In preparation for a trip to Paris, I and several friends are taking a course in French at our local high school. Our French teacher, who comes from Paris, told us we absolutely must read something called Melnick's Guide to Paris. She read it when someone in one of her classes brought it in to show her but doesn't know where it came from and thought it was the best material she ever saw on Paris. We've checked all the bookstores like Borders and Barnes and Noble but can't find it. Has anybody seen it or know where it can be obtained?

Search here and you will find out that Melnick is a guy who is trying to take an advantage of people who don't know any better. Use this forum buy a few real guides (Fodor's, Frommer's, Eyewitness) and forget Fred Melnick who is not as nice as you think. Do the text search under Fred melnick or american in paris and you will learn a lot about this Melnick guy. And he will ask you to send him a check for $10.00 Sooner or later someone will report his income to IRS

I, for one, enjoyed reading all his helpful hints and recommendations. I was happy to send him a check for $10, as I used some of his info and appreciated the time/trouble it took to post and keep current all the info on his website. <BR> <BR>I paid a whole lot more money for some other, outdated guides . . . <BR> <BR>Sandy I

Yeah, right, what a bunch of nonsense. I don't for a minute believe Sema (who is on compuserve, a sister service to AOL where Fred hangs out) is randum and unsolicited. If your French teacher said this, she is very foolish. Fred is a greedy opportunist who has been to Paris a few times but doesn't really know that much and makes a lot of vague and erroneous statements. Recently, he claimed the fireworks for Bastille Day went off on the 13th, rather than the 14th, admitted he didn't even know if the RER went to CDG and fabricated some quote about diners in the Eiffel Tower around the turn of the century when the restaurant didn't exist. He also misspells French words on his web site which is very amateurish. He is an inveterate pest about trying to peddle his stuff to unsuspecting people who know little about Paris so don't know how bad and limited his information is.

I am with you Christina. I am 60+ woman who decided to travel alone after my husband died. So I sent $10.00 to Melnick and got information that were useless because there was absolutely nothing knew. I found this board and Frommer's guides most helpful. I am speaking from my own experience

any chance this was a troll?

I can only speak from personal experience but we first received information from Fred about 4 years ago after we read an article about him in the Detroit Free Press and contacted him. He helped us then, he helped us again just recently. It seems to me, from reading your post(s) – are you the same person using different names? – that you have a personal vendetta against him which I don't understand. He has been extremely helpful to us and other people I know, which is a lot more than you are spewing this venom that you do. It also seems to me that if a French teacher thinks it's good, it's good. P.S. for the poster who asked - You can get his guide at www.anamericaninparis.com

I will add that Fred has helped so very many people! Those of us who went to Paris for the first time, knowing very little, were amazed at how at ease we were after reading Fred's guide. True, after visiting many times now, there are a few mistakes, but why quibble? For a beginner to Paris, his guide is a great tool.

Man, what nonsense that post is about Fred's site not having useful information. We've read through it many times (yes, we sent in $10). You call this useless? Besides his guide which gives first timers a wonderful idea of what to expect in Paris and how to get around and fit in easily, there are hundreds of hotels with reviews by people who stayed at them, not just someone who poked their head in. There are hotels listed alphabetically, by price range, with air condtioning. He must have 100 topics like transportation from the airports to Paris, tours to Normandy from Paris, vegetarian restaurants, where to rent bicycles, boat cruises on the Seine, even clubs for gays. What do you want him to give you, airline tickets? That name up there is a phoney. I remember the old France boards and the hate mail some of those people sent.

I made my first trip to Paris with several good published guides and have had absolutely no trouble getting around, seeing what I wanted to see, and visiting the monuments and museums that were on my list. <BR> <BR>First, I asked for help on this forum and got some excellent answers. If you will ask specific questions rather than just throwing up your hands and hollering HELP, there are so many well informed Paris visitors who will tell you a lot that there is no reason no to arrive informed. <BR> <BR>Secondly, I bought several guide book published by major firms. These include: <BR>Fodors, the Michelin Green Guide, Let's Go Paris, and Rick Steves little book on Paris. (I like Rick's mainly for his quick tour of the Louvre and his guide to Versailles.) <BR>Then I got the big Michelin map of Paris and a smaller one I could carry about. <BR>I looked up on the map each of the places I wanted to visit, and then I worked out the best route on the bus or the Metro to where I wanted to go. <BR>(Bus routes are shown on the web. There are some jpg files that you can view.) <BR> <BR>I have yet to get on a wrong bus or wrong train in my trips to Paris. <BR>All it takes is as little informed preparation because Paris is the easiest city in Europe to get around in that I have visited. <BR>The guide books will tell you what is open when and how it much it costs to get in. The big chore is to prioritize your list destinations and that is where comments by the veterans on this form are so helpful. You cannot see it all on even 3 trips to Paris of a week each, so I did not try. I just went where I thought I would enjoy myself and so far that has been exactly the case. <BR>And I speak very limited French, but we have yet to suffer unduly because of it. <BR>I just make sure I pick a hotel where the desk staff speaks some English.

Maybe he was some helpful info but I have planned three international trips in the last 3 years - Australia, Thailand and Paris simply by checking books out of the library and buying Frommer's and most important doing my research on the internet. We have had three flawless trips. They all matched our expectations and budget. We had no glitches rip offs or other problems. These message board are great. Educate yourself with a good guide or two - use the websites they refer to and then ask questions. I'd be happy to assist in your planning and questions as others will. Try to Frommer's message board too.

Short and sweet. Fred's the best and his site is the best single source for Paris information. It's www.anamericaninparis

that's www.anamericaninparis.com