3 comments about Lonely Planet Brittany & Normandy (Lonely Planet Brittany).

1. This one does exactly what it says on the packet. Accurate, up-to-date (it's a year newer than its competitors) and easy-to-use. A bit low on illustrations and pictures, so not got the coffee-table factor, but that's not what it's for. Very good on camp site info.



2. I hesitated to buy this book to plan a recent tritp to Normandy -- with a high-speed connection to the Internet, doing research with travel books seemed so pointless and expensive. Besides, buying the book seemed to open Pandora's Box -- we're doing quite a bit of traveling nowadays, and if we bought this book, shouldn't we buy a book for every country we're visiting in the coming months? This could easily rack up expenses for frugral travelers.
   
   It turned out to be a great decision to spend the dozen or so dollars on this book. Jam-packed with helpful information and wonderful maps (besides the ones in the DK travel guides, Lonely Planet offers better maps than any guide book I've tried to use), I referred to this book over and over again during both planning and travel.
   
   The information in it is occasionally outdated, but no book is ever completely up to date. For example, prices have gone up and hours have changed. Not a problem though, because the book offers phone numbers and websites to check the info. We used it to find campsites and places to visit. It pointed us to things that we would otherwise never have known existed -- e.g. the Pont du Normandie and the Route des Traditions. And it steered us clear of some cities so that we could spend more time on what we were interested in.
   
   The book also includes sections on the history of the area and information about local foods and customs. It's just chock full of everything you'll need to plan your trip -- info about tolls and transportation, French phrases, etc. Definitely pick this one up!



3. This is a detailed and helpful guide book which appears to cover almost all of the questions a visitor to Brittany & Normandy might ask before and after arrival. The Contents page shows the variety of subjects covered. Among the many sections, there are recommendations on preparing for unexpected health problems; there is a brief language/phrase section and a glossary for quick French/English or English/French one word references on a travelor's most commonly needed words/translations. For each area reviewed, there are brief commentaries about history, points of interest and transport. In the Directory section there are suggestions and telephone numbers and references for finding rentals, camp sites, hotels, restaurants, culture, shopping, and regional attributes and regional agriculture. There are contact numbers or addresses for variously priced lodgings and overnight accommodations as well as other services. Much information, including small maps, is squeezed into this 368 page book to read and savor ahead of the trip, as well as for every day reference while touring. This little book could be the only Brittany & Normandy guide book needed, tucked into your carry-on...and kept in pocket for use from landing until departure.

1 comments about Southern France: An Oxford Archaeological Guide (Oxford Archaeological Guides).

1. The little known Oxford Archaeological Guides series provides information that you cannot find elsewhere This guide was written by Henry Cleere in 2001 and gives information about many of the (mostly Roman) archaeological sites of southern France. Sites are described in great detail with an emphasis on how the site might have looked in ancient times and changes occurring over centuries. Information is provided here that I have not seen in any other guidebook. The amazing Roman bridge the Pont du Gard, near Nimes, is described in great detail. This immense stone structure was built in 20 BC over the river Gard to supply water to the expanding settlement of Nemausus (present day Nimes). The automobile-sized stone blocks of which the bridge is built were quarried from a site less than a kilometer upstream. There is no better illustration of the power and wealth of ancient Rome than that such a massive structure was built (50 meters high and 275 meters wide) merely to provide abundant water for a minor settlement. Other not-to-be missed sites are given the attention they deserve: The very similar amphitheaters of Arles and Nimes are well described. The beautiful Roman theater and the triumphal arch at Orange are explored in detail I have not seen elsewhere. This book would not be suitable as the only guidebook to take with you on a trip, the information provided is far too specialized. I'd recommend taking along the Michelin Green guides or the Knopf guide for Provence as well. Some minor drawbacks: the drawings and maps are not as detailed as they could be and the few photographs that are provided are black and white and of poor quality. These complaints are not critical flaws; the book would still be invaluable even if it didn't contain a single illustration.

5 comments about Provence: The Beautiful Cookbook.

1. French born and 4th generation provençale, I take pride in the cuisine from my homeland and I have to confess I was a little wary about what I would find in this book. Well, the authors did a wonderful job at promoting the gastronomic traditions of Provence without betraying them. My grand-mother, our family's head-cook, and our culinary inspiration would have given her seal of approval without hesitation, would she have been around to discover this wonderful recipe collection and it is with her and my homeland in mind that I enjoy preparing the recipes featured in this excellent collection for my own enjoyment and the one of my (American) husband and our friends.



2. I was a little suspicious of the series. After all, should we trust a book more suitably sized for the coffee table than for the kitchen counter? But my mistrust was misguided. The food is wonderful. All people have assumptions about "others," and one of the assumptions Americans make about the French is that their food is very difficult to prepare and relies on expensive ingredients. The truth is that French food need not be difficult and that it is a cuisine that recognizes the beauty of each season. Since my children bought this book for me, we have been building seasonal rituals around it. For example, we get salt anchovies from the neighborhood Italian deli for our Christmas eve appetizer. At Mardi Gras, we make the oreilles found in this book, which are the pastries sold as "pig's ears" or "angel wings" in the last days before Lent by Polish bakeries in Detroit. Depending on the bakery, they were known as "pig's ears" or "angels wings." My only criticism of the book is that I feel the need to keep it open in the dining room, lest kitchen grease spoils it.



3. I like this book, but it does point out one weakness in Provencal cooking...a slight lack of variety. There are multiple gratin recipes, good fish dishes, etc. It also doesn't shy away from organ meats, etc., much like the region itself. Like all the books in this visually stunning series, this one has lovely photography.



4. "Provence, The Beautiful Cookbook" by Richard Olney is a beautiful coffee table book filled with exquisite views and mouth-watering authentic dishes from this region of France.
   
   Every time I look through this book, I feel like I am on an actual journey to Provence. And each time, I close this book, I feel a strong yearning to actually see this part of France with my own eyes!
   
   This book is divided into food chapters, like most cookbooks, but also, there are chapters about different areas within this region: Alpes-Maritimes; Soups and Starters; Alpes-de-Haute-Provence; Fish and Shellfish; Vaucluse; Meat, Poultry and Gram; Bouches-du-Rhone; Vegetables and Grains; Var; and Desserts.
   
   A wonderful book for lovers of Provence!



5. Having spent quite a bit of time in Provence I love to grab this book and go back there, remembering all the times and meals. Creating dishes from this book really helps me to enjoy Provence all over again.

2 comments about Above Paris: The Aerial Survey of Roger Henrard.

1. These gorgeous black and white images are so beautiful and vivid. These beautiful photo's shot from the fifties to the early seventies just jump off the page. You see some great Parisian buildings no longer extant, like Les Hales, or you see buildings like the Orsay train station in a state of disrepair before it was rescued and reinvented as the Orsay gallery. Paris is layed out so perfectly, it lends itself so well to arial photography. If you love Paris or appreciate amazing photography then you will want this in your collection. High recommended.



2. 
   Roger Henrard (1900-1975) was an industrialist, pilot and photographer. He flew over Paris in a single-engine plane and took thousands of pictures, many of them incredible pictures. Henrard used a high-speed plate camera to systematically document the city. This book selects 350 beautifully printed duotones from that collection organized by themes such as neighborhoods, the Seine, major buildings, the roads. Maps at the beginning of each chapter orient the reader, and Jean-Louis Cohen provides excellent captions and instructive essays, all in English.
   
   Henrad wrote UN ENRAGÉ DU CIEL ("THE FLYING MADMAN") (which has not been translated into English) describing his reconnaissance pilot experiences during World War II and why he explored Paris from the sky. Henrard was director of a factory of photographic instruments in 1930 and developed an aerial camera, which he started to use himself after learning to pilot a plane. His first flying observatory was a high-winged single-engine aircraft designed in 1932 --- a Farman 402, with a 120-horsepower Lorraine engine. Henrard called this plane an "optical and mechanical laboratory," using his own aerial camera system to take his photographs. He obtained a permanent flight permit from the Air Force and was able to devise a rigorous all-weather photography system.
   
   In 1948 he continued his flights in a Nord 1203 Norécrin (a low-winged aircraft derived from the Messerschmitt Bf 108), in which he installed the rapid cameras that he would continue to use for his aerial photography until 1972, three years prior to his death. In the preface to UN ENRAGÉ DU CIEL a wartime companion and novelist Jules Roy describes how the photographer used his "mechanical retina":
   
   "In cramped conditions and with the sun at his back, he takes his photos with all the precision of a fighter pilot performing a snap roll or a bombardier landing his crate in a vineyard. He calculates itinerary and arrival time, always picking out some makeshift airfield on which to crash should his only engine fail. Over Paris, for example, he is more or less sure of always being able to make a crash landing--on the Seine between two bridges, on lettuce and spinach plants at Gennevilliers, on the Vincennes rifle range, or on the glass roof of Gare de l'Est. And why not on the terrace of the Galeries Lafayette?"
   
   When Henrard took the photographs in this book, the city was still contained within the fortified walls built by Adolphe Thiers in 1845. Today's maps and city guides still show that asymmetric polygonal form. Henrard circled the city tirelessly, taking photographs by the thousand and surveying that classic shape and some of the encroachments of the city into the areas outside the walls.
   
   Henrard was not the first photographer to capture Paris from a flying machine. But his techniques were more rigorous and his artistic eye created great beauty while preserving cartographic accuracy. I've walked for at least 500 miles through the streets of Paris on business and pleasure trips over the years. It always seemed barricaded and crammed together from the sidewalk, brought alive from time to time with pockets of open space along the boulevards and near the Seine.
   
   This book gave me an entirely different vision of the city, and the essays made my imagination soar. This is a picture book with a brain and a soul.
   
   Robert C. Ross 2008

No comments about Flora Tristan: Utopian Feminist : Her Travel Diaries and Personal Crusade.

2 comments about Pocket Map and Guide Paris (EYEWITNESS POCKET MAP & GUIDE).

1. comprehensive and very conveniently small guide to be easily carried in pocket or purse--this is the perfect Paris companion!



2. Whew! What a lot of information in such a small package! This little foldout map can easily fit into a shirt pocket. So, portability is a great plus; one can walk around Paris with this map and guide in your pocket. Of course, this plus has its corollary minus: Goodness, the type is small! I have a somewhat hard time reading the text. Not a huge problem, but something that needs to be noted.
   
   In this compact work is the obligatory map of the Metro, so one has a sense of where the stops are and what stops one might need to see certain sights. The map of the historic center provides a lot of information--but I need a magnifying glass (the ravages of age!).
   
   There is a useful area by area examination of Paris (not based on the arrondissements), including sights to see, restaurants (Ah! I recall the joy of having lunch at "Les Deux Magots"), and the like. Even though this is a slim and brief guide, choices selected are reasonable.
   
   So, here's the tradeoff. Relatively brief consideration with small print versus portability. The guide fits easily into a shirt pocket. For what it is, though, it seems a reasonable investment.

5 comments about Chasing Lance: The 2005 Tour de France and Lance Armstrong's Ride of a Lifetime (with 20 photos included).

1. I've never been to the Tour, but now I feel like I have after reading this excellent work by Martin Dugard. The fascination of pro cycling comes through when you discover what goes on behind the scenes and understand the personalities of the riders.
   
   Dugard's book is a fun read because he adds the personal touch of relating his own adventures following the Tour. He also has great access to key observers and participants, including Lance and other top athletes. Highly recommended for any cycling fan or anyone who wants to understand deeper what Lance and his Tour de France reign was all about.



2. If you want a a non-experts point of view on the 2005 Tour De France who has nothing interesting to say, other than describing the facial features of the people he runs into in the cafe ha happened to drink on the 3rd stage, buy this book. If you care about race tactics, tour history, or anything at all remotely compelling do not buy this book. Its a rushed travelogue intended to take your money. Buy "Lance Amrstrong's War" if you want a real book.



3. Marty Dugard does a great job capturing the ambience of this amazing race in print. I've been to the last 10 Tours and what I remember most about my trips to France are the kinds of episodes Mr. Dugard shares with his readers in this book. For those who love the race, it's more than just 189 guys in tight pants crawling up the Galibier; it's the countryside and the food and the spectators and the publicity caravan and 342 days of looking forward to the next Tour. Dugard captures all of it. I'll be there again this year and CHASING LANCE has already got me stoked.



4. The 2005 Tour will always be remembered as Lance's last grand stand in the Tour de France, winning an improbable (and most likely never to be equalled record) 7th straight win. It made for great TV viewing (as I experienced it).
   
   In "Chasing Lance: The 2005 Tour de France and Lance Armstrong's Ride of a Lifetime" (240 pages), author Martin Dugard brings us what it's like to live and experience the Tour day-to-day. The overwhelming sense I got is that it's a three week logistical nightmare, getting from one stage finish to another, and quite an exhausting feat at that. On that level, the book works quite well, as the author describes how it's like staging the SuperBowl... 23 days straight. As for the race itself, the book can never match the excitement of seeing the race, with all of its colors and the fans' excitement, on TV. Dugard does bring a great episode of standing along with the crazed Spanish Basques fans in the Pyrenees mountains. As for tidbits on Armstrong, Lance's dislike of Greg Lemond's comments (regarding Lance's possible performance-enhancing methods--which Lance has strongly denied) stick out.
   
   As a race fan, I am looking forward to the 2006 Tour de France, even without Lance. The race will, for the first time in a long time, be wide open, without a clear pre-race favorite. That said, "Chasing Lance" is a pleasant read, but certainly not an "essential" read. For that, we'll have to wait for the definitive Lance-authored or Lance-approved book.



5. Considering the wealth of information about Lance in other venues, this is a refreshing and unique perspective of the Tour with Lance as more of a backdrop and unifying theme. Definitely a more humanistic side is examined, and it satisfied my interest in more about the "behind the scenes" of the Tour. Reading Mr. Dugard's articles during the 2006 Tour were similarly incitefull and prompted me to read his book which was equally educational and entertaining.

No comments about An Englishman Amoureux: Love in Deepest France (Englishman series).

1 comments about A House in the Sunflowers: Living the Dream in the SOuth of France.

1. I BOUGHT THIS AS A GIFT TO MY DAD AND HE LOVED IT. KNEW THE AREAS IT SPOKE OF AND BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN.

5 comments about Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes / The Amateur Emigrant.

1. If you want to discover a beautiful and wild French region through the eyes of a Scottish writer, read Travels with a donkey. Stevenson, before he became famous, depicted his journey in the cevennes, with his donkey "Modestine". Rediscover the excellent style of a young writer about to become world-wide-known.



2. R.L. Stevenson writes here the first account of a touristic journey in France. He is the first modern tourist. He penetrates and discovers the country and the people of what he calls the Lozère, this mountain range in the south of The Central mountains in France, a range of mountains that was the locale of a protestant rebellion at the very beginning of the eighteenth century, severely repressed by Louis XIV. These protestant insurgers are known as the Camisards. Stevenson tries to discover the landscape, the natural setting of this insurrection and tries to show how the insurrection was connected to the very nature of these mountains. He also shows how no repression can change a person or a population. These old Camisards are still alive in the memory and the customs and ways of the protestant population of this region. It is the survival of this faith that interests and fascinates Stevenson. He also notices that the catholics and the protestants, at the time of his travels, lived in harmony but with an absolute divide between the two communities. A young catholic man who married a protestant girl and changed his faith in the process was unanimously condemned for this breach of loyalty. This book is also a perfect example of what tourism can and must be : the discovery of the visited people's mentality, culture, way of life, and the connection of these with the surrounding nature, and not only a quick look at monuments and other (un)perishable. One has to live with the people, no matter how little, to eat the people's food and to be in contact with the people in order to discuss general and particular subjects and to understand their way of thinking and behaving. Thus tourism becomes an adventure even in the heart of the most civilized country and only a couple of miles away from a railroad.

   Dr Jacques COULARDEAU




3. In the late 1870s, Robert Louis Stevenson needed cash to break dependence on his parents so he could go to the woman he loved (and they did not). A chronic invalid, he also needed adventure. He decided to do some travel writing and one such trip is recounted in TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY. He headed off to the remote Cevennes mountain range of south central France and got himself kitted out nicely, so nicely, he needed assistance in carrying everything. Enter Modestine, a donkey. He might as well have attempted to harness and pack up a cat. Thus, to a deft narrative that works in powerful landscape description, sketches of country folk met along the way, and a revisiting of the region's dramatic history, he adds the self-deprecating wit that would become a model for his 20th century counterparts like Peter Fleming, Eric Newby, and Bill Bryson. Though his commentary moves along at a swift but casual gait, it builds a tension on the upside, beginning with the age-old legend of the murderous Beast of Gevaudan that haunts a neighborhood where he finds the peasantry by turns hostile and friendly and accommodations primitive. Near the summit, a visit to a monastery introduces the religious theme that will attend his descent into the beautiful land of the Camisards, the friction between Protestants and Catholics that erupted into a tragic civil war in the first decade of the 18th century. Stevenson does a fine job of sorting out the history and evoking the awe that comes with visiting the deceptively bucolic scene. No wonder this book has continued to inspire: it often appears on recommended lists and it prompted Romantic biographer Richard Holmes to retrace the journey early in his career, a century later, complete with a donkey of his own (see his book FOOTSTEPS). The critical introduction to this edition is worthwhile.



4. Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes (1878) is among the earliest published works of Robert Louis Stevenson, and yet it is in no way inferior to his later writing that established his fame. In fact, this delightful account of Stevenson's solo trek in the Cevennes Range in south central France ranks among the best travel literature in the nineteenth century.
   
   Wishing not to advertise that he would be camping alone in remote areas, he chose not to travel with a tent. Instead, he designed a sleeping sack some six feet square, made of green water-proof cart cloth without and blue sheep's fur within. This commodious bed was too heavy to carry, and thus Stevenson acquired a donkey, one Modestine.
   
   Stevenson and Modestine for twelve days were close companions, traveling some 120 miles over several mountain ridges, along rocky roads, and even through boggy marshes. The stubborn Modestine was never quite convinced that the journey was entirely worth the effort, but nonetheless Stevenson and Modestine eventually became fast friends.
   
   Stevenson actually found lodging most nights, including a stint at a monastery, Our Lady of the Snows, allowing him not only to sleep more comfortably, but to share meals with strangers. Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes is as much about the people Stevenson encountered as about his adventuresome travels through this remote region of France. My only criticism of this short account, a little more than one hundred pages, is that it is not twice as long.
   
   Stevenson was familiar with the history of the Cevennes, especially the Protestant-Catholic strife under Louis XIV that eventually resulted in a Protestant rebellion in 1702. With the passage of nearly two hundred years, the Protestants and Catholics were now living peacefully together, although these two peoples seldom mixed socially and intermarriages were quite rare. Stevenson himself was Protestant, and while staying at the monastery his hosts made sincere efforts to convert him to the Catholic faith.
   
   The young Robert Louis Stevenson was a rare individual that truly enjoyed life, one that was continually fascinated with his chanced acquaintances. Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes is delightful and amusing, but at the same time it is equally successful as a thoughtful examination of the people of the Cevennes, isolated by both mountainous geography and a minority religion.



5. Excellent, short book. This is a must read for anyone interested in donkeys, The Cevennes, or Robert Louis Stevenson.