No comments about Corsica, 3rd (Cadogan Guides).

No comments about Michelin Map Burgundy, France (Michelin Maps).

5 comments about MapEasy's Guidemap to Paris.

1. As with most Mapeasy maps, this one is great in helping you find not only the streets, but the stores, the restaurants, the hotels and other worthy places.

   Granted, it may not have the most detail when it comes to little streets and alleys, but it will get you where you need to go.




2. If you are going to Paris, especially if you haven't been there before, you will probably want to get a couple of guidebooks and maps to help plan your excursions. I had used the MapEasy guide to Rome in the past, and found it to be an ideal blend of detail and narrative for navigating the city. When I needed a tactical map of Paris, I turned to the MapEasy Paris guide, which I also highly recommend.
   
   There are better and more detailed maps and books more suitable for planning a trip to Paris, but the MapEasy Paris map is the overall best choice for navigating the streets and sights once actually venturing around the great French city. The major streets are well detailed, and not only are historical sights depicted in an easy to interpret, three-dimensional manner, but they also have brief descriptions to help direct your focus to places of interest to you specifically (for example: "Musee Gulmet: Vast collection of Asian art and research library.") Important or noteworthy shops, hotels, and restaurants are depicted, and in the case of restaurants a symbol representing how expensive the food is is also included. Of course all the famous sights such as the Eiffel Tower, Arc De Triomphe, and Notre Dame are especially well detailed, and there are several inset maps on the opposite side of the main map detailing the Parisian periphery, Montmartre, and suggested short driving trips.
   
   The map is a great value, and is printed on a unique rip-resistant and water-resistant paper that is both durable, yet pliable (unlike many of the laminated card stock maps available.) For navigating the streets of Paris this is an ideal choice for tourists or those new to the city. I highly recommend the MapEasy series.



3. I own 8 of these, so see my review under "Rome." They're great!



4. MapEasy maps are the best! It is so much easier to navigate when you have a map with landmarks for restaurants, shops, etc. I never travel to a new city without them.



5. We LOVED this map of Paris for our trip. All of the major sightseeing attractions (the monuments & buildings) are drawn in 3D and to scale. This was VERY helpful to be able to plan a day of sightseeing. Metro stops are shown and helpful info about sights and stores are right on the map. Highly recommended!

No comments about Blue Guide Paris, Eleventh Edition (Blue Guides).

5 comments about Paris With Kids 2nd Edition (Open Road Travel Guides).

1. No maps, no discussion of Disney paris, A must for children in Paris. A better one is by Truszkowski, which has great color pics and maps and better info.



2. This is an excellent travel guide that happens to focus on things that are especially appealing when you are traveling with kids. The descriptions of the sites around town are interesting and well done. Even though this edition is a few years old, the restaurant and hotel recommendations were still extremely helpful in the spring of 2006. It was especially nice to have recommendations for places that mainly drew Parisians in areas that had heavy tourist traffic. This enabled my son and I to really experience Paris rather than just be exposed to other tourists. I looked at some other traveling with kids books and even bought the Cadogan guide but this one was head and shoulders above the rest. If you are bringing your child or children to Paris, I would suggest combining this with a guide that includes good maps of the city such as the Moon Metro Paris.



3. We have several different guides for seeing Paris with kids but this one takes the cake. What we've particularly enjoyed are the suggestions of other sights within a vicinity that make it easy to plan a day or an afternoon. We definitely would have missed some of these smaller sights -- such as the shopping passages along the Grand Boulevards and the bird market on Ile de la Cite -- that our kids truly enjoyed. Gwinner offers sensible and imaginative advice that make sightseeing with kids a pleasure.



4. Our family of 5 is travelling to Paris soon and I was eagerly awaiting this book to aid in planning. There were plenty of family-friendly hotel recommendations all over Paris. When I checked out the reviews on travel websites of the recommended hotels, I found most of them had primarily negative reviews. Perhaps this is due to the fact that this edition is a few years old and not updated. A family of 5 does not easily 'fit' into Parisian hotel room configurations(most rooms hold 2-3 people max.), so my hope was that this book would explore possibilities for us. I got the feeling that 'family-friendly' meant 'budget' in this book.
   I hope that some of the sightseeing recommendations are helpful for us to maximize our visit.
   The addition of a map in the book, as in other Parisian travel guides, would have been helpful as I had to buy one separately.



5. Having just returned from a visit to Paris, our family found this guide to be helpful and fun. It's organized by neighborhood and lists hotels, restaurants, sites of interest to families and children, fun facts to keep kids amused, and useful information about hours of operation, prices, nearest metro stop, playgrounds, etc. Very handy.

3 comments about French Country Hideaways: Vacationing At Private Chateaus & Manors in Rural France.

1. Do you like to dream of travel? Or do you really go to France, leaving the beaten track to experience the very best countryside, cuisine, elegance and hospitality? Either way, this stunning book is perfect for you!
   
   Casey O'Brien Blondes has found, meticulously researched, and visited 36 authentic chateaux and manor houses that welcome travelers. More than that, she describes the spirit and character of each place so vividly that you can practically smell the pungent rosemary in the kitchen or the antique roses you might find on your bedside table. While soaking up the history of the place or meeting the family, you will revel in the beauty of Stephanie Cardon's incandescent photographs. This is also an unusual and glorious resource for interior designers, filled with color and charm from austere to cozy.



2. I can only comment on the pictures in this book because I haven't had time to read the text lately. The pictures of the exteriors of the chateaus and manors are very well done. There are some nice photos of the interiors - what one would typically expect in a book of this title. Nothing was surprising and I wouldn't exactly call the interiors fabulous. For truly fabulous interiors I would suggest: The French Chateau by Christiane de Nicolay-Mazery & The French Country House, also by Christiane de Nicolay-Mazery.



3. This is a great book for someone who is thinking of staying at a private French chateau or at a country manor. The book is divided into different regions of France, beautifully illustrating both the exteriors with their stunning views as well as the interiors of these places. One learns some information about the current owners of these charming dwellings. For each residence, there is a list of places to visit recommended by the owners. At the back of the book there is useful information on each chateau or manor such as the address, phone number, fax number, and often email address and website. This is a great travel aid for someone who planning a special vacation in rural France. Great decorating ideas too!

5 comments about Extremely Pale Rose: A Very French Adventure.

1. i tell you, this book was the surprise hit of the summer for me. i picked it up as i like travel and drink and liked the premise of the challenge in the story. i thought it'd be a gentle read that i'd dip in and out of, but i found i couldn't put it down. you get really involved in the characters as they search through france on their quest. before you know it you've found out a great deal about wine, france, how comic/kind/annoying/helpful the french can be. i didn't expect it to be as amusing as it is - from beginning to end, it kept me chukling to myself. it was beautifully written and i think anyone who's ever dreamt of searching for a better and more uplifting alternative to their daily drudge should give it a go. uplifting! more please, mr ivey!



2. EXTREMELY PALE ROSE: A VERY FRENCH ADVENTURE will appeal to any who love France and French food and travel. It recounts the author's journey as he and his family travel the south of France in quest of rose wines. Rose is commonly viewed as a poor man's wine, but the paler it gets the more the Brits relish it and the more the French scoff. A translation problem sends Jamie on a quest for the palest rose in France, and their visits to wineries, rose-producing regions and local byways provide a lively, fun story of a hilarious quest.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



3. Extremely Pale Rosé is a wonderful book for anyone who loves Provence or for anyone who wants to learn more about this special part of France. I'm one of the former and reading this book made me wish I was back there right now. Jamie's writing style is easy to read and the story holds your interest. There's lots of good, accurate information and you really feel you get to know Jamie, Tanya and Peter as you go along for the ride on their quest. Once you open this book and start reading, it's easy to forget the world around you. So, pour yourself a nice chilled glass of Provencal rosé and lose yourself in this fabulous book.



4. This is a very entertaining and quick read. I learned loads about French rose wines while reading it.



5. 
   While in Provence one summer, a French lady mistook a conversation about Jamie Ivey's niece Rosie for a conversation about rosé. In a quirky way, this conversation leads James Ivey, his wife Tanya and their friend Peter to a journey to find the palest rosé in France. This is a marvelous road book with three distinctive characters visiting the main rosé-producng areas in France: Champagne, the Loire, the Jura, Bordeaux, Dordogne, the Rhône, Provence, Languedoc and Corsica.
   
   Ivey is a lapsed attorney and his first book is written in an offbeat way. The three wander through tiny bars, local bistros, wine fairs, many chateux and vineyards, and wine shops. There's an important sideline: Peter's attempts to find particularly smelly cheeses. This is charming British style travel writing from someone who clearly loves France, wine, food and people.
   
   Ivey claims that according to French lore, rosé should be the pink of a baby's skin. These two extracts will demonstrate the extremes you will encounter in these pages:
   
   "Why is pale rosé so popular", asked Tanya?
   "Because people like you don't know a good wine from a bad one."
   
   Tim: "Historically, rosé was a dreadful wine. It used to be made from re-wine leftovers. It would be put in a forgotten vat in the corner of the cave and sold for next to nothing to anyone foolish enough to buy it.
   
   "But that's not true any more. There's not a great winemaker in France who hasn't learnt his trade by producing a good rosé. It's the hardest wine to make, much more complex than red or white. France is making some fantastic rosé now, and it's real wine that can accompany food. Anyone who is still snobbish about it is wrong."
   
   ____
   
   The authors have now created an excellent blog describing their further adventures in the wine world; Google extremelypalerose . The subtitle of the blog tells the tale: "From London lawyer to Provencal wine merchant,author and now travelling salesman - the continuing story of pale pink wine and life in the south of France."
   
   The introduction to the blog carries on the appeal of the book:
   
   "Just to update those who have read Extremely Pale Rose: A Very French Adventure, Tanya and I are now running our own wine business in the south of France. We live near the village of Lourmarin and our shop front is the local markets. When we started trading in October last year one of the locals observed that we would be "living on love and cold water." They were right. We survived a long cold winter and sold practically no wine. But we made friends with the other market traders and secured our pitches in three local villages for the summer and now at last the tourists and the sun have arrived."
   
   Robert C. Ross 2007 2008

5 comments about French: Lonely Planet Phrasebook.

1. The book is very useful for traveling...as expected from a lonely planet speech book. However, it would be better with an audioguide to pronounce it correctly.



2. Its OK, I didn't use it too much. Everyone speaks English. Would have been more helpful if I'd went into the more rural parts.



3. I went to France not knowing any French except what I learned from songs, and somehow I didn't think knowing how to say "fish" and "will you go to bed with me?" would be good enough. This book was really great for a lot of different situations and was way more useful than my friend who claimed to know French from 3 years of high school. The pronunciations were particularly useful, although be careful if you get a "telecarte" as they might sell you minutes on a cell phone you don't have, not a telephone card.



4. I'm sure this is a good book, small enough to travel with but we didn't use it.



5. My wife and I went to France this past April. I took 2 years of French in high school, 1 year in college, and would have gotten lost in Quebec. So I used a CD review course, and brought this phrase book with us. It fit nicely in my back pocket. We used it alot. It is well organized, and there are some humerous phrases that hopefully I'll never need to translate!

5 comments about The Olive Farm: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Olive Oil in the South of France.

1. Initially, this book caught my eye because the story takes place in the French town where I was born and raised.
   While I found interesting and informative to re-discover my hometown through the eyes of the writer, I was totally captured by the many sides to this book: the story about a foreigner adapting to a different culture (which I can relate to, having made my home in the USA...), a international love story between a French man and an English woman (I am French and my husband American), the author learning to become a stepmother, the huge task of nursing back to life a beautiful property which had been abandoned by its previous owners....
   There are lots of stories within the main story... All so well written, I lost track of time a lot while reading this book...
   I also, through her descriptions, recognized some of the characters!! (small town... VERY small town!!)
   It was a true feast and I am ordering the sequel as soon as I am finished writing this review!!
   Get this book, it will literally absorb you into its own world... Getting a glimpse of the South of France without leaving your armchair should be enticing enough... I could smell the lavender in the breeze, hear the ciccadas, and almost taste the local foods I so miss here in the US...
   I recommend it to you all without any reservation!



2. Ms Drinkwater writes a uncomplicated and enjoyable tale of her adventures in old houses,the French, olive oil and love. She brings the same pleasantness to the written word that she did to the small screen in All Creatures Great and Small.



3. The Olive Farm is a well-executed memoir in the fashion of Under the Tuscan Sun and A Year in Provence. In it, actress Carol Drinkwater and her fiance, Michel, a film producer, impetuously purchase a rundown olive farm in the south of France and begin the process of restoring it to comfort and fecundity.
   
   This memoir will not disappoint-- Carol and her fiance face the difficulties of limited finances, needed repairs well in excess of initial estimates, and frustrations with the local workforce. All of these, of course, are transcended by the satisfactions of nursing the olive trees into production and the triumphs of beginning to restore the farmhouse to its previous grandeur.
   
   This ground has been trodden before, but Carol Drinkwater tells her tale engagingly, drawing likable portraits of her family, friends and neighbors in Cannes. Sit back, relax and enjoy the journey to Drinkwater's Cannes.



4. This is a wonderful book. If you have ever dreamed of running off and creating a brand new life filled with love, laughter and more than a few bumps along the way then this is a book that you'll love. In fact, I recommend all her books-they are that good.



5. The other night I was listening to an audio commentary which featured Robert Hardy and Carol Drinkwater. During the commentary Carol mentioned she had authored a series of books about she and her husbands experience rennovating/operating an olive farm in the south of France. Intriged by what Carol had said I checked the first book "The Olive Farm" out from the public library and began to read. First of all I must say the book is a delightful read. Carol has the ability to communicate on paper in the form of easy conversation, as two friends would have over a cup of tea. You will laugh and cry along with Carol as you read her story of restoring "Appassionata" to its former glory. I would love to see the BBC make a television series out of her books, they are a total delight!

1 comments about Cave Art: A Guide to the Decorated Ice Age Caves of Europe.

1. Thank you, Paul Bahn, for making this book! I am planning a trip to Europe exclusively to visit cave art sites. I have been trying to find information about caves that are still open to the public, but was having a really hard time on my own finding anything helpful. My search has come to an end! This book has a wealth of information which will undoubtedly be invaluable for planning and during my trip. It covers more than 50 caves and relevant museums/centers throughout England, France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy that are open to the public.
   
   Each cave is arranged by country. It has a description of the site and what there is to see as well as the histories and interesting facts about them. Coupled with the description is a list of practical information about the site which includes:
   
   - The site's address, telephone, fax, website, and e-mail address
   - Nearest city/town
   - Nearest airport
   - Nearest car rental
   - Nearest train station
   - Nearest bus route
   - Nearest taxi or private car hire
   - Restaurants in the vicinity
   - Hotels in the vicinity
   
   Then it has a list of questions which are each answered with as much detail as possible for each site. The questions are:
   
   - When is the cave open?
   - Admission prices?
   - Storage facilities?
   - Do you have to make a group?
   - Can you reserve a place in a group?
   - Languages of the guides?
   - Length of tour?
   - Is the cave privately owned?
   - Is there a gift shop?
   - Are there WC facilities?
   - Handicapped access?
   - Is there any climbing necessary?
   - Distance to walk?
   - Level of fitness required?
   - Equipment required?
   - What are the conditions inside the cave?
   - Is it lit?
   - Is it slippery?
   - Is photography allowed?
   
   There are maps and an informative introduction to the book that explains a lot about what to expect when you visit these sites. There is also some interesting information about cave art itself. There are many full color photos of the art you can expect to see. It is apparent that great care went into creating this guide. It far surpassed my expectations. It is clear, easy to read, and up to date. I can't wait to use it to help me plan my trip to Europe!