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Review Summary: A fabulous complement to "Top 10 Paris"! |
Date: 2008-12-25 |
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Details: Great organization, eye-catching photography, well written narrative and superb cartography! DK Eyewitness Travel guides have got it all but, for me, it's the photography that really separates them from the competition. And "Paris" covers it all - restaurants, music, beer bars, walks, art galleries, museums, spas, architecture, palaces, hotels, cafés, theatres and churches. And all of the information is organized by neighbourhood in the city so I can make the most effective use of my time once I'm in a certain area.
Here's my "best practices" strategy. Read "Top 10 Paris" first. Make some basic choices, get your mind wrapped around Paris geography and begin to localize your choices to certain areas. Fine tune your choice and plan your attack day by day by reading "Paris". Familiarize yourself with some of the local customs by reading the basic country information in the back of the larger "Paris" guide - currency, communications, etiquette, food, beer and wine, local transportation and specialized hints like local tipping practices.
Why not five stars? Frankly, with the internet now providing so much current information, I can't see the value in attempting to include lengthy (and probably outdated) lists of hotels and restaurants in densely packed small print index lists at the back of a book like this.
As a pre-planner, "Paris" proved itself to be invaluable. My limited time was well spent and I felt comfortable filling my day with a thoroughly enjoyable selection of attractions that were well matched to my personal tastes and those of my traveling companion. There was not even a single instance where we felt we were misled by the guide into choosing an event, a food, a pub, a hotel, a church, an attraction, a park or a café that was not to our liking. And it was the ideal size to be easily carried around during our travels to keep handy as a pocket reference. High praise, indeed.
Even with the help of such an invaluable, compact and realistic guide, Paris is simply too big, too diverse and too fascinating to tour in a single week. That said (and well you might ask), my personal Top 10 in Paris from the perspective of a first time visitor were as follows:
Panthéon
Musée d'Orsay
Notre-Dame
Arc de Triomphe
Musée Carnavalet
Chateau Versailles
Parc Monceau
The Left Bank
Opéra National de Paris Garnier
Au Trappiste (an outrageously expensive beer bar)
Jardin du Luxembourg
(So sue me ... I can't count and I couldn't hold back choosing one extra favourite destination). The point REALLY is, I had most of these picked out before I ever got to Paris and the descriptions were SO good that my advance choices proved to be quite correct during the reality of the city visit. I don't think I could give higher praise to a tour book than that. Highly recommended for all travelers, real world and armchair alike.
Paul Weiss
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Review Summary: EYEWITNESS TRAVEL PARIS |
Date: 2008-11-12 |
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Details: IF YOU ARE EVER PLANNING A TRIP TO PARIS THEN THIS BOOK IS ALL YOU NEED. THIS BOOK IS YOUR BIBLE. IT GOES INTO GREAT DETAIL EVERY SECTION OF PARIS WHICH CONTAINS A STREET MAP OF THAT SECTION, CHURCHES, MUSEUM AND PLACES OF INTEREST. THE PICTURES THROUGHOUT THIS BOOK IS OUTSTANDING. THERE IS A LARGE SECTION FOR HOTELS AND RESTAURANT, AND SHOPPING IN EACH SECTION OF PARIS. THERE IS A SECTION OF GETTING AROUND PARIS WHETHER BY METRO OR BUSSES WITH A MAP OF ALL THE METRO STOPS. YOU CAN TAKE A PARIS VACATION OR A PARIS EXPERIENCE THROUGH THIS BOOK, IT IS UP TO YOU. SO ENJOY ONE OF THE GREAT CITIES OF THE WORLD PARIS " THE CITY OF LIGHTS" THROUGH THIS BOOK. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED |
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Review Summary: Absolutely Essential |
Date: 2008-09-03 |
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Details: This book is just chock full of fabulous ideas and tips. A great book for people who relate to the visual as well as the written.Paris (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE) |
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Review Summary: Nicely Arranged Guide |
Date: 2008-05-24 |
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Details: Purchased the guide as a replacement for a borrowed guide that got wet while we were in Paris. This one came with a wear/water resistant cover and was very nicely arranged for quickly finding the locations and areas of interest. |
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Review Summary: We LOVED this guidebook. the only disadvantage is that it's a bit heavy. but the coated pages and the fast-read pages made it fa |
Date: 2008-05-18 |
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Details: this is a great simple guidebook for a short trip to paris. it's very easy to absorb, but there are deeper sections if you want to know more. perhaps we had the latest edition but we did get a quick overview of the trendiest spots in paris - perfect if you're travelling with a pack of teenage girls...
the only problem is that it's a bit heavy. i'd have carried even more often if it were lighter. |
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out of 54 Reviews
