2 comments about Paris: City of Light and Fascination.

1. A Francophile's delight, this book takes the reader on a journey through time to showcase this intensely romantic and vibrant City. A bit more focus on architecture and less on the Parisian people than I personally would like to see, but still a lushly presented view of Paris.



2. Six and a half pounds of Paris! This is mainly a book of photographs of Paris. Yes there is some text sprinkled throughout the pages, but I did not even bother with that. :) It contains mostly color photographs. Many are simply beautiful. They span many decades of the history of Paris from the origins of the city to the present day.
   
   It is a great book to gaze at and daydream. :)

2 comments about A Traveller's Wine Guide to France (Travellers' Wine Guides).

1. Learning about wine involves, tasting, reading and travelling. Since serious trips are more than a couple of days and usually on one's vacation time, it pays to have a tour guide. Christopher Fielden is an importer and polific author who has lived in France.

   Perhaps in the 21st century will have have a headset guide as about as museums have - only beamed down from a satellite. But in the mean time Fielden is the best there is. I have just successfully road tested this book for three weeks in France.

   Fielden is knowledgeable (he also wrote Exploring Wines & Spirits, the text for the Wines & Spirits Education Trust in London - probably the best wine education body in the world) and he is a good travelling companion. Happy wine trails!!




2. Informative, fascinating, imminently practical, Christopher Fielden's A Traveller's Wine Guide To France is the ideal guide for touring the French countryside and enjoy the immense variety of vintages and vineyards of the world's greatest wines. All the wine growing regions of France are covered with excellent background histories and descriptions, along with a wine tasting classification system, travel tips, advise for visiting a winery, tasting basics, buying wine in France, the top grape varieties, even eating cheese along with the wines and dining tips while in France. A Traveller's Wine Guide To France is the ideal guidebook for all dedicated wine connoisseurs vacationing or traveling among the French!

No comments about Guide to the Lakes.

2 comments about Knopf Guide: Quebec (Knopf Guides).

1. Great illustrations, to help you picture a place, or have an idea what it looks like so you'll find it when you are near it. I find the knopf guides to be good for places I haven't been to yet, so I can imagine how the whole city is laid out and looks.
   
   Would prefer more history, but hey, it is a pocket guide, and a lot is packed in here considering how small it is.
   
   The hotel and restaurant parts suffer for lack of depth because, hey, it is a pocket guide.
   
   It's a good beginner/first time visitor's guide. For bargain/budget hunters, for repeat visitors, it's probably not satisfying.



2. This is a "niche" book, not best used as a comprehensive travel guide, but instead, as a tactile and visual appetite-whetter in preparation for a visit to the province of Quebec. It's dense both in weight and illustrated content. The glossy pages are packed with interesting colorful photographs, drawings, and art work focused on modern Canadian and aboriginal culture, history, architecture, nature, and the like. The text isn't extensive but I found it factual and useful. Think of it as a classy children's book for grown-ups. I used it to orient myself prior to travel, and continue to refer to it as follow-up after my trip.
   As always, I would have been happiest had it had at least some translations of French place names and common terminology relevant to the traveler, e.g., gite, auberge, and even a very basic pronounciation guide, especially given that Quebecer French is as removed from Parisian French as Texas drawl from the Queen's English. I nonetheless recommend it with enthusiasm.

5 comments about France by Bike: 14 Tours Geared for Discovery (By Bike).

1. Just biked the trip from Dijon to Orleans in May 1999; the biking and camping was outstanding and the book gave great detailed directions; we flew our bikes over, which was an adventure, but I highly recommend the book and the trip to anyone who feels up to it!!



2. For a first-time touring cyclist like myself, this book was a life-saver. On a bike tour in 1996, I used seven of the fourteen routes detailed in this book. The advice was absolutely invaluable. Fabulous recommendations for low-traffic, scenic routes and great advice for places to stay and see. Many recommendations are particularly helpful for budget-minded bike tourers who want to take advantage of low-cost camping options.

   ONE DRAWBACK: With an original publication date of 1993, some of the advice in this book is bound to be a bit out-of-date. The bike-friendly French road system, for example, undergoes periodic changes (due to construction, route changes, etc.), so you'll want to check recommended cycling routes against a good Michelin map of the region. I also found that one or two of the recommended campgrounds had gone out of business since the book's original publication, but you can find a current listing of campgrounds through the local tourist office.

   Despite these minor drawbacks, this book is still perfect for those considering a bicycle tour of France (which, by the way, is a fabulous country for both experienced and inexperienced bicycle tourers). I hope to return in the near future and explore some of the book's routes I didn't complete on my first trip!




3. It became fairly clear to me after reading this book that the authors were more interested in having a good time riding than they were in doing the research necessary to produce a guide book that would actually be useful to others. Their attitude can be best summed up by the fashion in which they deal with the issue of getting to and from the tours: they don't. Instead they mention that they heard second hand that you can ride the RER from Charles de Gaulle airport (Paris), but they really don't have any information because they always go in through Brussels! In addition, they mention that you should take the trains everywhere to get to the tours, but they don't bother to fill you in on SNCF's fairly unfriendly bike policy. What else is lacking? The only distance information given is the total for complete day, so unless you follow their route exactly this book is useless for planning. Route choice is poor--they don't put you on the best, least trafficked roads. In the case of the Loire Valley, they completely missed the signed bike routes that are the preferred roads for cyclist to be on (or perhaps the book is just too out of date). Elevation profiles? Forget it. They also don't provide a great deal of information about what kinds of food and lodging are available in the towns--particularly if it isn't where they choose to have you stop for the day. Their attitude is generally "check with the local tourist office to find a hotel." This advice is only helpful if the office happens to be open when you roll into town. If you are looking for a real guidebook (and it would be extremely charitable to put this book in that category) I would suggest that you buy the Lonely Planet Book "Cycling France" by Sally Dillon instead. It has similar good tour suggestions, but provides all of the information that this book completely lacks--information which you must have to sucessfuly tour France by bike.



4. Sure, the maps are next to useless and the writers are far too fixated on campgrounds and not enough on hotels, but the routing they choose is very nice. I also feel they have selected is an excellent melange of cities, towns, villages and spectacular sights. My wife and I did the Languedoc and Rhone Loop tours for a trip two years ago and loved it and are so are using it again for Burgundy/Franche Comte/Alsace trip we are going on in two months.
   Ultimately, I see this book as intended as a companion piece to the Michelin maps which are availiable for every region. What the book actually offers is a turn by turn narrative by which one would physically chart out your intended path on the maps using a highlighter pen. From there one would just follow the markered line and the book itself is stowed away in your panniers unless one finds oneself needing specific directions out of a town onto the intended road.
   Addnittedly, there are a few books out there that do give you more information, elevations, point to point milages, etc...though all give precious little on accomodations--(Though, I suppose that is what the internet and the Michelin Red Guide is for), however I find this book to be the most personable and well thought out in terms of what a semi-serious tourer would be after, (and besides, the Michelin maps *do* help out here.) For one not-so-small example, the tours in this book actually seem to logically connect to each other so that if you perhaps wanted to ride for 12 days instead of 7 days, no problem. The other books, to me at first glance seem to seriously fall down here. Some of the other books also seek to work *too* hard to take you off the beaten track. Sometimes you want to see the sights. Unlike another reviewers opinion I actually think it OK to have a great time when touring around France!
   Ultimately to do a decent tour I don't think that there is any one single book to buy (unfortuantely). I think it is best to buy at least two or three and pick then your desired route from anyone of them. I feel that "France by Bike" should be one of your choices and In my estimation it is one you will come back to despite its lack of slickness.
   It would be really great to see the authors come up with an updated second edition. More train info and some weblinks would be one area where they could improve.



5. There does not seem to be a great selection of France bike touring books. This is one of few, and we found it very useful. We have done two tours with it. As has been said, the maps could be better, but you'll have your Michelin map anyway.

No comments about Gardens of Portugal.

No comments about National Geographic Traveler: France, 2d Ed. (National Geographic Traveler).

4 comments about Coast to Coast Walk: A Pictorial Guide (Wainwright Pictorial Guides).

1. A great book for planning and walking across England. It has all the details necessary and is written in a humorous vein. The personal drawings and asides add to the light-hearted approach. Really necessary for the details of the walk.



2. The content in this book is terrific. Unfortunately, the text is ridiculously small. I cannot conceive of why. If the text were a reasonable size, I would have given the book a 5-star rating.



3. This beautiful guide to England's Coast to Coast walk is a rare thing... a very practical and reasonably up to date guide by the man who originated the route together with the original drawings and maps Wainright did to accompany the original edition. It is a beautiful book. The photoreproductions of Wainright's original handprinting give the book the feel of an historical artifact; a work of art from a different era.



4. this is a great reprint of the wonderful original coast to coast guide.
   its a must for anyone wanting to do all or part of the walk across Britain. can't wait to use it myself on the trail later this year.

No comments about Take the Kids Paris and Disneyland Resort, Paris, 5th (Take the Kids Paris and Disneyland).

4 comments about Bella Tuscany & Under the Tuscan Sun (2 Book Set).

1. The two books in this set can be read independently of one another, but read together provide a rich tapestry of the author's romance with Tuscany, and the author's major life change adventure embracing the future as she embraces her Italian home. One need not necessarily be a Tuscan scholar, or a Tuscan devotee, or even a Tuscan traveler to enjoy the colorful and appetizing narrative centered around the author's purchase and initial rehabilitation (in Under The Tuscan Sun) of a once-graceful long-abandoned farmhouse in the Tuscan hills. The plans and projects she and her husband make for resurrection of the once-lovely old building on ancient footings in forgotten gardens strike yearning chords in every fantasy spinner's heart. The project unfolds in some successes and some failures as we also see the author's resurrection of buried dreams in her own life similarly unfold. The metamorphosis becomes much more concrete, much more focused and visible, like the author's struggle to learn Italian, in the second book of the set, Bella Tuscany, in which she includes more of her inner life and more interaction with her Italian neighbors, even tucking some favorite recipes into various chapters as they become better acquainted. Her travels through Tuscany in search of fixtures, furnishings, towels, tiles and dishes become charming tours of Italy on and off the beaten track, and a way of life which seems to open the heart and coax the spirit forth. These two passionate journals resonate in those places where each of us still muses about finding our dream - or dreamhouse - someday, whether an Italophile or not. The books lack much hard economic analysis or any real social or political feeling for Tuscany; they document a continuing personal journey. Great reading to encourage the reader to reach for the adventure and find herself.



2. Being able to lose yourself in a book, is a completely unique experience that is usually reserved for fiction. Under the Tuscan Sun, a non-fiction book absolutely does this. It reads like a novel that you cannot possibly put down.

   At the same time it is real - you are there using every sense that you possess.

   As a guest in the author's house, you sweat, your muscles ache and you get dusty as the rennovations take shape. You want to soak in a long hot bath after reading several pages.

   You shop side by side with her at the market, smelling, hearing, touching and tasting all that Italy has to offer.

   At her table you do not feel compelled to go to the fridge for a snack, but feel completely stuffed, like you have really eaten the meals she has described.

   What a wonderful place to lose your self, but Under the Tuscan Sun.




3. Having lived in Italy myself for 4 years Frances Mayes brought me back to what I call my second home. I laughed and cried, but mostly my heart ached to be back in this wonderful country she so beautifully describes. Frances words make you hear, fell and smell everything she describes. You don't read her books you live inside them. I followed up Under The Tuscan Sun with Bella Tuscany - having taken them both on a ski trip. Read Under the Tuscan Sun on the way up out loud to my husband(9 hours driving,- made him want to return to Italy also) and opted to pass on a day of skiing to read Bella Tuscany. Thank you for taking me home! Molti ringraziamenti per così tempo divertente Frances!



4. When I learned the first book had been a best seller and inspired a movie, I purchased this box set with both books. In addition, I also live in Italy so I was sure this would be a great set for me to read. Wow, I really called this one wrong.
   
   Mayes is a good writer and she certainly writes with all five senses, but most of the content in these two books was just plain boring. After spending over twenty bucks on this set, I had to force myself to read both. Mayes rambled on and on. Her memoirs just simply are not that interesting in print. My daughter brought the movie home after I finished reading the first book, and I wasn't at all suprised to find that the movie was only loosly based on the book. They almost completely changed the whole thing, and it was pretty good.
   
   The recipes certainly were the best part of the books, but they were written in paragraph form. It definately would have been much nicer if they were printed like a typical cookbook. Also, I wish some pictures would have been included in the books. Maybe some before and after shots during the renovation for example.
   
   Well, at least my purchase helped Mayes pay for her endless remodeling projects on not one but two homes. I'm familiar with the prices for real estate in the San Francisco area, and they are impossible for most people. Furthermore, I hope Mayes was able to complete renovations on her Tuscany home before the dollar began its downward spiral.