No comments about Paris Metro Handbook.

No comments about Michelin Montargis/Auxerre/Dijon, France Map No. 65 (Michelin Maps & Atlases).

3 comments about The Rough Guide to Paris Map (Rough Guide City Maps).

1. I found this guide to Paris an invaluable companion on my first trip to the city. Its detailed maps of the different quarters and breezy commentary was a great supplement to the simpler, heavily illustrated "Eyewitness" Guide I also used. The Rough Guide goes into greater detail, and has a lot more historical background, without being exhaustive like the famous "Blue Guide" series. It also has a good summary of the history of the city. The writing is winningly opinionated in places (declaring, for example, that the late 19th century realist paintings in the Musee D'Orsay are 'indigestible'), but doesn't seem demand that you agree with it. Maybe Paris just makes people opinionated in matters of taste. I'd recommend it for anybody who wants more than the tourist surface, but who doesn't want to be overwhelmed with too much background.



2. We went to many bookstores looking for a map of Paris. MY parner and I were going for the first time ever and had no clue what to expect. We went for 6 days and 5 nights. We thumbed thru about 100 different maps in total and purchased this one based on 3 things: it showed the street we were staying on, it divided the country into arrondisements (different districts) and it showed all the tourist spots!

   The map was easy to read and through all our fighting over it and folding and unfolding, the map stayed in tact! It's also waterproof!

   It was so worth the money! We got lost once when we travelled far off the map. But it really is the best map out there! We are keeping it for our next visit!




3. Multiple misplaced Metro stations (e.g., Porte Maillot, Miromesnil), buildings (e.g., Ministre de l'Interieur) and hotels (the one I stayed in) made this map useless - I spent about an hour in total walking the wrong way because of such mistakes on a map that claims to have been "thoroughly researched on the ground".
   The tough waterproof paper is good; in fact it's essential as the manner in which the map is folded is so awkward you will come close to tearing it every time you use it.
   I'd recommend a map book; even the crude maps in the Lonely Planet guide are better than this.

5 comments about Eating Europe: A Meta-Nonfiction Love Story (Writing Travel).

1. A professor of creative writing sets out on his university's dime to tour Europe and deliver a promised manuscript. Unfortunately there is no manuscript, not even an idea for one really, and Volkmer and his companion -- his wife -- are bantering but not communicating. America has invaded Iraq, France is being reviled and the Volkmers, in slow meltdown, land in Provence. Eating Europe is the result; a memoir of the creative process, the renewed flowering of a marriage and a world that saw the follies of Iraq long before the rest of us. A good read.



2. If you happen to be one, then, really, what better, more necessary time to be a travel writer than now? When the current political clime has us in hock--socially, empathetically--to the wider world? When what "they're" thinking and what "we're thinking" is seemingly so dissonant. And yet we know it isn't. And what a great example is this book of what the best travel writing can do.
   
   We can only hope there was some sort of exchange program, that from Europe came someone as equally insightful, with a traveling partner as equally challenging and delightful. The nature of the sublime, the politics of the restaurant barker, melancholy, the availability of cheese; all are touched upon, and in the most poignant way possible.
   
   If Charlie Kaufman rewrote Spoorloos as a romantic comedy; if John Barth got lost, not in the funhouse but in a maze of cobblestone; if a more dashing Albert Brooks drove his Winnebago through the south of France, you'd get Eating Europe. Highly recommended.



3. High recommendations for an unusual travel book that takes the author and his wife from Amsterdam to Alsace, and from light-hearted banter to more sober reflections. Written with wit, insight, and heart, this is a very enjoyable read!



4. The prose roped me in from the beginning, even before I was able to discern what the book was about. I continued to read, for the sheer enjoyment of the pictures the writing produced. Eventually, I realized I was reading anecdotes that could just as easily been about me and one of my partners as about the author and his wife. Universal themes of relationships emerged from every chapter as I read on. Some brought back happy memories, some brought back painful memories. I substituted myself for the author and read faster and faster, in spite of the fact I wanted to make the book last. Joy of reading came from exploration of the human soul. It was the same kind of joy, from the same source, I have gotten from Dostoyevsky, and Kesey, and Helprin, and many other authors.
   
   I derived an immense amount of pleasure from Eating Europe, yet I gave it only 4 stars. I felt no resolution. Instead I felt that literary trickery had been substituted for an ending to the story. That is why I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5.



5. I purchased this book on the recommendation of a friend and got much more than I expected. The first half is a romantic romp through the French country side, with witty gastronomical observations riding the rumble seat while the relation between the lovers, Jon and Janet, occupies the driver's seat or sometimes rides shotgun. Then things get complicated as the writer's consciousness about truth duels with his need to live with the terms of his professorial position and meet the requirements of a grant, while, at the same time, he drives and loves. This exploration of romance, literary genre, and writing with conscience is, in my opinion, close to genius. While I would not call it a Provence Travel Memoir, as others have, I'd call it a great trip, worth taking.

No comments about Americans in Paris: an Anecdotal Street Guide (Americans Abroad series).

No comments about The Nantes-Brest Canal, a Brittany Guide (Red Dog Guides).

No comments about Michelin Local Map No. 340: Bouches-du-Rhone, Var (France).

No comments about VEGETARIAN PARIS 2008, Addresses and information about vegetarian restaurants, juice bars, organic food shops, organic bakeries and artesian wells in Paris.

2 comments about Paris Bistros & Wine Bars: A Select Guide.

1. This is my "bible" when I'm choosing a bistro to dine in in Paris. It contains a wealth of information on each bistro it reviews. I am the author of "Best Bistros & Brasseries in Manhattan" and the inspiration for my work came directly from this book. While "Paris Bistros" is five years old, the turnover in Paris is slow enough that it is still about 90% accurate. If you love bistros, you'll love this book.



2. Paris Bistros and Wine Bars has been a dining guide for us and friends who have taken it to Paris. Every place noted in the book was terrific, and it's recommendations have ended up being some of our favorite dining-related French memories. We've taken it to France 3 times. We only wish a new, updated edition would be published.

2 comments about Adventure Guide Paris & lle-de-France (Adventure Guides Series) (Adventure Guides Series).

1. Hunter Travel Guides Adventure Guide to Paris & Ile-de-France by Heather Stimmler-Hall is certainly THE guidebook we wish had been published before our last trip to Paris. This 450 page book is so well organized and indexed as to teach you everything you want to know about French history and Paris itself before you arrive. With tips of how to plan your trip within your intended budget and to meet your expectations and all you need to know about documents etc., this guide is tops. The book helps you get oriented to Paris and its environs, taking each neighborhood and section and detailing places to stay, eat, and cultural events and activities nearby. There are extensive guide sections to shopping and entertainment, culture, and getting around. Additionally there are about 100 pages devoted to side trips for special sites not to miss near Paris, such as Versailles, Fountainebleu, and others. In the final pages of the guidebook you'll learn t he necessary phrases in French to help you get through our stay without too much confusion; however, there is no guide to pronunciation of the phrases. This Adventure Guide, like others from Hunter Travel Guides, is THE ONE you'll be so glad you selected. (...)



2. Written by the editor of the Secrets of Paris newsletter, this book offers great advice on how to experience Paris and the Ile-de-France "like the natives do." Thorough coverage of travel practicalities placed in a well-written context make this a must-have for repeat visitors and new arrivals.
   ParisVoice Magazine