5 comments about Rick Steves' France and Paris City Map (Rick Steves).

1. All of Rick Steves travel guides are invaluable. I gave a set to my daughter for Christmas for her upcoming trip to Europe.



2. We've used other books of Rick Steves to travel by and not been disappointed, so we're looking forward to all of the helpful advice that he has to give us. We're not traveling until the fall, so I won't know if the advice is good or bad.



3. Rick's latest book on travelling in France has already proven quite valuable as we plan our 2009 trip to France. He is knowledgable and his books provide a variety of easy to understand and implement options for touring and for overnight stays. I appreciate his honesty and suggestions. Thanks Rick!!



4. Pretty comprehensive. But the prices listed are not quite accurate, however it is a good starting point for bargaining. This a good guide to start with at home, combined with a couple of others one can really safely plan a trip to through France.



5. Having used many guidebooks, I think these are the best. Granted, the Rick Steves books are unique in that they are selective in the areas that they describe, but these areas are described well. With his guides, you feel like Rick is on the trip as your personal tour guide. Most guides (Frommers, Foders, etc.) give you a superficial overview of the whole country. Rick lets it all hang out. He tells what he thinks is a worthwhile stop and what isn't. Most of what "isn't" doesn't make it into the guidebook at all. Thus, I suggest taking another more comprehensive book (Lonely Plantet, Rough Guide, etc.) to fill in any gaps should you find yourself in a location Rick doesn't describe. On the whole though, I love his itineraries. Most people traveling to Europe have limited time (1 month or less). There's only so much you can see; why not have someone boil it down and provide a straight forward opinion as to what to see and do? In his books there is easily enough to keep you busy for two months. The real question is whether you are the type of traveler that would like Rick's suggestions. Here is a test. If you can answer "yes" to most of these questions, buy the book, you'll love it. 1)Are you a value seeker? 2)Do you want to venture off the tourist trail? 3)Are you an adventurer? 4)Do you appreciate tidbits on history and art 5)Do you have the stamina to tour a new town/city every 1-3 days? 6)Do you try to avoid tourist traps like the plague? 7)Is your idea of fine lodging simple, homey places in good locations, with moderate prices? I would not suggest this book for people who want to spend their vacation walled up in a luxury hotel, venturing out only to shop and tour the biggest of sights.

2 comments about Pauline Frommer's Paris (Pauline Frommer Guides).

1. I can highly recommend this book for all visitors to Paris. I travel frequently and recently went to Paris with a friend who has never been to France before. We both found the book to be very useful and full of helpful hints. I especially appreciate the way the restaurant section is organized and I also enjoyed the author's personal opinions about her favorite (and/or least favorite) places and activities.



2. I was lucky enough to go to Paris three times, each time carrying Pauline Frommer's Paris book with me everywhere. Twice I went for less than two days and the third time for five days. The layout of the book is great. She has it broken down by the arrondissements (or districts). In each arrondissement there are recommended places to stay and eat. She is not shy about her recommendations and you get the feeling she actually knows the owners and employees at each establishment. Paris is a huge city and with this book I felt that I had some little connections to the people when I went to the recommended establishments. I went on two of the walks recommended in the walkabout section and each walk I stopped at the recommended cafes and they were wonderfully Parisian, not cafes catering to American tourists but thankfully still spoke English. There is a chapter on Paris' 10 iconic sites but also easy itineraries for one, two, three or 4 + days in Paris, which was very helpful to me since my time was limited. The best recommendation for me was to stop by Quai St.Bernard on a summer evening to watch people dance along the Seine doing the tango, something I would have walked right past if it was not for the book. All of the advice given was worth the $16.99, I have some wonderful memories of Paris and can't wait to go back. I would highly recommend purchasing this book if you are going to Paris. I felt I was given advice from a friend to all of the great spots to see while visiting her city.

No comments about StyleCity Paris, Third Edition (Style City).

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 Frommer's Irreverent Guide to Paris (Irreverent Guides).

1 comments about Going to Live in Paris..

1. Although I am only moving to Paris in my dreams, this book has a lot of information that will help me understand Paris during my visits. If I were really moving there, I wouldn't do it without this book; the information is that important.

5 comments about Paris Sketchbook.

1. A "Paris Sketchbook," captures Paris superbly. Walk again down the streets of Paris, sit in a cafe, or in a paris garden, or wonder at the Paris buildings and architecture. It is all there and captured beautifully by Mary Kelly's precise and spiritual prose, with Graham's Byfield's water colors of Paris. The pictures and prose combine to be more like a musical piece, one reads then "hums" like a tune from time to time. If one is looking for that special gift or souvenir of Paris, this is it. Enjoy Paris again and again, or tanalize the traveler who is planning a Paris visit.



2. A "Paris Sketchbook," captures Paris superbly. Walk again down the streets of Paris, sit in a cafe, or in a paris garden, or wonder again at Paris buildings and architecture. It is all there and captured beautifully my Mary Kelly's precise and spiritual prose, with Fabrice Moireau's water colors of Paris. The pictures and prose combine to be more like a musical piece, one reads and then "hums" like a tune from time to time. If one is looking for that special gift or souvenir of Paris, this is it. Enjoy Paris again and again, or tanalize those who plan a visit to Paris.



3. A grand book for travelers to Paris or those already in love with the "City of Lights"!



4. ... then you'll love this one. For the sketches of the Parisian scenes are wonderfully well-drawn. Sometimes you'll be amazed to find out the "spots" that you didn't pay much attention on while you were there. Also, It captured all different moods..... and you feel like you are visiting Paris AGAIN!



5. Fabrice Moireau's watercolors and sketches bring the City of Light to life, and vividly captures the atmospheric city with its teeming cafe life, historic buildings, and new constructions. The book is divided into several segments covering the historic center, Northern Paris, Eastern Paris, Southern Paris, Western Paris, and the Gazetteer provides additional information of some of the prominent buildings featured. Moireau's paintings and sketches are accompanied by Mary Kelly's impressions of Paris, and both perspectives provide a wonderfully warm portrait of the City of Light.

2 comments about Paris Discovered: Explorations in the City of Light.

1. I am not much of a writer so I will keep this review brief. All I can add is that anyone looking for a deeper insight into the City of Light should really consider this book. It is full of interesting stories and walks that will fascinate anyone with a sense of adventure and an interest in the diverse history of this wonderful city.



2. This book is clearly intended for the niche traveler of the Francophile variety. While most of it's "discoveries" are not truly arcane, they are not generally of the sort you would find in the standard Paris travel guide. For one, such as myself, however, who has been to Paris many times over the years, it did open up totally new vistas, relative to the history of that amazing city. An underground 12th century river-gate located in the basement of a modern day postoffice is hardly something that a first time casual visitor to Paris would bother to go see, but for the historian of the nitty-gritty, it is an adventure well worth knowing about.

5 comments about We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light.

1. The author can't decide whether he wants to write an erotic history or the tale of his own romance. Doing both doesn't work in this book, which has no frame of reference or even a reliable sequence of events.
   
   The other major flaw of the book is ots reliance on the sex lives of the Surrealists- as if Parisian sexual histroy is limited to these odd ducks.
   
   Not particularly inspiring or evocative.



2. John Baxter, an Aussie ex-pat whose tale of moving to Paris and conceiving a child with his French girlfriend is the backdrop for a foray into the attitudes toward sex in Paris, featuring sexual attitudes and locales of the 1920-40's to present. I learned that Georges Simenon, author of the famed Inspector Maigret novels, routinely interviewed his house staff for sexual partners and had an affair with Josephine Baker, the acclaimed black songstress appearing on stage nightly in only a skirt of phallic-symbol bananas. There are mentions of many literary figures and their viewpoints on sex, including Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and more. Not the typical Paris guidebook, but will lead you to places not found in Frommer's.



3. This was a fun read. There are parts that were a bit dry and boring but overall I enjoyed it. I thought it was really interesting how the author weaved in historical events with his actual experiences in the City of Lights.



4. The chapters on sex are much more interesting than the chapters on love. Even so, Baxtrer only traipses into the history of sex by dint of a buddy who keeps the topic alive between them. It's kind of a glancing blow off the topic. The only sex discussed are the eddies related to, and trailing off of specific conversations.
   
   I don't understand why every guy who writes, who has working sex organs, and knocks someone up in Paris, writes about the event as if it were an event I need to know about. I really don't need to know where his daughter was conceived; and functioning sex organs are not as exceptional as they seem to the owner. Look around.
   
   This is, apparently, another hazard of living in France; writing about your succesful reproduction as it it were of interest to others. He might have saved said daughter the humiliation of the event's inscription.
   
   See also Adam Gopnik "Paris to the Moon" which is overall a more successful book.



5. When it comes to the subject of Paris there are some travel writers (myself included) who play in the shallow end while a talented, rare few take us into better depth. Baxter is one of those rare few. This isn't a travel book as much as it is a wonderful, highly enjoyable book that offers some sound and sense to a city that tugs at our imaginations. After reading it I added it to my reference bookshelf...okay, okay...maybe to steal some of his style too.
   Buy the book and buy one for anyone you know who's going to Paris.

1 comments about Paris by Metro: An Underground History.

1. Delaney's Paris By Metro is nothing short of an etymological delight! The book has a brief description of EVERY Paris Metro station and although it checks in at only about 70 pages it is loaded with information.
   
   I've been to Paris several times and using the Metro is always one of my favorite experiences. I've caught myself on more than one occasion wondering from where these strange and foreign names for the stations were derived. Chemin Vert, Oberkampf, Varenne, and a host of others were just as mysterious when leaving Paris as they were when I arrived. But with this book all the mysteries have been solved!
   
   There is no "Look Inside" feature as of yet for this publication so I'll give you a few of the details of the layout of the book.
   
   It's very portable, nice looking, and weighs next to nothing. A traveller could probably fit it into a back pocket, but I think it's more suitable for a backpack or a purse. The first several pages deal with some of the particulars of using the Metro. You'll find a clear 2 page color map of the entire Metro, a brief explanation of how to use the system, a brief description of the different types of trains, lists of places to visit and shop that are easily accessible by the Metro, and a method for understanding the different terms used in France for various types of roads, streets, squares, and plazas.
   
   The heart of the book begins on about page 7 with a chapter devoted to Line 1, followed by 13 additional chapters, averaging about 5 pages each which ultimately cover all 14 Lines of the Paris Metro. The entries are very concise, and I'll give two examples here using the aforementioned stations:
   
   On page 49:
   
   Line 8
   Chemin Vert
   The name (green path) derives from the fact that the street in question passed through the market gardens in existence a few centuries ago.
   
   On page 32:
   
   Line 5
   Oberkampf
   Born in Bavaria in 1738, Christophe Philippe Oberkampf was one of France's leading linen printers and was an important figure in the cotton industry.
   
   As you can see, the entries are very matter of fact and although some are a bit longer than these examples most are very short and to the point like the ones above.
   
   This book may not be for everyone, but anybody who loves the Paris Metro and is intrigued by the names they see on the system map will surely enjoy reading this book. It's also the kind of book that drops names for further research. It's a great gift idea for a Francophile or somebody who is planning a trip to Paris. Maybe you should just get it for yourself, you know, something to have around your home when you're longing for the most magical city in the world.