Having spent a busy weekend sightseeing, shopping and eating in Lille thanks to this amusing and shrewd guidebook, I have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone else travelling in France and Belgium. The book had all the information we needed for using public transport, getting to know the locals and seeing the sights without ever making us feel like hicks or gawping visitors. We will be in Paris this Easter and have already chosen our hotels and at least two restaurants from the same book. Does this guy write about anywhere else? If he knows other cities like he knows this one, I want to read about it.

Laughter and good food make an excellent combination. This book is full of annecdotes and gossipy tips and snippets, yet it also is as mouthwatering as a recipe book. The author reviews restaurants without resorting to fashionable cosmopolitan cliches. Your mouth waters as he remembers succulent sauces and naughty desserts, you smile as he gossips about the waiters and restaurant owners, you want to linger on the salivating detail of every favourote dish and each evocative evening spent in cellars and dining rooms. Yet, when he talks of history, you are as enchanted by the true human nature of kings and artists that he conveys. I love his casual and very individual approach to sightseeing. He can give equal status to a shop selling haute couture for dogs as an art gallery or monument, and he seems to know where all the good stuff is hidden away from the coach trade. I have queued for hours at the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay in Paris, yet this guy knows of a private house with dozens of Monets on view. And best of all he knows where to find the best meals in town without breaking the bank. This book is hot on the practical side of travelling as well. Following his tips, I found out how to travel first class on Eurostar for less than the price of a second class ticket. My only complaint is that this is not part of a series. I travel all over France and Europe and would love to listen to this author's advice on the rest of the country and the continent.

Don't read this book when you are hungry. the food descriptions will make you drool. I used this guide when friends from London came over for the weekend. Mouth-watering restaurant reviews and spot-on opinions and advice about Paris. Useful, good value and sometimes very funny. The book also has full sets of city maps and subway guides, and give very clear directions with every listing. I reckon it would be a great read on the train or the plane as well.

This is a terrific "off the beaten path" type tour guide. These tours take you to areas that other tourists just pass through on their way to the Eifel Tower and Louvre. With this book you experience the real Paris, not the tourist's Paris.

At the beginning of each tour (allow one per day), find a bench in one of the many small parks and read the introduction to the tour. While you take in the sights, smells and sounds of the area, you'll learn a bit of history to set the stage for the tour. The walks are slow and intend for you to really look at your surroundings as you read about the history, architecture and people. I wish there were guides like this for every city!

I've taken this book to Paris three times. Our local library discarded the book and I was so upset. It's wonderful to use in Paris or to remember my trips. I was so excited to find in newly published. I have already got one, which I passed on to a friend going to Paris, now I'm ordering another.

The Pariswalks audiotape is an immensely entertaining and educational way to wander through Paris neighborhoods. You can, for a change, SEE what the guidebooks are talking about WITHOUT having your nose in the book the whole time. The narration is humorous as well as informative. Because this Pariswalks audiotape is so good,I have given theLondonwalks audiotape on faith for Christmas to someone about to head for London. I will never travel to Europe again without first checking to learn whether an audiotape is available for my destination city.

I highly recommend The Pilgrim's Italy for those to whom travel is an inner as well as an outer adventure, and sustenance for the soul as well as the palate. It complements other guidebooks by providing informative tips for pilgrims that are not readily available in one place - shrine hours, for instance, places to meditate, useful Italian phrases and nearby places of interest. It also pulls one in with fascinating glimpses into the lives of some of the rare individuals who have achieved sainthood, and opens one up to the possibility of the miraculous.

I found this book to be very informative and inspiring. I recommend it to anybody who is planning travel to Italy. The combination of maps, specific shrine information (hours, phone numbers, even websites), and the authors' engaging writing style makes this excellent book truly unique among travel guides.

Collaboratively compiled and written by James and Colleen Heater, The Pilgrim's Italy: A Travel Guide To The Saints is a travel guide geared toward those Christians who want to follow the paths of Christian saints, seek out Christian shrines, and learn more about the lives of these notable and pious men and women while traveling in Italy. Enhanced with a wealth of information, maps, descriptions, and accessibility of holy sites, The Pilgrim's Italy is a first-rate guide to spiritually enriching travel and an invaluable aid in finding lodging in monasteries along the way.

On the 6th of May 1945 men in wheeled vehicles crossed the mosaic floor of the Piazza San Marco in Venice for the very first time in history. They drove around the square seven times in the small, heavily armoured vehicles in which they'd fought their way across North Africa, Italy, and were to travel on to Austria. At the head of this curious band was a man who sported a hook for a hand, and a nom de guerre which was similarly incongruous for a 48 year old Major in the British army. Vladimir Peniakoff, or "Popski" as he became known, was the enigmatic Belgian born son of White Russian emigres, who had until recent years "pursued the ordinary activities of industry" as a discontented sugar refiner in Egypt. Having tutored himself, alone in the Sand Sea but for the navigational instruments of antiquity, he emerged from the wilderness to train the men who accompanied him through the years of turmoil to this long dreamt of moment of victory. "Private Army" is one of the finest military memoirs I have read, and ranks alongside Fitzroy McLean's "Eastern Approaches" and TE Lawrence's "The Mint". This is the authoritative work on Popski's Private Army, but is much more than a Regimental history. This is a superb piece of literature which you will not quickly forget. Read also "With Popski's Private Army" by Ben Owen, a superb companion book to the above.

This book is hard to find but well worth the effort. Peniakoff led a facinating life and this book is a must for anybody interested in World War II special operations.

Vladimir Peniakoff was one of the greatest commandoes to come out of WWII, along with Otto Skorzeny, Claire Chennault, and David Stirling. This very readable account of his exploits in the desert and Italy show the romance of the warmonger, not only of Popski himself but off the PPA as well. The most intriguing parts of the book to me are the parts that show the craft of the warrior, like celestial navigation, trickery Sun Tzu would be proud off, and the romance of forming and leading commandoes. To anyone interested in the very beginings of desert warfare, this is a must read. Tactics formed by Bagnold and Easonsmith are still very relevant today. Plus Popski's adventures with his "Pisspot" give land celestial navigation a face. If you were going to read books about the "Navy Seals" or "Marine Force Recon" ect. read this one, It's very entertaining.

I also spent just 6 days visiting the city. I bought this guide after I arrived in Prague and it remains as one of my most cherished books. Incredibly witty, humorous, well-informed and useful. And so dead-on, it sometimes felt as if I was being teased (i.e. Mr Kadri describes a certain club as prone to "shoulder-brushing encounters"; I get there with my friends, go up to the bar to order and... someone's brushing his arm against mine! Seemed like a joke). Also, it made the most out of Prague's odd history and legends.

It's too bad it hasn't been updated, but even if you travel now to Prague, I'd still recommend it for the descriptions. You can get up-to-date phone numbers in other guides, but what Mr Kadri offers I've never seen.

By the way, who's this guy? I haven't seen any other guides by him.

I read several other travel guides to Prague while planning my trip, but I used this one exclusively when wandering through the city because of its excellent and humorous commentary. Using this guide is like having a chatty, witty, and knowledgable guide who shows you the real Prague, not the tourist Prague. Not only does this guide contain pratical details such as using the transportation system, getting to the city from the airport, weather information, travel advice, places to find helpful info, etc., it contains an accessible and enjoyable overview of the history of Prague, excellent and well planned walks through the city (complete with detailed and witty commentary), restaurant and hotel recommendations, and a few necessary (and not so necessary) phrases in Czech. Also included is a chapter on moving to Prague as nearly everyone who goes there ends up wanting to live there. Unfortunately, due to new immigration laws the process of obtaining a residential visa is a long and exasperating process.

The walks (maps and directions included) themselves are wonderful as they lead you through different sections of the city at a pace that allows you to really enjoy and deeply experience many aspects of this complex city.

The only drawback to this otherwise excellent guide is that it sorely needs an update or a new edition. Many of the phone numbers are wrong as the phone system undergoes frequent changes. Several of the businesses have closed or moved elsewhere. Other then that, this city guide stands above those that are ladened with only facts and impersonal descriptions.

This is one of the best city guide books I have ever used. Particularly good is the very detailed and enjoyable walks which bring the city alive, and the quirky history and cultural sections. Prague has such a strange and bohemian history it takes an unusual and observant writer to capture it in the written word. This book does it. Also worth noting is the Prague day trips. Visit all the towns the author mentions, they are fantastic.

I first read this book as a history graduate student many years ago, and it still remains one of my favorite books of all time. Thomas set himself a daunting task--ascertaining the effect the change in religion from Catholicism with its beliefs in miracles, saints, transubstantiation to Protestantism with its adversion to miraculous beliefs had on the popular imagination.

Thomas tapped little used sources, the Church court records which included trials for witchcraft or magic to see if he could trace a decline in belief in magic. Thomas concluded that magical belief did decline from the 15th-17th centuries. In my opinion, he proved his case.

Anyone who has done historical research will stand in awe of Thomas' command of sources and his ability to synthesize. Anyone who is more than a little fed up with ahistorical screeds on witchcraft prosecutions a la Margaret Murray, will applaud Thomas's reasoned and credible explaination of the reasons behind witchcraft prosecutions. Basically, witchcraft prosecution in 16th century England filled the same function as it does in contemporary Africa--an attempt to control the uncontrollable.

Keith Thomas's Religion and the Decline of Magic was the first of my books for summer reading, and I doubt that any novel that I choose will be half as entertaining or any text as informative. By the conclusion I felt that I was completing an odessey throughout the early modern era with a sympathy and understanding of a world far different then ours in some respects, yet, as Thomas succinctly points out in the conclusion, profoundly similar. No other history book has granted me a deeper sense of understanding about human drives for stability and for explaination in all things. This is a book that grants insight and understanding far beyond its proclaimed subject matter, with positive and sweeping consequences for the objective thinker.

This book covered most every aspect of religion and the Reformation. Beginning with the wonderful opening chapter that explains the environment of the current era and ending with the equally as powerful conclusion that ties the whole book together. You are exposed to astrologists, witches, cunning men, sorcerers and realize how they each worked against, and with, the Church. We see how the rising of Church of England ebolished the idea of "magic" and miricals, an important factor in the decline of Catholocism. I highly reccomend this as an advanced reader to anyone interested in how the "pagen" influence and Church power intermingaled in an age when community was giving way to individulism. Brilliant.

Even if you are fairly fluent in the French language yet have never gone to France, you will find this little book/travel diary indispensible and so incredibly easy to use you will wonder why someone else did not think of it sooner. Each of the pages is liberally sprinkled with colorful drawings, a explanation or label in French and the phonetic pronunciation of whatever the picture depicts. Tres facile! The book is setup in 5 units: En Voyage (your arrival, transportation, hotel arrangements, sightseeing and departure), Eating out in Cafes and Restaurants (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner), Shopping (Clothes, Food and Household goods), the Basics ( Counting, Money, Communication, Services, Time, Restrooms and Emergencies) and the Index with a wonderful alphabet pronunciation that most books simply and foolishly do not include. Insightfully, Butler provides pages in the book for you to list such memorable things as your favorite restaurants and cafes, notable villages, favorite meals, etc. She thoughtfully provides a page which depicts the types of French bread, the characteristics of the Fish you may choose on a menu--for example: les anchois are grey,oily,strong in flavor and fillets, country and region codes associated with the French telephone system, and many other interesting and necessary bits of information that you just will not find in the more popular guides. Above all the format is fun and easy to use, Butler was wise enough to include a built in ribbon bookmark. Recommended to anyone who will travel to France--mentally or physically and for anyone who studies the French language--this colorful book makes a great reference guide and vocabulary builder

I took this charming book along on a recent trip to Paris and the Loire Valley. My husband (who speaks fluent French), our good friend and fellow traveler (who spoke no French), and I (still learning) all enjoyed this little book tremendously! It is a wonderful guide to everyday useful vocabulary, organized by common situations that require conversation. The best part are Jill's entertaining illustrations and the phoenetic pronunciation guide with each word. We all added some new words to our vocabulary during the trip, and had lots of fun using this book together as we went.

This wonderful guide to France isn't just for the newcomer to France and the French language: for the Francophile it is a book that brings back memories with Jill Butler's delightful illustrations and precise detail on life in France. A must for travelers, students and all lovers of France.

The little known Oxford Archaeological Guides series provides information that you cannot find elsewhere. This guide was written by Amanda Claridge in 1998 and gives information about many of the archaeological sites of Rome. Sites are described in great detail with an emphasis on how the site might have looked in ancient times and changes occurring over centuries. Famous artifacts that were once part of these sites are described and their present locations are mentioned. You learn where in the baths of Caracalla the famous Farnese Hercules and Farnese Bull were located and you learn how they came to be in the archaeological museum at Naples. There are little known sites like the tomb of the Scipios as well as places as familiar as the Piazza Navona and the Colloseum. Obscure but fascinating information is given: the great brick reinforcing wedge on the southeast side of the Colloseum was built in 1807: I have not seen this information anywhere else. The oval Piazza Navona is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian of 86 AD; the stores that line its periphery are built on top of the ancient seating. This book would not be suitable as the only guidebook to take with you on a trip, the information provided is far too specialized. I'd recommend taking along the Michelin Green guide or the Knopf guide for Rome as well. Some minor drawbacks: the drawings and maps are not as detailed as they could be and the few photographs that are provided are black and white and of poor quality. These complaints are not critical flaws; the book would still be invaluable even if it didn't contain a single illustration.

This book delivers what the cover promises. It's a thorough guide to what the city of Rome still has of the physical remains of the original inhabitants, of the Etruscans, of the Roman Republic, and of the Roman Empire. If you're going to Rome and you care about those things, take the time to read this book before you go. If you read it after you come back, you'll just have to plan another visit. If you're not going to Rome, but care about Roman history, then Ms. Claridge will give you some concrete (and marble) facts to add to the titillating stories of the emperor's peccadilloes that you've heard from Hollywood and that fuddy-duddy Classics professor.

I saw this book randomly in a bookstore before I had ever been to Rome, and decided to buy it. The diagrams and maps inside were interesting even to scan, and the description of the sites and their history gave me a better sense of what I wanted to see on my trip. When in Rome, I carried this book everywhere. In addition to the standard highlights -- detailed descriptions of each item on the Forum, the Upper Via Sacra, the Palatine, etc. -- this book had coverage of the archeological sites that seem to be on random street corners throughout Rome. If I came across something that looked interesting, I could look it up on the maps, then find the text. Often, there would be a helpful diagram of the original site layout that allowed me to make sense of what stones were standing (and often there aren't many). The book also lists gems of archeological sites that I never would have planned to see had I not read parts of it before my trip. That said, this book has more detail than the casual tourist needs or wants. Much more. But if you want to spend several days delving around ancient Rome, then this book deserves your attention.

Excellent. No doubt already on the shelves of those interested in this Medieval Catholic military lay religious order.
For the uninitiated reader, first read the Introduction, Primitive Rule, and Appendix. Then, the rest. To a reader for whom the Templars are "knights who fought in the crusades,"
the Rule will seem most unexpectedly profuse in dwelling upon internal monastic disciplines, religious guidelines, and personal observances. Regulations addressing military issues and a Knight's behavior in the field are present.
An appendix, coordinated with references to the Rule, treats some of the military aspect, especially in regards to the use of armed mounted force and the order's rankings.
If unfamiliar with the Military Orders, it will be an eye-opener as to what the Catholic Church proposed for its monks.
If doing extended reading elsewhere, a reader will be startled at the surprise ending of that now supressed Order. I would alert those who do followup, not to confuse "Templar," as properly used for this group, with some current appropriators of that name, used for purposes of having mystique of lore & legend.

This book has a lot of valuable information for anyone interested in the Templars. It has historical information in the preface and appendix and its content has every single rule the Knights of the Temple followed. It has every single battle rule and the everyday life activities of templars. The sins and the penitence, how to be admitted and the admittance ritual. How to get a counsil toghether, everything they were supposed to do. I suggest that if you are interested either in Templars or in the Dark Ages, you ought to buy this book.

This English translation of the French "Rule" of the Templars is an essential reference for all students of the Templars, and of the history of "related" organizations such as Freemasonry. The "Reception" ritual will be of special interest to Freemason's, as parts of it are hauntingly familiar.

Going to Florence, Rome, or Venice? Like to eat well without breaking the bank? Buy this book. Went on my honeymoon to all three. Brought this book along, and we ate like kings, but paid like paupers. You can't go wrong with any of the restaurant,cafes, etc. suggested. Be aware, however, that the maps are hard to follow for Venice (probably because Venice is such a maze).

My wife and I have used this book in Rome on two occasions and were extremely satisfied both times. I believe there is now a revision appropriately entitled "Great Eats in Italy". Both books cover Rome, Florence, and Venice. The book is fairly accurate about the menus so you know what to expect (where to go or not to go based on your preferences). The meals are not cheap. They are reasonable. I think the author does herself a diservice but using "cheap eats" in the title of the book. Cheap is not relevant with this book. These are very good places to eat at reasonble prices. You can a vacation just sampling her recommendations. We let other people borrow this book from us when they go to Italy... I bought her other books for Paris, and Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, and Seville). She has another one for Prague, Vienna, and Budapest. Keep 'em coming!!!

My friends and I recently went on spring break to Rome and Florence and we took along the cheap eats book. We had the best food of our lives on a college student's budget. Everything in the book was accurate, in our experience, and even the picky eaters among us were satisfied. We knew exactly what to expect at each place we went, which made things much easier. We actually met Sandra Gustafson at a restaurant in Florence where she was updating her entries for a new edition!