Paris
 

Any recommendations for a Paris guide book and a French/English phase book - mainly to understand menus/food? <BR> <BR>Thanks!

Eyewitness Guide has the most pictures and is packed with tourist info, but it is very heavy and not as useful on the run. Access Guides - Paris has very user-friendly maps and is a great resource when you're lost or want to find a restaurant in the area that you're in. <BR>Cheap Eats in Paris is indespensible for restaurant suggestions and it has a great chapter on restaurant customs and menus.

Eyewitness and Access are among my favorites as well. As for a phrase book, my favorite is Barron's French At A Glace. Unlike many phrase books, this one includes phonetic spellings (if you pronounce French words in "American", no one will understand you). It also has a wealth of additional useful information, along with a fairly comprehensive section on menus/food. Be advised that one should not request "the menu" in Paris - you will be ordering the daily special. The Marling Menu Master is an excellent food glossary, and one that will fit in your pocket. A much more comprehensive guide (but not pocket-sized) is "French Cuisine, The Gourmet's Companion". Those is the back of most tour guides leave much unmentioned. It's a really good idea to peruse a comprehensive food glossary before leaving and familiarize yourselves with the foods you like - and the ones you don't. Just because you've learned that "veau" means veal, doesn't mean you won't be served the brains, liver, or worse! Pomplemouse anyone?

For a true foodie's guide get Patricia Well's Food-lovers guide to Paris. It has all the markets and there hours of operation, etc and extensive stuff for those of us who love to eat, cook and buy food and cooking gear-a must I promise if you are interested in the food aspect of Paris-she also has good restaurant listings for the "special" night meals

I agree with the last post on Patricia Wells' book if you seriously like cooking and food. For a simple phrase book, I think the Dover "See It and Say" series is the best and only a couple dollars, it has a special section for food and dining. For guide books, I myself don't think the Eyewitness guides are very good. I have seen the Paris one and have found erroneous information in it, plus it is very expensive, heavy, and not very thorough. For example, their section on nightlife in Paris (bars, etc., I think I was looking at) is terrible as I recall. When traveling to France or elsewhere, I usually buy two guidebooks, I always get the Michelin Green guide (if available) and use that for museums, walks, etc., and I get a basic guidebook for information, hotel recommendations, etc. (Fodors and Frommers are both okay, and Access has a lot of good info but in a rather complicated and confusing format). I think the Cadogan guides are best in general, but there isn't one for nothern France. Usually, I prefer Frommers to Fodors (sorry, if the WEBmaster is reading), they seem a little more readable, down-to-earth, and have better and more complete hotel info, I think.

I agree with the last post on Patricia Wells' book if you seriously like cooking and food. For a simple phrase book, I think the Dover "See It and Say" series is the best and only a couple dollars, it has a special section for food and dining. For guide books, I myself don't think the Eyewitness guides are very good. I have seen the Paris one and have found erroneous information in it, plus it is very expensive, heavy, and not very thorough. For example, their section on nightlife in Paris (bars, etc., I think I was looking at) is terrible as I recall. When traveling to France or elsewhere, I usually buy two guidebooks, I always get the Michelin Green guide (if available) and use that for museums, walks, etc., and I get a basic guidebook for information, hotel recommendations, etc. (Fodors and Frommers are both okay, and Access has a lot of good info but in a rather complicated and confusing format). I think the Cadogan guides are best in general, but there isn't one for nothern France. Usually, I prefer Frommers to Fodors (sorry, if the WEBmaster is reading), they seem a little more readable, down-to-earth, and have better and more complete hotel info, I think.

I go with Rick Steves' French, Italian and German Phrase Book (John Muir Publications. It's $7.95 US(we paid $6.36 at Amazon.com) but very compact & practical with 24 of the 82 French pages dedicated to eating and food.

Please note that Patricia Wells' "Food Lover's Guide to Paris" Third Edition is terribly out of date. Many of her favorite restaurants are gone or have changed hands. A new edition was due out in the Spring, but must have been delayed because Barnes & Noble recently advised me that there is no longer an anticipated publication date and they have cancelled my order.

All you need is the Michelin Green Guide <BR>(Paris) and a french Berlitz guide. You can buy them at any real bookstore.

For my upcoming trip to Paris, I am taking advice from Rick Steves and doing the tear out method. So far I have destroyed about 4 tour books and I was eyeing my beloved Eyewitness guide last night (I figure if I remove history, hotels, meals etc... it will weigh a LOT less!) I can always buy a new one to remember my trip by!

Hey Carol, <BR> <BR>How about taking your book and copying the pages you'll need instead of tearing it apart! It would be a shame to destroy a book. I bought the Cheap Eats in Paris book and copied the areas we'll stay in (5th, 6th, and 7th) and a few other pages of interest. <BR> <BR>

For something very small to take along, I bought the Barnes & Noble French Phrasebook. It is a small pamphlet broken up into categories. They also have German and Italien pamphlets.