3 comments about Moleskine City Notebook Berlin (Moleskine City Notebook).

1. While not a suitable replacement for a travel guide, the Moleskine is very handy for a map and journal. The Notebook content is very flexible to suit your needs and is much more discreet than the more obvious travel guides.



2. This is a very unusual product and I would strongly encourage anyone considering getting one to be completely aware of what it is before they purchase it. First, if you are looking for a single travel guide to prepare you for your trip to New York (or anywhere else there is a guide for), this is very close to worthless, if not entirely worthless. I would call one's attention to the title of the product. It is a "Notebook." That means that most of the pages are blank. This literally is a book for taking notes in.
   
   So what do you get when you buy this? Every book in the series follows the same format. First there is a personal information page with address, phone, allergies, family doctor, passport number, then map information with public transportation maps. Then follows information on the various forms of transportation with phone numbers and websites, including cabs, buses, other forms of public transportation, and airports. There are some blank itinerary pages, measurement and speed conversion charts, size conversion charts (for shoppers), then a long series of neighborhood maps, including an index. And that's it. The final two-thirds of the notebook are blank. The next 20 or so pages are completely blank and unlined for whatever use you want to put them to. Next come several pages intended for writing down names of restaurants, bars, museums, historical sites, hotels, or whatever. The book also comes with unlabeled tabs with stickers to use as desired (for theaters, concert halls, or whatever you desire) as well as tracing paper for, as the label says, "Itineraries or Whatever." Finally, there is the usual pocket at the back that is found in all Moleskine products.
   
   For some people this is going to be an absolutely useless product. But for many this will be remarkably useful. In fact, I can envision two uses for this notebook. First, those who are planning a trip to one of the places for which Moleskine has produced a book. Let's say one has consulted the Blue guide, the Eyewitness Guide (by DK), a Rough Guide, the Michelin guide, and the Let's Go guide. Maybe you've bought all of these, making for five guides. No way do you want to drag all of these on your trip or more than one on your flight. So what might you do? You might take the Moleskin Notebook, record into it all the places you want to see, restaurants you want to dine at, museums you want to stroll through, and anything else you want to do while in your destination of choice, and record it there. So the Moleskine City Notebook can serve as a distillation of all the various travel guides, web sites, and other resources you have consulted. And instead of hauling about a large Fodor's guide, you can carry about this small Notebook that can easily fit into a backpack, purse, should bag, or even pocket.
   
   The only downside is that the Moleskine City Notebook is only as good as you make it. If you do a good job of planning your trip, it will be filled to the brim with useful and helpful information. If not, it will be as unhelpful as you have made it.
   
   There is a second use to which the City Notebook can be put to use, though it is not one for which it was primarily designed. You could use it for the city in which you live, should you live in one of the cities for which one is made. I live, for instance, in Chicago. I have bought one of these so that I can over time use it to record every bit of helpful information that I might find useful or helpful. I can record what hours the Seminary Co-Op Bookstore (the real one, not the trade version on 57th Street) is open. The hours for the Chicago Public Library and the Newberry Library. Phone numbers of restaurants and addresses of bars. And so on and so forth. Granted, these books will only benefit those who live in one of those cities, but for the U.S. New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C., Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles are pretty populated areas.
   
   So this is a very well conceived product though it absolutely has to be stressed that it is a specialized one. Please note: THIS ISN'T FOR EVERYONE. If you don't want to use the Notebook to plan your trip it is going to be very close to worthless. I'll emphasize again: this is only as good a product as you make it. But if you use it to help you plan your trip, it could be the single item you would most loathe to be without after your notebook.



3. This notebook is perfect for the traveler who wants to pick out his own sites. I took recommendations from other guidebooks I had and put the information in the notebook. If I ran across a good place, I wrote it down. My goal in using this notebook was to have a reference for if/when I return to Berlin. It's perfect for combining information from different source in one place.
   
   This notebook contains maps of the city (with a street index) and maps of the public transit system (with a station index). Indexes are incredibly helpful when you're standing on a street corner but have no clue what part of town you're even in, or what direction you're facing. Trust me - very useful. I carried this notebook everywhere I went, even if all I needed it for was the maps. I loved having a place to write down things that I should do, or places I loved, or other ideas.

No comments about Insight Map Frankfurt: Fleximap Plus Travel Information (Insight Fleximaps).

5 comments about Michelin Germany (Michelin Map).

1. Anyone traveling, especially by car, should not be without this handy reference book to the towns you will be visiting. It gives a brief description as well as points of interest.



2. Exceedingly helpful. If you like history and culture do not go to a country without this book. It's like having your own tour guide. History, maps, suggested routes, it's all there. Get a fodors or other guidebook if you want family and fun destinations as well. This is more history and museums.



3. I thought this would be a normal sized driving map; however, the size of the map is huge, approximately 3 x 4 feet (?). It makes it difficult to use in the car. Otherwise, it is perfect.



4. I purchaed this map for an upcoming trip to Germany. The map is very accurate and easy to use



5. A big map with lots of detail. Cumbersome for travel. The whole of Germany. Wish it had something to indicate the former East/West demarcation.

3 comments about Michelin Germany: Benelux, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic: Tourist and Motoring Atlas (Michelin Tourist and Motoring Atlas : Germany, Austria, Benelux, Switzerland, Czech Republic (Spiral)).

1. The maps are excellent. The only problem I have is that I was only interested in Switzerland. Therefore, I would have prefered being given the choice of only the country of my interest. I like the spiral format which allows it to lie flat and easily open 360 degrees.



2. According to Rick Stevens, tourist atlas needs be 1/300,000 or larger scale in order to be useful as driving guide on the road. This atlas has the right scale. I am glad I brought this atlas with me as a backup to my GPS navigator during my 2-week European driving trip in June 2008.
   I had a GPS Navigator (Tomtom GO 720), which worked perfectly for the majority of the time --- I almost thought the traditional atlas was no longer needed. But in two incidence, this traditional atlas proved its value.
   For the first instance, GPS suggested me to drive from Lauterbrunnen to Lugano in Switzerland via the scenic Sustenstrasse Pass. I followed the GPS for about 2 hours, then found out the Pass was closed midway. I had to back-track and rely on the atlas to reroute.
   For the second instance, I was on the motorway from Salzburg to Muchen. An accident occurred (probably a mile ahead) on the motorway. After all traffic stalled on the motorway for one hour, I decided to leave the motorway. This atlas was indispensible in guiding me step-by-step through the scenic country roads to my destination. The paper and printing of the atlas are in very good quality too. It's a worthwhile investment.



3. This atlas is a great value at $16.32, but it suffers from very bad design. Here are the design failures I've experienced:
   
   * This is actually five separate atlases jammed together into one book. Each of the five has its own scale, its own index, and--unfathomably--it's own LEGEND. The legend for Germany is different from the legend for Belgium. There are more than SIXTEEN PAGES of legends--eleven at the front, five scattered through the indexes, plus "special symbols" identified on pages XXII and XXIII.
   
   * The only broad-scale map showing all of the atlas's area doesn't show a single road. There is no all-encompassing map connecting the roads across the five independent maps. If you're driving from one country to another, you have to flip back and forth to get any sense of the shortest route.
   
   * There are no scales on individual pages (which is especially important as each country has its own scale). There's no way to see at a glance from the detailed page that one centimeter is equivalent to 3 kilometers in Germany or 4 kilometers in Switzerland. To make up for this, a great many road segments have a number indicating the distance in kilometers from one intersection to the next. The map is cluttered with thousands of small numbers (and perhaps crowded out the names and numbers to identify the roads).
   
   * There's a bizarre mish-mash of conflicting color codes. Maps of Germany have green page numbers, but legends written in German are orange. Blue designates both the English language and maps of the Netherlands.
   
   * Practically none of the secondary roads are labeled. Aside from freeways, the vast majority of the roads in the book don't have any identifying name or number!
   
   * Borders are very subtle compared to American maps. State and provincial borders are almost identical to national borders.
   
   * Consecutive map pages do not line up. If you drive off the right side of one page, you usually appear on the left side of the next page--but often several inches up or down.
   
   * The close-up maps of urban centers are inexplicably scattered throughout the index. There is no indication on the main map pages of which cities have close-up maps; you just have to constantly leaf through the index just to see whether they've created a more detailed map or not.
   
   * Many of the close-up urban maps cross the coil binding at the center of the book, even when the map itself is narrower than one page
   
   Given these shortcomings, this atlas isn't nearly as usable as the maps you get for free at American welcome centers and airports, and nowhere near as good as a typical American atlas. It takes a while to read and get used to this cumbersome presentation. You need to learn two conflicting color codes, how to find which of the legends applies to a given page, and you will be left completely uninformed about the identify of most roads. Plan ahead or get a GPS--do not get in a car with this atlas expecting to simply find your way!

5 comments about Streetwise Munich Map - Laminated City Street Map of Munich, Germany - with integrated metro map including S-Bahn and U-Bahn lines and stations.

1. I travel to Munich and a few other European capitals a few times a year -- I recently bought a bunch of the Streetwise Maps. The Munich one is rather weak -- it contains just the city center and leaves one in the dark about the suberbs, airport, and surrounding towns. Also it fails to include much the business areas and Olympic Stadium.

   The small U-bahn and S-bahn map is also cropped in a way that excludes many important places, this map would be good only for the day tourist to the city center.




2. I was extremely disappointed in this map, which is incomplete, inadequate and even inaccurate in spots. If you're a casual tourist who is only spending a day in the Bavarian capital, then this map would probably fit your basic needs. But if you're planning on spending a week or more in the city, or if you want to see more than the city center, then avoid the map at all costs.

   The map shows only the inner city, with few streets shown beyond Briennerstrasse or the Isar. This is simply not acceptable, especially if you want to see anything of the city beyond Marienplatz. There is also some outdated information on the reverse, giving U Bahn stations on the wrong cross streets. This could present clear problems for travelers. I do not recommend this map to anyone unless you're restricting yourself to a small area in the pedestrian-only zone.




3. The people at Streetwise should be embarassed to even sell this map. Its poor design is EXTREME. I was so shocked at its terrible quality because OTHER Streetwise maps have always been so useful. Not this one. Streetwise Munich is missing a majority of Munich, it doesn't include an U-Bahn or S-Bahn plan, and is so difficult to read that you'll be more confused than aided by it. It is a total failure.
   
   This map does not live up to the Streetwise name. I don't recommend this product at all.



4. This foldable water-proof map is perfect for finding your way around the city. Like most old European cities, streets go in all types of directions. Map also has layout of trnsport system making it even more helpful.



5. We bought this map for Oktoberfest and used it everyday many times a day. I helped us navigate the S-Bahn and the city. It is perfect!!!

5 comments about Map of Bones.

1. Map of Bones appears intriguing, but fails miserably to deliver. The characters are wooden; the villan's sadism towards women is gratuitous; the reading level is on par with the fifth grade and about half way into the story I realized I didn't care about how it ended. Why did I finish reading this boring story? I hated wasting the time I had already invested in reading the first half. So do yourself favor. Don't read this book. It's silly and boring.



2. Just like all of Rollins' books, in reading this book you are going to get a great adventure in great locales along with learning a great deal about history and science. He must have done an incredible amount of research for this novel. And some of the action scenes are explosive. I would put this book right below Black Order as far as Sigma books go, but it was an excellent read.



3. I consider myself fairly well read in this genre which probably says alot about my intellect. Be that as it may, this book should be subtitled "The most inept special force ever". Stay away. Read Preston/Child, Lee Child, Cussler, Hunter or Jack Higgins before you waste your time on this.



4. I just completed reading this book and it is a great read. I would have read it much faster if my freetime had permitted. I never wanted to put the book down. I can't wait to read the books that the author used to gather the facts used in this book! I will not tell you about the story itself. You will have to read and see for yourself...



5. Map of Bones is a fast paced thrill ride. I loved it. The book is a little too long, but all in all, I couldn't get enough. This is the second book in the Sigma series. The first book, Sandstorm, is not as good, and most of the central characters are introduced in Map of Bones and not in the first book.

5 comments about Streetwise Budapest Map - Laminated City Street Map of Budapest, Hungary - with integrated metro map including lines and stations.

1. It's a good map but considering that most people will take public transport and see the well marked general tourist atractions, you don't really need it. It gets two stars as it's a good map but not really required for a trip to Budapest.



2. The map is nice but does not cover the entire city. If you are serious about traveling in Hungary, you probably need to go to Europe to get a good enough map. This isn't it. I wrote them asking if they had a better map and they didn't even answer.



3. An excellent map - easy to read and to fold. Highly recommended.



4. I purchased this map for a friend that was visiting Budapest this summer. I was fairly disapointed to find that it was only the map along the river and missed out of the major atractions in Budapest. Where's the castle, Heros square, Parliment, or the historic bath house spas.
   The delivery was fast and efficient. I had very high expectations having just visited Budapest with a Hugarian guide to show the hot spots.



5. The problem with this map is that in trying to be so small it limits its usefulness. You can't track a whole trip on one page, or easily find a street by name. I should have learned my lesson about these Streetwise maps by now.

5 comments about Rick Steves' Germany, Austria, and Switzerland Map: Including Berlin, Munich, Salzburg and Vienna City (Rick Steves).

1. Before I moved to Germany from the States I received this book from a friend of my mother's who had spent a few years attending university in Spain and said that Rick Steve's books were what everyone at the university used. Since moving to Germany this book has been great. I carry it around with me whenever we travel because it has so much valuable information.
   
   Some of the other reviews have been extremely negative, but as someone who uses the book on a regular basis and actually lives in the country, I know that this book is great. It is less expensive than others and it gives great suggestions for places to stay. He does spend more time with Berlin and Munich, but considering these are two of the largest cities that have long histories, it only makes sense. The hotel suggestions are great, the last time we were in Berlin we opted to choose our own place that was less expensive. It was neat with all the Bears around (it was called the Bearliner), but it smelled. So, if you plan on travelling to Germany I really suggest getting this book.



2. This was the very first travel book - my mother in law bought it for me right after we were stationed in Germany 6 years ago. I'm still using the 2001 version (yes, I know that's bad!) but it's gotten me all over! The simplified maps and the hotel recommendations have kept my trips easy and fun.
   --Vicki Landes, author of "Europe For The Senses - A Photographic Journal"



3. First and foremost, to clarify, this product that you are supposedly reading reviews for is Rick Steves' MAP of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It appears that the other reviews are of Rick Steves' guidebooks! Again, this product is NOT one of Rick Steves' famous guidebooks (which I would always rate as 5 stars, incidentally!). This map is very basic; don't count on using it to find your way around a country or city. Only the major cities and towns are marked. Likewise, in the city maps of Berlin, Munich, Salzburg and Vienna, only the major thoroughfares are mapped. You should use this map only as a reference to his guidebook of the region to plan your trip. You will want to get a 'real' map that's much more detailed, e.g. Michelin, when you arrive. Best part of this map? The cool water resistant paper on which it is printed. Especially if you have small children who are apt to spill liquid, as mine did on Day One upon receiving it from Amazon!



4. I got this thinking it would get me started on planning my trip to Europe. I had a list of things I wanted to see. When I got the map I was so happy to see that all the tourist attractions were ALREADY MARKED on the map! They were clearly labeled and easy to locate and read. Great product...well worth the money!



5. This is a great high-level roadmap of Germany, but it lacks the detail needed to really explore the countryside. If you are driving through Germany like we did, buy an atlas that provides more route detail. There are so many country lanes in Germany that even a detail book sometimes misses the many villages you'll encounter along the way. If you're taking the train, this map works fine. If you're driving, look at something else.

5 comments about Streetwise Berlin Map - Laminated City Street Map of Berlin, Germany - with integrated metro map including S-Ba and U-Bahn lines and stations.

1. The Streetwise Berlin map was convenient even though it does not cover the outer limits of Friedrichstein and basically does not cover outside of the S/U Bahn A/B zone. However, the area it covers is what a tourist generally needs. The best part of the map, in addition to it's size, was the S/U Bahn map which made it convenient and quick to figure out which train to take and the proper direction. It doesn't cover the street trams, but we could figure this out easily and did not find a map that covered that anyhow. We used this Streetwise map constantly. And, like I said, the Berliners I met, all said that the map was fantastisch. Small sized, it fits right into your bag or pocket and notes museums and other great sight in pink.



2. I got this map last year as a gift before I moved to Berlin for a short time. It was nice to have when we were in the Center of Berlin, but there are large parts of Berlin that are not on the map, so we also had another more extensive map of Berlin. Keep in mind that they also changed the subway system a bit in December 2004, so the map I have has the old map on it. There are subway maps on all the trains, so you can find your way around very easily.
   
   Its a useful and durable tourist map, but any good guidebook will have the same included.



3. I just received my Streetwise Berlin map. I'm sorry I bothered. It is a real disappointment. For one thing, it is very small - the map area when fully opened is only about 25" x 8" which means that for one thing, detail is lacking, for another only the central slice of the city is covered, and everything is so small as to make the map difficult to use.
   I would strongly suggest avoiding this map. Instead, seriously consider the city maps by Berndtson. I have used their maps in several European cities, they are a lot larger though still, when folded, as compact as the Streetwise one, they are easy to use, well-marked and detailed, and also laminated (the Streetwise map is laminated too, but that does not make up for its other probelms.)
   I have also used Hammond city maps in Europe and found them quite good too. At least their Prague map is excellent.
   Don't waste the momey on the cruddy Streetwise map when far superior products are out there for the same price.



4. It did not cover everywhere in Berlin I needed to be, both north and south. But its small size was convenient to fold and unfold without too much bother, and the lamination made that easy to do, as well as waterproof. The u-bahn/s-bahn system map was, likewise, not perfect but adequate: I had to squint to read it, but it was convenient to picture the whole system in one place, and to have the transport map in the same easy-fold easy-go map as Berlin itself.



5. Those who complain about the area covered are missing the point of Streetwise maps. They don't require the constant folding and unfolding of a more comprehensive map. If you expect to be primarily in the city center, a Streetwise map is perfect, and it's so easy to tuck into a pocket or bag. Any Berlin map does run the risk of becoming outdated, since the city has changed regularly since reunification, but the 2008 revised edition now being sold is reliable and seems up to date.

5 comments about Streetwise Prague Map - Laminated Center City Street Map of Prague, Czech Republic - Folding pocket size travel map with integrated metro map featuring ... - trams, streetcar routes (Streetwise).

1. This map is convienient (like the others in the series) because you can fold it in half and stick it in your pocket without it getting all ripped up. However, I ended up referring to other maps as well to verify where I was going. The Prague map is particularly inconvenient in that it divides the Stare Mesto (the central area where most tourists spend their time) in half, such that I frequently had to turn it over as I traced my path.



2. Worked out perfectly for our recent trip to Prague. We used it every day.



3. There are maps with even more detail, but this map is an essential. Lightweight, laminated (waterproof), pocket-sized, and with almost all the detail that most visitors need. Fully-opened, it is still small, unobtrusive, and easy to use. A handy gazeteer lists many streets and monuments, with map grid locations. There are some very tiny streets/alleys that are hard to make out, but that is true for almost any
   pocket-sized folding map. I buy a Streetwise for any city destination.



4. In typical Streetwise fashion, this is an excellent map that is key to exploring the city of Prague which has many confusing streets with confusing names.
   
   This is a map not a guide and while it does point out places of interest it is obviously meant as a map first and foremost. None of the free maps I found came close to be as legible and understandable. The fact that it is a trifold lamninated map makes it very easy to keep in your jacket and use.
   
   A definite must have for Prague in my opinion.



5. The map is convenient to use, and the lamination keeps it from getting destroyed from use. But it is relatively expensive considering you can get the same map in your tourist guide or for free from any one of a number of places once you get to Prague.