5 comments about Chic Shopping Paris.

1. The best addresses and tips are in this little gem of a book. Things the average tourist or even seasoned shopper would be hard pressed to find on their own. I'm almost sad that "the secrets are out" !! I highly recommend this book before your trip to Paris and for a fun read in general.
   Stephanie
   PS I live in Paris and consider myself a 'shopaholic' and loved discovering some new addresses in this book.



2. I just purchased a copy of "Chic Shopping Paris." It's a delightful guidebook. The information is absolutely essential if you plan to visit Paris, and, of course shop. If you don't plan to visit Paris, you can still injoy the beautiful color photos and dream!



3. The perfect book for exploring Paris via shopping! The book is divided by neighborhoods for easy reference. The descriptions are extremely helpful and the photographs could be postcards of Paris themselves. The small size of the book will fit into your purse for easy access. I read this on the subway before I went shopping and couldn't wait to start shopping.



4. Travel through the best of the insider's Paris in 208 beautifully written and photographed pages. In concise, but through narratives, Ms. Magniant brings the best of Paris to your mind while Allison Harris' photos are each a well composed tableau of the individuals shop's wares. From wall designs to unique notions to toys, antique printed matter, designer clothers, jewelery, perfumes, all manner of foodstuffs, and other off-the-beaten-track treasures- if you can't find something of great interest to you, don't see Paris-see your doctor!



5. I travel to France and especially Paris often and love to have an insiders look at shopping places that visitors often don't know about. I can't wait to get there in October and use my little green book to check out some of the places in it. Love having the email addresses, phone numbers and the many pictures. Thank you Rebecca!

5 comments about One Hundred and One Beautiful Small Towns of Italy (101 Towns).

1. This is a very interesting and informative book with many beautiful pictures. Italy is divided into sections so it is easy to find a town or an area to review. The back has a section with addresses and phone numbers to contact the various places. It would be a good book to read before a trip to Italy or just to read to learn more about Italy.



2. The book is full of lovely information and quite nice pictures, however, the quality of the paper was not very good and the photos were dull.
   
   Over all, the book is not of the Rizzoli quality that I have in my other table top books.



3. Kind of a dissapointment. Most of the towns included are already well known. Each town has a 2 page spread on average - one or 2 pics and sometimes some interesting sidenotes and inside tips.



4. It is my wifes dream to go to Italy, so I bought her the next best thing until I can take her there myself. She loves the book and can't wait to go see it in person!!
   
   Billy Wannyn



5. a beautiful picture book with an informative and charming text that makes you want to get on the next plane to rome

5 comments about Switzerland (Eyewitness Travel Guides).

1. Ideal for people who are going to Switzerland or for people who want to pretend they are going to Switzerland to impress a lady.



2. I'm not a seasoned or jaded traveler ... yet! So a comprehensive travel guide is critical to my preparation for a trip and a great way of post-filling information and details into some of the holes or places that I might have missed or had to rush through when I was actually on the trip. Along with photographs and trip journals, they're also a wonderful way to resurrect detailed memories of a trip long after you've returned home.
   
   Eyewitness Travel Guides seem to have the market beat by a long margin! That's not to say that Lonely Planet, Frommer, Michelin or the Blue and Green Guides miss the mark entirely but the Eyewitness series, in general, seems to be more informative. The photographs and illustrations instill a higher degree of keen anticipation and provide a better means of choosing in advance between a world of competing destinations and alternative tourist attractions.
   
   Their guide to Switzerland, in particular, was astonishingly accurate and complete - history, food, travel, hotels, geography, destinations, estimated costs, highlights, outdoor activities - every last one of them spot on and accurately described from the perspective of an actual trip through St Moritz, Lucerne, the Bernina Pass to Tirano, Italy and Interlaken. Even now the photographs of Swiss cuisine and cheese can set my mouth to watering!
   
   One noteworthy omission that my traveling companion and I discovered by accident - Switzerland offers a museum pass for 30 Swiss francs that will give admission for one month to virtually every museum in the country. That's a remarkable offer given that the countryside is positively littered with a host of attractive museums, castles and attractions most of which charge a 5 to 10 franc admission. We learned that little tidbit from the concierge of the Palace Lucerne Hotel - kudos to the hotel for over the top service and a great piece of advice!
   
   With that one small suggestion for addition to future editions, the Eyewitness Travel Guide to Switzerland easily earns a five-star review. And Switzerland, by the bye, is certainly a delicious five-star travel destination!
   
   Paul Weiss



3. I had purchased a similar book for my son about France to help him with his French language courses in high school. I ended up spending more time with it than he did, and when I saw the other country titles, I decided to purchase a few more. The Switzerland book is excellent in that it condenses a lot of information into a very portable volume. The photos and illustrations are fabulous and the background historical and cultural information is superb. The listing of accomodations and restaurants also appears to be very well researched and provides a starting point for further Internet research. My favorite part of Switzerland is the Bernese Oberland, and this book provides a genuine sense of what it is really like. I can definitely benefit from this book on future travel to Switzerland. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to know more about the country, as well as for experienced travellers. Well done to the authors, editors, and publisher!



4. Pros: this guidebook has lots of pictures and gives lots of information region by region, detailed cut-outs of major historical buildings. I also found the pictures in the survival guide section useful, where they describe the various Swiss dishes and food/drink products.
   
   Cons: no information on how to get to different places by train (e.g. from Interlaken to Schilthorn or Jungfraujoch). I understand the guide cannot list train numbers and times, but at least it could have described how to, for example, get from Luzern to Mt. Titlis by train. Train travel is a big part of the Switzerland experience so this seems like a big omission. There's also not much information on hiking, even though this is a very popular country with hikers. An overview map of hiking trails would have been useful. However, there are other guides that cover hiking so this is a minor omission by comparison.



5. We had one week in Geneva and this guide pretty much explained everything there was to see. Well written, easy to use, very well organized, it was possible to get a handle on any large Swiss city in about 30 minutes.

5 comments about Mediterranean by Cruise Ship: The Complete Guide to Mediterranean Cruising with Giant pull-out color map..

1. I expected more from this book after reading some of the reviews. I do really like the diagrams of the ports and some of the maps seem helpful but other maps are bad with scale and distances just plain wrong. I have also found many spelling errors... who edited this?
   My biggest complaint though is the pictures outnumber the information. Some pages have 4-5 photos making each one so small you can't see much of interest in them. And the photos aren't that good to begin with, many actually look like scanned postcards.
   This book seems to be a very unprofessional attempt at a travel log. There are other books on the market which do a much better job... don't buy the book just for the diagrams of the ports!



2. If you go on a Mediterranean cruise...buy this book..if,like me,you really enjoy immersing yourself in a book about the trip of your dreams..buy this book...It is a perfect combination of facts,history and beautiful pictures and maps.The "must see" sections turn an overwelming siteseeing tour into one that is relaxed and enjoyable.My daughter and son-in-law are flying to Rome next month..she is looking forward to "borrowing" my book...it has wonderful suggestions for a Roman holiday....how romantic is that!...I would not go to the Mediterranean without this book..it would be like trying to make a delicious italian cream cake without reading the recipe..



3. This is a good book. Nice color pictures, lots of information on history, architecture, what to see in ports, where to eat and maps. A nice small enough to carry in you purse book.



4. I am planning my first trip/cruise to Europe and I was hoping for a more in depth look at the museums, restaurants, sights, etc. More than anything it was a history lesson... But, overall it had good information and it a nice "catch all" guide.



5. This book is a great help in preparing for a cruise. It contains a wealth of information on cruising, but an unexpected & very interesting section is the "History of the Mediterranean.

5 comments about Rick Steves' Amsterdam, Bruges and Brussels (Rick Steves).

1. as usual, rick steves' does the best job. having lived in europe for 13 months, his way is my favorite way to travel. i won't allow myself travelling 'looking like the usual tourist' and doing the usual tourist thing. his suggestions allow you to get to know the heart of the people and culture.



2. We recetnly traveled to Amsterdam, Bruges, Brussels and Antwerp. We used Rick's book to select the hotels and the areas to visit versus the bigger name publisher review books (like Let's Go and Formers, etc.). We picked three hotels from his book. Two of the three hotels were great, while one was a bit noisy. Even the hotel that was a bit noisy was a clean, smart hotel in the St. Caterhine neighboorhod section of Brussels. We found his book and recommmedations to be well written, clear and true to form. We also used Fromers guidelbook, in campanion to Rick's, but did not find it to be local enought to our needs. We ate almost exclusively at the restaurants is his book, traveled to the sights, used the train systems and used the maps in his book for our trip. Sometimes when you use a book like this you get one or two great places to stay or to eat, but, with his, it was truely a satisfying experience to go to his book's places and come away satisfied.
   
   We saw other travelers in the regions we visited using his book as well.
   
   We will definitely recommmend this book to novice travelers as well as repeat travelers, and defintely buy one of his books again.



3. Rick led us to some of the nicest places in Brugge. I didn't get to experience Amsterdam (which claims about half the pages in the book), but the information on Belgium and Brugge was great. He has some really excellent B&B recommendations. If you end up in Brugge, definitely go see Scottish Maggie :)



4. An excellent travel guide that is easy to read and filled with low cost alternatives from hotels and pensions to wonderful restaurants and tour options. This was my second trip to Amsterdam and the second time staying in the same hotel that Rick had recommended. One year while in Paris, standing in line at the Eiffel Tower I had noticed that there were several people reading Rick Steves Paris Guide. It was a great conversation starter. My last trip this past October, while touring Germany, the guide said to mention Rick's name while checking into a very comfortable pension and the owner would give a discount. It worked! Thanks Rick!



5. Having just returned from a visit to the Low Countries, we found this guide to be very helpful. Though it does not go off the beaten path, concentrating instead on the major cities, it does cover those cities well, with transportation information as well as hotel and restaurant recommendations which we found reliable. Maps show the metro stops, which is handy, and the book includes walking tours of the cities and some museums. Recommended.

5 comments about Streetwise Barcelona Map - Laminated City Street Map of Barcelona, Spain - with integrated metro map including lines and stations.

1. An excellent map - easy to read and to fold. Highly recommended.



2. I bought this map for my son and his wife, as they are in Barcelona at this very moment on a vacation. They were very pleased with the map and I'm assuming it is helping them to get around very nicely, I will know more when they get back.



3. I visited Barcelona in December 2007 and used the Streetwise Barcelona available at that time. Apparently the map has subsequently been updated (in Jan. 2008), but the one I used had at least one confusing error, and one irritating design/layout problem. The error is where the map showed the location of Gaudi's La Pedrera; the icon had the right shape to emulate the building's curvy shape, but it was placed one block over from where the building really is. Also confusingly, the map showed a separate location for Casa Mila (one block over), the icon for that being a plain little square shape. In reality, Casa Mila and La Pedrera are the same building, but the map had me quite confused on that point for awhile until other literature steered me right. (Where the small boxy "Casa Mila" icon is located on the map is where the organically curvy La Pedrera/Casa Mila really is.) The layout problem: normally with the Streetwise maps, you flip them over top to bottom to continue the map on the other side. But with the Barcelona map, you had to flip it side to side to get to the rest of the city, which was not conducive to continuity of the map. Overall I really love the Streetwise maps, they are so handy to carry and easy to use, and the laminating is a great feature. I trust that with the update of the Barcelona map they have corrected the problems I mentioned.



4. Spent 5 days in Barcelona in a wonderful apartment in Barri Gottic...this map was indespensible. Very sturdy,easy to read,lightweight,easy to store in backpack pocket. Perfect size print and useful key.



5. This map is an excellent resource for tourists who prefer independent travel in Barcelona. My wife and I used this map exclusively while touring Barcelona and it was well marked with all major attractions as well as having a complete listing of all street names and places of interest. Well worth the price.

1 comments about London (City Guide).

1. Excellent guide that helped me through London. The walks listed were particularly helpful in enabling me to make the most of my stay. I'd recommend a combination of this and a pocket sized guide by Time Out.

5 comments about Paris to the Moon.

1. This book has been enlightening in at least one respect - I thought one had to be an upper-class English twit to be this pretentious. Gopnik, of course, is not the former, but he is most certainly the latter.
   
   To be fair, occasionally Gopnik does present a humorous nugget or a unique insight into Parisian life (though not French life; he is only a Parisophile, not a Francophile.) It's the other 95% of the book's self-indulgent prattle that is so annoying. I swear that if Gopnik thought that too many readers understood the massive amounts of French in the book, he would switch to Latin or Greek. He is not merely a name dropper, he's a word dropper.
   
   While it starts out well enough, no more than 1/2 way through the book the reader is reduced to skimming page after page of discussions about food, reports of haute couture fashion shows, and an endless series of boring reflections on his young son. Toward the end of the book Gopnik even mentions taking his 4-year old on a trip back to New York in order for the boy to be interviewed for admission to a good pre-school! What a turkey this Gopnik character is. How is he ever going to explain all this pomposity to the boy when he grows up?



2. I picked up this book for insights on the less-touristy aspects of Paris, prior to a trip my family is taking. It's a very enjoyable book, and the author's descriptions definitely have raised my anticipation level for our visit, as well as given me ideas about places for kids. Plus (as many other reviewers noted), it's a funny and charming book. As the husband of a former chef, I enjoyed his discursions about cooking, too.
   
   My one complaint comes from the occasional pretentiousness and preciousness of the author's lifestyle. How many of us could move to Paris for five years during the prime of our working lives? And how many of us could take a month's vacation to the US in the summer, or fly our kids back for two days of interviews for kindergarten? Kindergarten?
   
   The author comes from a very small slice of our society, and he both downplays this and celebrates it at different times. And I don't like it. For example, his literary allusions -- whether French, English or American -- go over my head. I'm a well-read person, but I feel as if the author is trying to show that he has a greater range than his readers. To shift from Baudelaire to the New York Knicks within a few paragraphs is trying to have it both ways -- the intellectual and the common man.



3. An interesting collection of essays about family life in Paris. Gopnik's erudite, interesting descriptions of the City of Light will delight Francophiles, although his writing is fairly pretentious and pedantic at times. Nevertheless, this book is still a worthwhile read.



4. PARIS TO THE MOON is a collection of essays by a NEW YORKER writer. Gopnik and his wife moved to Paris in 1995. When a young teen, he visited Paris in 1773. After the couple's child was born in 1994 they endeavored to fulfill Adam's desire to live in Paris while their son was still portable. The romance of Paris became the author's subject for his NEW YORKER pieces. There was no big story in France. There was a lot of peace amd prosperity in the world and a lot animosity directed toward the United States. When Adam Gopnik thinks of Paris he thinks of his wife Martha and his son Luke.
   
   French politicians engage in ostentatious displays of detachment. The Parisian government has a clutch of domaine prive apartments. In reality, most apartments in Paris are not available to rent in a market sense. It seems that one of the politicians lodged his entire family in various domaine prive apartments. French life in general is chock full of entitlements. North African immigrants, though, have no entree. The French elites have now decided that the cure for hidden deals is transparency. Gopnik describes a strike. France is a centralized country and anything that mainly affects Paris is a national event. French people deal with an event by pretending it isn't happening. (Picasso and Sartre pretended the Germans didn't occupy Paris.)
   
   The writer's son Luke enjoys the Luxembourg Gardens, even in November. Trying to join an American-style gym, the author discovers that the rhetoric, the cult of sport is absent in France. Talking about the bureaucracy takes the place of talking about sport. In France there is no retirement anxiety. People don't linke the notion of stopping to work with stopping to live as people do in the U.S. It is believed that what France needs is its own Bill Gates. It has a philosopher, Habermas, who contends that the basis for the state is the human love of arguing.
   
   The French have been obsessed with Vichy for more than twenty-five years. Thus, they did not finally confront their past during Papon's trial in Bordeaux. Explanation turns first on romanticism, next on ideological rigor, and finally on the futility of explanation. In 1997 there was an incident at the Eiffel Tower. The French draw their identity from their jobs, the Americans from what they buy. Adam Gobnik decides that couture is romantic cartoon. Yves St. Laurent is still the favorite in 1997 of the Socialists in the government. He uses opera arias to show his clothes. The new Bibliotheque Nationale, a Mitterand grand project, is, according to Gopnik, in the totalitarian Luxe style. Other transformations of cultural sites have been undertaken at the Louvre and the Bastille Opera. Jazz, loved by the French, and Impressionism, loved by the Americans, confirm the simple physical basis of powerful emotion.
   
   Alice Waters is in Paris at some point during the writer's stay. He offers to cook dinner for her and is nervous. Her ends up cooking lamb for seven hours where four would have been appropriate. It seems that the purpose of the visit of Alice Waters to Paris is to determine the feasibility of opening a restaurant at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs at the Louvre. She has reconciled utopian politics with aristocratic cooking. The crucial unit of French social life is the cohort. Members of the cohort inhabit neutral places such as parks and cafes.
   
   The couple's daughter Olivia is born in Paris. Since Paris is beautiful, but France is not a life, the family returns to America. The book is both amusing and instructive.



5. This is a book for francophiles. It might be a good resource on French culture and attitudes if you will be spending an extended time traveling or working in France. But if you are looking for good literature, skip it.
   
   Should have known by just opening the cover - the first SENTENCE in the book has 9 (count 'em - NINE) commas in it. The prose is self-centered, self-conscious, and self-congratulatory.
   
   You are regaled by sentences like this one: "The lucidity of Parisian empiricism was bought at the price of the grandiosity of Parisian abstraction, and you couldn't have one without the other".
   
   Gopnik is the sort of author who thinks when he breaks a fingernail, it's significant and we need to know. You get an entire chapter devoted to a bedtime story he made up for his son, end to end.
   
   The author needs to get over himself, and the editor needs to go back to flipping burgers. Spend your valuable leisure hours reading something else!

5 comments about This is London (This is . . .).

1. Originally, I read about this series in National Geographic Travel. I bought the London book as a gift for a seven year old who is a certified Harry Potter fan and, as a result, becoming quite the junior anglophile. While this may not be an up-to-date trip to London (some of the landmarks mentioned are no longer there), it sparks the imagination and whets the young traveler's appetite. The illustrations are fun and it doesn't stay on the shelf long at our house.



2. Great book in great condition. Well packaged and received quickly.
   Thank you.



3. My son (7-year-old now) has been reding this series since age 4 every time we visited a new city. We have London, Paris and San Francisco books. They are all brilliant to read pre-trip and post-trip. Although cities have chnaged over the years, the books give a very good feel of the cities. They also give footnotes of updates. Not only my son enjoys them enormously, but my husband and myself learned a lot from the series. Highly recommended.



4. Exclamations come to mind: beautiful design and drawings, comprehensive and to the point guide! And this goes for all his city guides Paris, Rome, Venice and Hong Kong. You might argue it is a bit old fashioned, but I think you are confusing it with "it s one of the Classics". And when something is called a Classic, it is timeless and a Must-Have! Trust me, it is worth your while and money!



5. This is a great book for children. However, when I put this on my daughter's wish I thought that it was a new book. Not so. There is nothing in the description that says it's used. The book received is a used library book with stamps all over it. It was delivered badly wrapped as well.
   So, if you're looking for a new book, this seller doesn't provide. However, if you are looking for a book on London (or any other European city for that matter) that's written for children, you might want to buy anyway. They aren't easy to find.

3 comments about The Patisseries of Paris: Chocolatiers, Tea Salons, Ice Cream Parlors, and more.

1. This is a lovely little fairy tale of a book, and whether you are a foodie, an armchair traveler, a world traveler, or someone who needs romance, this book will supply it in spades. When you see the book, you will notice that it is small, designed to look like a box from a patisserie or chocolatier, and the colors are muted and soft, like a 21rst century impressionist painting seen through a layer of clouds. I loved the writing. It is intimate, honest, amusing, and charming, almost like having your best friend talking to you, and filling your head with incredible pictures. You will almost be able to smell, taste, and hear the sounds of the places you are reading about. I will probably never go to Paris, but I fell in love with France in high school when I studied the language, so I love reading about all things French. If you are lucky enough to go to Paris, a quick perusal of this book will tell you the best places to eat, see, and experience. I do not recommend a quick perusal, however, because this book at it's best, is like a fairy tale in food. It is charming, concise, anecdotal, and romantic, because hey! It is Paris. When your head is filled to bursting with wonderful imagery from the writing, take a moment or ten or twenty to enjoy the beautiful photographs. The really lovely thing about this book is that the writing and the photos go together so well. One does not detract from the other, but it enhances and completes the other. I must say again how much I loved the writing. I really enjoyed the behind the scenes aspect of some of the shops, and especially "A Day In The Life of a Patissier". I can not recommend this book highly enough. It is absolutely wonderful, and I feel as though I have just had a blissful experience and not gained an ounce! The word evocative comes to mind; I can almost see myself sitting at one of those darling little tables, looking chic, tragically beautiful, and sharing sweets with a devastating French actor. That may not be your dream, but it is mine, and I won't say what happens after he pays the bill, and looks soulfully into my eyes, and warns me not to touch the last croissant.



2. A fun guide I finally got to see at the British bookstore, W.H.Smith on rue de Rivoli. The luscious pictures and detailed descriptions make you want to run all over Paris and not miss a single patisserie. Sadly a few places have since closed like Carette. Why any pastry shop should ever close in Paris is beyond me!



3. This cocoa-dusted treasure hits that mythical sweet spot between practical, trusted travel guide and gorgeous, dreamy (if petite) coffee table book. Full of the kind of beautiful photos and evocative lyrical prose that you'll never find in any guide and jam-packed with all of the actionable, expert advice that's missing from all those exquisitely photographed gift books, this one has it all. Organized by arrondissements, you're meant to flip to the neighborhood you're visiting to find the author's recos for the best macarons, tartes or baguettes nearby. If I were visiting France soon, that's just what I'd be doing. Cramming bookmarks between the pages, grabbing a map and taking off before the sun came up. But for now, curled up on my couch in New Jersey, I'm literally reading this like a romantic novel. Cover to cover. Dreaming of Paris...