5 comments about A Corner in the Marais: Memoir of a Paris Neighborhood.

1. This book reminded me of William Murray's City of Soul, about Rome. Karmel is obviously in love with his Paris and it is infectious.

   The narrative about Karmel's first trip to Paris, then how he moved to Paris and bought an apartment in the Marais was intriguing, although his detours into the history of the neighborhood were less interesting. I found I wanted to know more about Karmel and his wife than about who had lived in his street two hundred years ago.

   And the photographs! There are some marvelous black and white Atget photos in this book and although there really isn't much going on in them, these studies of shadow and light are worth the price of the book alone.




2. man this book gets boring at times. it's more the history of the neighborhood and medieval and renaissance parisian life as it took place around the author's apartment building. Maybe the other books I've read about Paris are overly sentimental, but this book does little to invoke the romance of the city of lights.

   for instance: there is an entire chapter devoted to a legal wrangle which took place over the non-payment of taxes on the home, in which various people bickered over the ownership in the 17th century. this should have been at most a paragraph.

   there are some fascinating descriptions of period toilets,17th century french bathing habits, and 13th century house construction. the length of space devoted to meaningless crap is stunning.

   some bits of it are interesting. i love the marais, and thought it would give a sense of the personality of the area, particularly as the cover makes it seem like quite a warm book. it isn't. but if you want to know about feudal french land taxes and Cardinal Richeliu's preferred urinal (the fireplace), then this book is for you.




3. This is a great book to read while in Paris. With the book in hand, we easily found many points mentioned in it (and it answered some questions we had had while walking around the Marais on our own). It's very much a "labor of love" by someone who became intrigued by a small slice of history that, coincidentally, sheds some light on the broader picture over a long period. Anyone who enjoys history will envy the author's dig through old documents and records searching for even tangential mentions of his building, and the people associated with it. (Also recommended, for entirely other reasons: "Paris to the Moon," by Adam Gopnik.)



4. I loved this book, especially as I was staying a few doors down from his apartment in a hotel and it made my visit enhanced by his descriptions and thoughts.



5. I can't believe I actually skimmed through a particular chapter, I never, ever do that. It tried to bore me to tears with a tedious description of a wrangle over the ownership of an apartment 200 years ago!!! I love this area of Paris, and was hoping that the historical content of this book would leave me delighted... sadly not.
   There are some interesting descriptions of life at the time, however the book tends to only touch on the interesting bits and rave about the mundane. I kept hoping it would improve as I pressed on... unfortunately, it didn't.

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

2 comments about Frommer's Paris from $95 a Day (Frommer's $ A Day).

1. Frommer's helped me to see so much of what I was hoping to see. With the planning that I was able to do with the guidebook, I experienced everything that I imagined the country could be and more. The detailed descriptions within the book helped me to pick out the venues that I knew I had to visit. And they were so beautiful....



2. i recently returned from my first trip to paris. in preparation, i reviewed multiple guidebooks and took with me two. the four i considered most promising were let's go paris, rough guide paris, frommers paris from $90 and fodors paris.

   of these, after the trip, i must say that let's go paris was the most helpful with copious useful maps and tips, in addition to accurate and abundant recommendations on housing, dining and entertainment. frommers was the second most useful in planning and understanding the city.

   although i thought that the rough guide would be beneficial, the maps were limited in detail and annotation. also, dining etc was not listed by arrondissements which made searching very difficult.

   fodors was nice, but not particularly useful for the moderate income traveler compared to the others. frommers paris i briefly reviewed but found much less useful than this frommers guide.

No comments about Art/Shop/Eat Paris.

5 comments about Paris Made Easy: The Best Walks and Sights of Paris (Open Road Travel Guides).

1. Although this book is out of print, the walks found in Paris Made Easy have been expanded and you can find them in "Open Road's Best of Paris" by Andy Herbach. It's available on amazon. "Open Road's Best of Paris" gives readers a small number of great choices and itineraries for one-day, weekend, one-week and two-week trips to Paris and environs. Readers will find a variety of plans grouped around three categories: Museums, Art and Architecture; Eating, drinking, shopping and relaxing; and Offbeat and off-the-beaten path. "Best of Paris" offers unique ideas such as "A Day at a Cooking School and Wine Tasting" and a "Da Vinci Code" walking tour!



2. I picked up Paris Made Easy just before a return trip to the City of Light, and I wish I'd had it the first time around! The title says it all: the content of this book, the way it's organized, and even its size made it the one guide I used day in and day out.
   
   Do yourself a favor and leave the heavy guidebooks with the glossy pictures at home. (You're going to be seeing all those sights in person, anyway, right?) Paris Made Easy has great info on restaurants, museums, shopping, walks -- and not only the famous sights, but also some obscure yet really fun destinations that you might never discover otherwise. Good maps, too. Because it's all organized by neighborhood (arrondissement) in a compact format, I could just drop the guide in my purse, start wandering, and pull it out to find a place to eat or an interesting sight to see wherever I happened to end up. That freedom to explore made me feel much more like an insider and much less like a tourist.
   
   The author's writing style is another plus: conversational, down-to-earth, and funny, but also very clear. (For example, I decided on the spur of the moment to venture outside Paris to visit Versailles, and a quick look at Paris Made Easy gave me such good instructions that I didn't even need to ask questions at the train station. In fact, I must have looked pretty confident, because people were asking me for directions!)
   
   Check out the price of this book, too. With all the information you get, it's a real bargain. I can't recommend it enough!



3. This pocket size guide really does make a trip tp Paris easy. The details by Arrondissement(district/neighborhoods)are very useful. The restaurant/Bistro tips were uniformly solid. The walks were easy to navigate and enriched strolling through Paris.The most useful guide to Paris I have seen.
   A minor gripe: a sugested list of French phrases for the non-French speaker could use a phonetic guide.



4. Its ok...I didn't really use it b/c I did a lot of sightseeing and this doesnt include all of them. Its nice for ppl who are in paris for 3 days and wanna see the basic things. Perfect size.



5. I prefer guidebooks that aren't just mammoth listings of everything (hotels, restaurants, sights). This compact book hits the target with its highlights and its walking tours.
   You get directions, maps and commentary. Boxed notes give relevance to much that you would unknowingly pass by. Boxed in sage green are SHOPPING TIPS and ENTERTAINMENT TIPS while RESTAURANT TIPS are boxed in dark green. This covers the sights on the Island and the 20 Arrondissements plus some further afield (Versailles, Disneyland Paris, etc.).
   The second part of the book details walks to take. Try the Islands walk, the Left Bank walk, the Marais walk, the major sights walk, the Montmartre walk, or some culinary walks. Sage green boxes highlight DETOURS to catch a special sight.
   I wish I'd had this on my first visit to Paris which I found quite expensive and a little overwhelming.

5 comments about The Great Paris WalkPack.

1. I took four of the five tours in one weekend a few weeks ago and am looking forward to taking the fifth on my next visit. The directions are explicit and easy to follow, and the tours take you through paths you would not otherwise notice or uncover. I definitely got much more than I expected for $15.95!



2. At $15.95, this is an outrageous rip-off! The impressive-looking cover image looks like a book, but it only an envelope which contains five LEAFLETS! They look like the attraction-folders one sees around to be picked up for free. While the maps are clear, the points of interest listed are described in a few words or short sentences. You'll get abundantly more information with a book of guided walks. Don't get suckered in to this excessive price.



3. What a terrific way to learn about Paris -- by walking through its fascinating neighborhoods with an easy-to-carry, fold-out guide to what you are seeing, hearing, inhaling, and otherwise experiencing. The nice thing is that there is a separate guide for each of the five walks, so you aren't burdened by a heavy guide book. These walks are written by people who clearly love the city and know it well, and when I finished the walks, I felt that I had had a real insider's look at things. The text is lively and clear provides cultural anecdotes and interesting background information along with photos and facts. I can't imagine a more effective way to feel connected to a city. I only had time for two of the walks on my too-short visit to Paris and can't wait to get back and do the other three.



4. There aren't enough good things to say about The Great Paris Walkpack. We've done 4 of the 5 walks over the course of several trips to Paris. By using these pamphlets, we have transformed our experience from wandering aimlessly to making incredible discoveries at each turn. In the description of their Walkpack, the authors tell you that they've designed their pamphlets as the next best thing to being able to walk alongside you. There is no better description of what you will experience with these walks. The Howards are great company, leading you with absolute precision, making sure that you take in all the sights and sounds along each route without missing any of the details. They make sure you are fully immersed each step of the way. These pamphlets are a must have for anyone who wants to truly experience the beauty and depth of this incredible city.



5. Our family loved these tours! We had originally planned to do 2 or 3 of them but ended up doing them all because it became very clear that there is no better way to see this city. They are so simple and easy to follow that we let each of our kids play Tour Guide For A Day. And we loved the convenience of bringing only the foldout for that day's tour instead of lugging around heavy guidebooks. Worth every penny!

No comments about Time Out Paris Walks 1 (Time Out Book Of...).

2 comments about Paris Walks, 2nd Edition (On Foot Guides).

1. Paris is a perfect city to explore by foot and by public transportation. Using three-dimensional maps and color photographs, this basic guide offers fourteen detailed walks through some of the city's most interesting neighborhoods including Montmartre, the Latin Quarter, St. Germain des Pres, Ile St-Louis and Ile de la Cite, and the Grands Boulevards in the Opera district, with helpful information on where to catch the Metro (Paris's subway), a bus, or a taxi, and reliable recommendations for places to stop and shop, eat, drink, and sightsee along the way. Having completed many of the guided walks included in this guide during a recent visit to Paris, I can highly recommend this book for the first-time visitor to Paris not interested in wandering too far off the beaten path.
   
   
   G. Merritt



2. I bought this guide the day before I left for Paris, mainly due to the crisp bird's-eye illustrations of the different walking routes. I rented a bike and was able to do 7 of the walks. However, I don't recommend doing some of the walks like the Ile de Cite one on a bike due to one-way streets. I was particularly impressed with the Left Bank Impressions walk with nice boutiques, galleries and outdoor snack stands along the way. The Latin Quarter walk, the Marais walk and the Island Hopping walks were similarly impressive. Every street corner was worthy of a picture. The authors definitely researched these walks thoroughly and I highly recommend this guide to first-time and returning visitors to Paris to get their bearings on this marvelous city.

2 comments about National Geographic Traveler: Paris, 2d Ed. (National Geographic Traveler).

1. An excellent book for pre trip planning or leaving in the hotel room to check out the next days sights or review what was seen that day. Great photos, good detailed explanations of major sights. Unlike a Knopf book there is not a lot of pages dedicated to history or architecture or plants and animals. For the major sights like the Louvre the book will walk you through (11 pages devoted to the Louvre). Not strong on shopping or nightlife or less well known sights, the maps to the front of each geographic section are an overview but not great for street by street navigating.
   An excellent book, good reading, great photos, not the book to take into the streets, but a definite book to have if you are going. Also great for an armchair traveller.



2. I thought this was a very useful guide to start with. It covers everything from history and culture to how to get around Paris and of course what to do and see as well as where to eat, etc. The pictures are absolutely lovely, and the Paris metro guide in the back comes in handy. The maps could be more detailed, though. For those who can manage French, I would suggest buying an actual guide in French like Le Guide du Routard. No pictures there, but a lot more information.

1 comments about Picasso's Paris: Walking Tours of the Artist's Life in the City.

1. This book contains many Picasso photographs at various stages of his life in Paris (before he moved to Vallauris). Did you know this revolutionary artist spent a great part of his life in a very "typical" flat of the most "bourgeois" district of Paris (8th arrondissement)? Paintings are displayed both along a geographical and a chronological perspective which is a refreshing and appropriate approach for such a book. This guide is practical, full of facts. You will like it.