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Summary:
Every Dorling Kindersley Guide has been a great and interesting book... and delightful to have and use, even if you are not traveling to that location, but are only interested in learning more!The Guides are well organized in a logical and easy to follow manner. They are beautifully illustrated, well developed with accurate information (it is unusual for hotel and restaurant information to be that accurate), have enough history to help the reader understand the people and cultural background, and have a lot of useful travel information and useable maps in the appendixes.
But, the really great attraction to this book is several fold; it is:
............Very complete
............Easy to read
............Beautifully and artistically completed
............Good shopping, safety and other tips
............Gorgeous photographs too numerous to list.
Summary Negative:
The country books are too general to really satisfy all your needs in any given location. So, if your entire trip is spent in Munich, for example, you will also want to get the specific guide for that city (but, the Berlin Section is fairly good)
Guide Specifics:
The guides are organized as follows:
How to use this guide
Introduction to Germany
............Portrait of Germany
............History of Germany
............Germany Through the Year
Berlin, Area by Area
Germany by Region
............Eastern Germany
........................Specific Cities / Towns
............Southern Germany
........................Specific Cities / Towns
............Western Germany
........................Specific Cities / Towns
............Northern Germany
........................Specific Cities / Towns
Travelers Needs
............Hotels
............Restaurants
............Shopping
Survival Information
............Practical Info.
........................Police, safety, buses, trains, etc.
............Travel Info.
........................Maps, tours, currency, etc.
............General Index
............Phrase Book
Discussion:
The book begins with "A Portrait of Germany", including a complete map, a review of Germany, it's history, and Germany's History (very interesting), and Germany thought the Year - including events, etc.,
Region with an "At a glance" overview, then has subsections of Cities / Towns, then specific locations, churches, historical monuments, bridges, galleries, etc.
Architectural reviews include various views, and cutaways; given greater understanding and better perspective. They are all attractive, if not works of art - honestly.
The travelers' Info. offers good and valid info. on prices, currencies, customs, important words, etc. I used the reviews on resorts, hotel's restaurants and nightclubs, etc. and found they were useful and accurate, and helpful with my touring and site decisions
The books are so well thought out that it has multiple maps, with various lookup tables, and the book's flaps are designed to be used as bookmarks for map pages.
Negative:
The country-wide guides are by definition more general than the specific city guides. So, if you are going to Munich, get the specific "Munich" guide (another great guide). If you decide to get the "Germany" guide for your 3, or 4 city tour of Germany, understand that this guide may be a little to general for all your local travel needs.
Conclusion:
As the President, CEO of an International Meeting Planning Corporation we have many resources and techniques to learn about places we have meetings / groups at as well as the cities and sights. But, as a traveler, this book really is top notch and I would recommend it to anyone going on a personal trip, or wanting to learn about a city, or location.
