No comments about Paris InsideOut (Insideout City Guide: Paris).

3 comments about Study Abroad Paris: Your Complete Guide to an Amazing Study Abroad Experience.

1. This is a very useful guidebook and a unique idea for study abroad students. The book is basically divided into three sections: preparing for your trip, living in Paris, traveling Europe and France.
   
   For me the biggest strength is the middle section "once in Paris." It covers basics as you would expect like housing, shopping, taking classes or working, safety, transportation, attractions, places to eat, clubs, tours, etc. However what impressed me was it also covers more specific things like finding a gym, student organizations, grocery stores, cell phones, renting a bicycle, calling home... I would definitely recommend having a copy if you are heading or plan to head to Paris.



2. Written by French native Audrey Queyreyre and university Peer Advisor John Chrisman, both of whom have extensive personal experience studying abroad, Study Abroad Paris an in-depth, everything-you-need-to-know guide to getting the most out of studying abroad in France's most famous city. From financial and insurance issues, to which Parisian news and media sources are available in English, to shopping tips, safety advice (including which public transportation lines and city areas are more prone to crime than others), housing recommendations and much more. An absolute "must-have" for anyone seriously contemplating or undertaking the life-transforming experience of studying abroad in Paris, and a valuable resource for Paris tourists of any season.



3. I wanted to give it 4.25 stars. I mean, if you go by the French education system the book would be unable to get a five, because perfection is impossible. It's a pretty good book. It's helpful as a reference for getting to know Paris, especially in the nerve-wracking time upon arrival. It's better than a tourist guide in the sense that it tell you how to live in Paris, rather than what is pretty.

2 comments about Insiders' Guide to San Antonio, 3rd (Insiders' Guide Series).

1. We bought this book for a trip we took to San Antonio last week. It's adequate at best. In no way should the prospective buyer be deceived into believing this is an "Insiders' Guide" in any meaningful way. Key restaurants favored by many locals we met were not even mentioned in the book and it's clear the authors hadn't even visited sites the book incorrectly describes; e.g. imagine my surprise after taking a taxi to the Japanese Tea Gardens to find that, despite the lovely description of it in the book, it had been completely drained of all the water it once surrounded (and that its many paths and bridges navigate around and over) for many, many years!



2. This is a very good guide to San Antonio, the author at least seems to know the city. The guide focuses on the things that make this city so special. The guide is easy to navigate, well thoughtout and thorough. San Antonio is one of the unique American cities, along with San Francisco, New Orleans, and New York City. I love this city, it is so layed back and friendly, it exudes that hill country charm. It's a big city, that does not feel like one. The German, Hispanic, and Anglo cultures melt together here and form a uniquely american city. This is a very good guide to one of America's urban treasures.

2 comments about Paris.

1. I bought this book many years ago, before my first visit to Paris. It was both more than I anticipated and less than I expected. By this I mean that it was a very impractical book to use, by itself, as a guide to Paris, but was a wonderful book to use to learn about the Paris of the Parisians and the Parisians, themselves. Strange, you may say, but by reading PARIS, one comes to the realization that the Parisian has a relationship with his city that is unlike any other.

   As one example of this, Russell talks of the fact that Parisians are not particularly impressed by their famous authors, artists, statesmen, etc. To wit: When a great man dies, Parisians give themselves over to grief that seems almost inconsolable, but on the way home from the miles long funeral procession, "they remind themselves that for every great Parisian who lies in a vault there is another great Parisian ....."

   Russell says that Paris is a city of impulse, a city in which to act on impulse is one of the secrets of happiness. This, to me, is why the typical three day whirlwind tour of Paris is so unsatisfactory. My first visit to Paris was on just such a tour (my last one, by the way) and I left feeling that I'd really missed something. Following Russell's excellent advice, I came back a few years later and spent a month taking life on a day by day basis. This visit was much more fulfilling and I have PARIS to thank for helping me understand the importance of taking time out from sightseeing to absorb a little of the ambience that is the true Paris.

   This book is much more than an occasional bit of advice to the would be tourist. It is a history. It is a discussion of the art and architecture of Paris. It is a discussion of key areas within the city and of the Ile de France surrounding the city. It is also a discussion of the Parisian of today and yesterday and what makes him unique. To boot, it contains countless photographs and art reproductions going back hundreds of years. There is a wonderful discussion of the old railroad station hotels with detailed descriptions of several of them. I have a feeling that "progress" has wiped out most of them.

   No book on Paris would be complete without a discussion of the Metro. PARIS gives the history of this transportation backbone of Paris from its beginnings to the present. It's nice to know that you're never more than about 5 minutes from a Metro station and never more than about 45 minutes, by Metro, from anywhere in Paris. My wife and I purchased Carte Orange's (Orange Cards - 30 day Metro Passes) for about $42.00 American each, and had our month's transportation needs provided for. The Metro and good walking shoes, that's all one needs in Paris.

   I can't imagine anyone reading this book and not wanting to visit Paris. I know that if I hadn't been there I'd want to go after reading it. As it is, rereading sections of this book, in preparation for this review, has made me want to do just that. Je suis pret.




2. I've taken this book with me twice to Paris, in spite of its weight (three-and-a-half pounds) and the fact that it's not really a guidebook. It is an elegant, erudite tour of the City of Light, through its streets and through its history.

   I first read "Paris" in a small garret under the eaves of a grand Parisian hotel. It had been one of the hottest days on record and my room had no air-conditioning. Nor does Paris shut down for the night. However, I had an imposing view of a street, lined with facades of a "huge blank pompous featureless sameness" that was deplored by Henry James. And I had this book, which turned that airless Parisian night into magic. Its author has a knack for spotting the most telling detail--from the "heavy, gun-metaled print of a mid-nineteenth-century thumb" where he starts his tour in the Louvre, to the very borders of Ile de France where he ultimately bids his readers farewell under the "immensities of the upper air" that were a painter's dream. "Light, then, first: and air."

   In many aspects of their lives, John Russell finds Parisians to be "a secretive, devious, ungiving people." Buildings are there to hide things, not expose them to every passing tourist. However, this book puts all of the charming (and not so charming) details of interior life on view. There are the velvet-lined elevators of the original Galeries Lafayette, whose builder's passion "was to conquer the female race"--in the shopping sense of 'conquer.' There are Anglophile pubs, and expensive 'bars-à-filles,' where "the lights glow rose-to-amber, the windows are curtained with carpet, ...a sad bargain can be driven at any hour of the day, and the atmosphere is inexpugnably 'triste'."

   One of my favorite descriptions is of Balzac's house on the street that now bears his name. Like so many other Parisians, the nineteenth-century author succumbed to the contagion of High Victorian style. Hardly a surface in the house was left unsculpted or unencrusted with bronze, tortoiseshell, and buttercup damask. The bathroom was built of yellow stone and covered with bas-reliefs in stucco. Once shut inside Balzac's library, a stranger might never find her way out again, because even the door was lined with bookshelves.

   The author is equally at home in every Parisian milieu, from palace to 'bar-à-fille.' As Rosamond Bernier says in her introduction to this book, "No one else could combine the feel and the look, the heart and the mind, the stones and the trees, the past and the present, the wits, the eccentrics, and the geniuses of my favorite city with such easy grace."

   "Paris" is adorned with 310 illustrations (many of them charming old photographs), including 85 colored plates, all personally chosen by John Russell.

   If a trip to Paris is even the merest glimmer on your event horizon, read this book. You can lug it to Paris like I did, or snuggle up to it in the comfort of your own room. And dream.

No comments about AUTHENTIK / Artistik Paris (Authentik).

No comments about Paris, Restaurants & More.

4 comments about Moon Metro Paris (Moon Metro).

1. After having wonderful luck with the New York Moon Metro last year, we bough the Paris guide for our trip this year. These guides do a fabulous job of breaking down the city by neighborhoods and providing detailed street and metro maps. MM also gives astute historical summaries of these neighborhoods, so you know what to look for and what to expect. The books are small and fit in purses and jackets and have excellent recomendations for shops, restaurants and sights off the beaten tourist tracks. I have already purchased the Barcelona and Amsterdam guides and I haven't even planned trips there yet! I know they will be an invaluable reference when the time comes. I highly recommend Moon Metro.



2. Bigger letters than our regular fold out map which really helped on my night ventures but too few neighborhoods with too much overlap. Seems like the maps should cover everything intramuros.



3. I friggin' LOVE this little book! I used the maps constantly while in Paris, and I plan to take it back there one day. For now, I need to pick up one for Barcelona!



4. this handy guide is also great (see streetwise maps for maps). Be sure to review them before you leave to be sure they cover the area you will be in because they are mostly "on the beaten path" items. I suggest also doing research on Frommers.com to be sure you dont miss something not covered in these books. These books are compact and easy to carry while traveling in city. Did not use for the resturaunts that is something that you need to find by exploring or research blogs but these hit the major sites in easy to read categories with simple maps. I would buy these for all my city travels.

No comments about Cool Hotels Paris (Cool Hotels).

5 comments about Cadogan Guides Paris (Cadogan Guides).

1. If you want a travel book with lots of tips, a great deal of history, and -- most of all -- loads of humor and wit, these are the authors for you. This is third travel book by Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls I have read. Each is a gem -- worth reading cover to cover -- and that is very rare in travel books. I always search them out for my trips -- once to Sicily and another to southern France. Now I am planning to go to Paris this fall, so I was really pleased to find this guide to Paris. The core of the book is walking tours of the city, and each page is packed with opinionated history and unabashed commentary. The French, no doubt, would be shocked, but I love it. I highly recommend any book by these two. The three I have read -- Sicily, Southern France and Paris (2nd ed.) -- are first-rate literature. They are also "guide books" -- and that makes them rare gems, indeed.



2. We took four guidebooks over to Paris for our trip (my third, her first). It ended up being the only guidebook we used. The city walks made exploring the city a breeze.

   Be prepared. This book definitely has a British persepctive, is very opinionated, and has very few pictures. But, it gave a great sense of persepctive and made it much easier to get context when we were there.

   Without a doubt, this is a great book to use if you will have the time to explore the city. We have already purchased several more in the line for our honeymoon,




3. The walking tours in this book are incredible. Fun, interesting, perfect directions (even for those of us who are directionally challenged!). The history, art, architecture sections are also well worth reading and opinionated just enough to make them truly interesting and unique. I plan on buying as many other travel books by this couple as I can find.



4. Opinionated, controversial, occasionally intolerant, sometimes jarringly critical, but always possessing at heart a deep affection for the city, this guide will point your gaze towards places people, places and events that may well be unknown to the majority of born and bred Parisians.

   It is deeply learned, but never stuffy, memorably describing the decor of one church and "cold potatoes", the descriptions on the walks ensure that once you arrive at a given site, you are aware of its historical and architectural context.

   Previous reviewers have referred to the guided walks in the book, and these are indeed its jewel. It will absolutely make so much more of your time in Paris than you could have believed possible if you make the effort to follow as many of them as you can. They are not arduous treks, they can be leisurely strolls and the book makes sure that you know the very best places to stop an eat (or drink) on the way.

   Buy the book, read the history (also humourous, but quite bloody) on the way, use it whilst there, and relive your Parisian peregrinations on the way back by rereading the walks you had a chance to follow.

   You will want to go back




5. This guide, like others in the Cadogan's range is chock full of information, and not photos. If you are looking for maps (other than a Metro and RER railway map inside the back cover and the walking maps) and colour pictures you are advised to look elsewhere.

   After opening chapters looking at `Paris in a Weekend' ,practicalities, history, art and architecture and several short pieces on topics such as dog poo and modernism (well worth reading - very entertaining, but make sure your spectacles prescription is up to date - the print in this section is very small!), the guide really gets into its strength.

   The bulk of the book is built around 11 different walks, in 11 different neighbourhoods. All are thoroughly described with an accompanying easy-to-follow black and white map. Each walk has an indication of how long it will take (excluding museum visits), suggestions for restaurants and cafes on the route and comprehensive information on the sites.

   This makes the book perfect for a visitor spending an extended time in Paris, who wants to discover the city the best way possible, or for the repeat visitor who has the good fortune to be able to return to Paris time and again.

   After the Walks, the museums of Paris are listed and cross-referenced to where they occur in the Walks text. The Louvre and Musee d'Orsay are described at length. A section then follows on peripheral attractions - lying further afield than central Paris. There are listings for restaurants, accommodation and nightlife venues.

   The writing in Cadogans tends towards the opinionated, witty, slightly ironic (but not smart-alec) and drily understated British style. It appeals to me in the same way as Rough Guides do.

   This is not a book for the first-time short-term visitor intending to see the "Top Five" and then move on. There are plenty of other guides catering to that market, and fulfilling their brief admirably (try Rick Steves, Let's Go, Frommer, Lonely Planet for example). But if you want a book with some substance and detail which will be just as rewarding a read back at your hotel as accompanying you on your on-foot rambles around this beautiful city, then I can't recommend it highly enough.

3 comments about Walks In Hemingway's Paris: A Guide To Paris For The Literary Traveler.

1. After two important introductory chapters, the seven walks take the reader or tourist to every Hemingway (and Fitzgerald) site in Paris. These walks were tried/previewed by many classes of students at the American University of Paris. Although a few details date the book, it holds up today! The walks, by the way, include wonderful quotations from many of Hemingway's novels, short stories, and his memoir of Paris. Buy the book and come to Paris!!



2. Hemingway fans will adore this book, but for anyone interested in literary and artistic Paris, this exceptional guidebook will also lead you to the haunts of such luminaries as James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, e. e. cummings, Sylvia Beach, Gertrude Stein and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Author Fitch includes a helpful introduction to Paris, followed by an insightful introduction to Hemingway's Paris. Seven self-guided tours contain detailed commentaries for each stop along the route. The best of the itineraries take you along the Seine, through the Latin Quarter and around the Luxemburg gardens, which are the most pleasant places to walk in Paris anyway. Even though it's easy to get lost in the maze of short and angled streets of Paris, clear, good-sized maps throughout the book keep you oriented. Nearly fifty black-and-white photographs, many of them historic, evoke the ambience of Paris in the 1920s. Photos include Sylvia Beach in her Shakespeare and Company bookstore; Scott, Zelda and Scottie Fitzgerald celebrating Christmas in their apartment on rue de Tilsitt; a wicked cartoon of James Joyce drawn by Fitzgerald in 1928; and, of course, Hemingway. A detailed index helps you find information about places and people.

   After loosely following Tour Two through the Saint Germain neighborhood, my daughter Anne and I had morning coffee and pastries at the Cafe de Flore, Anne scribbling away in her journal. When I teasingly asked the waiter how Hemingway, and later the Existentialist writers who haunted the Cafe de Flore in the 40s and 50s, managed to get any writing done on the tiny, round tables barely large enough to hold a plate, he teased me back by pushing two of the tables together so I had plenty of room to pen my immortal postcards. But unless money is no object, it's too expensive to order much more than coffee at the famous Left Bank hangouts of Hemingway and his expatriate cohorts. On Rue de Buci and Rue de Abbaye in the Saint Germain neighborhood, close to Hemingway's Cafe de Flore and Les Deux Magots, you'll find less expensive, less pretentious cafes where you can order a great bowl of French onion soup.




3. I took this book to Paris and went to every single place mentioned. It was easy to use and fun to read and made me love Paris (and Hemingway) even more.