we are frequent visitors to Sweden (bought this as a gift), we still found much that was new and fascinating in it.



3. This guide is the best I've found. Descriptions are very clear. Myriad photos and illustrations give a real advance tour of the country. Maps are excellent. The transportation section clarifies potentially confusing directions for trains, roads, ferries. There's an excellent word list (with pronunciation) in back of the book. Outlined by provinces, it's easy to tell the sort of towns one might want to visit. Our time will be limited, so we will need to plan our trip to Sweden carefully. This book is a big help.



4. All of the eyecandy we expect from eyewitness guides. Some once-over-lightly background (not what I'd call in-depth) - most useful, from this perspective, as a decision tool before you've decided to go. Look elsewhere for real help in planning.