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Rating: 
Summary: Great Travel Guide, Beautiful Coffee Table Book!
Review: .
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. 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. Thoughts on Berlin Berlin is a particularly interesting, if not haunting city to visit, with its many contrasts: Old East Berlin, with some buildings unrepaired since WWII, New East Berlin, with its lavish, and expensive hotels, and apartments, and post WWII East Berlin with the old Soviet Style (stolid) buildings; West Berlin, with its restored buildings and architecture, memorial buildings like the 'Church of the Purple Glass' (destroyed in WWII and left as a reminder of the costs of war), and the fun restaurants, and nightlife. Also, the outline of the Berlin Wall, and the memorial to those killed trying to flee to freedom outside the Richtstadt (Parliament Building). I highly recommend a trip to Berlin to enjoy all the greatness and tragedy this century and its leaders has brought to the world. Specifics: The guides are organized as follows: How to use this guide
Introduction to Historical and Geographical information
Geographical Regions
............Introduction Berlin
........................Map
........................History
........................At a Glance ........................Through the Year
............Berlin Area by Area, each including:
........................Introduction to street by street area
........................Detailed pictorials of area buildings
........................Architectural drawings, pictures, cut-aways of buildings
........................Specific stops, historical monuments, churches, buildings, etc. Greater Berlin
............Pottsdam
............Three Guided Walks Travelers Needs - includes full list with rankings and notes
............Hotels
............Restaurants
............Shops / Markets
............Entertainment
............Berlin for children Survival Information
............Practical
........................Tourist info., Etiquete, Personal Security and Health
........................Currencies, Telephones, misc info.
............Getting to Berlin
........................Planes, trains and automobiles, signs
........................General map, sectional maps with index
............Getting to / around Berlin
........................Maps, tours, currency, etc.
............General Index
............Phrase Book Discussion: The book begins with 'Introducing Berlin', including a complete map, a review, the city's history, and Berlin thought the Year - including events, etc. Areas with an 'At a glance' overview, then has subsections of specific blocks, or forums, 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 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. Conclusion: Each book in this series is a great help, and beautiful collectible resource. 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. We have used some of these books to augment our research to investigate cities for our groups.
Rating: 
Summary: Good travel companion
Review: Adding to other reviews, I just returned from a visit to Berlin with this wonderful book as my travel companion. The pictures are great, the descriptions wonderful, and there is a lot of good, practical information to help one get around in the city. There are a series of maps in the back which covers the whole city in sections which is also in grids. Sites refer to page number and grid on the map, so one can easily find where it is in the city. The city is divided into sections and color coded, with information about each section, since the city is characterized by the different areas in it. I found this particularly helpful in knowing where I was and where I wanted to go. The only drawback, if one were to find one for this great book, is its weight. Because it is on heavier stock paper, the pictures are better, but the weight is increased. Overall, though, the extra weight is worth carrying around. I found this to be a great souvenir of my trip upon my return. In fact, I stayed with friends who are now living in Berlin. They found the book so useful, they begged to be able to keep it. I am ordering another copy for myself.
Rating:
Summary: Great travel companion, great souvenir!
Review: Adding to other reviews, I just returned from a visit to Berlin with this wonderful book as my travel companion. The pictures are great, the descriptions wonderful, and there is a lot of good, practical information to help one get around in the city. There are a series of maps in the back which covers the whole city in sections which is also in grids. Sites refer to page number and grid on the map, so one can easily find where it is in the city. The city is divided into sections and color coded, with information about each section, since the city is characterized by the different areas in it. I found this particularly helpful in knowing where I was and where I wanted to go. The only drawback, if one were to find one for this great book, is its weight. Because it is on heavier stock paper, the pictures are better, but the weight is increased. Overall, though, the extra weight is worth carrying around. I found this to be a great souvenir of my trip upon my return. In fact, I stayed with friends who are now living in Berlin. They found the book so useful, they begged to be able to keep it. I am ordering another copy for myself.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT!
Review: DK is the best travel book I have ever purchased! Loaded with photo's and illustrations, it ensures you won't miss a thing during your travels.
Rating:
Summary: excellent and up-to-date
Review: Given the changes that Berlin undergoes at the moment, this is the ideal guide to find your way around, see the sights, and partake in the "experience Berlin" as it happens. A must for the traveller, an exciting 'read' for the 'armchair-traveller'.
Rating:
Summary: Good travel companion
Review: I went to Berlin for the first time this year. This book was in my backpack daily. It made Berlin really come alive for me and make sense of this large city - you really get a sense of the different neighborhoods and sights. The lists and practical information at the back of the book also were really helpful.
Rating:
Summary: Best Guide Out There!
Review: Just got back from a trip to Europe. Thought before hand that Prague or Paris would have been my favorite city. Although everything you may have heard about Prague is true- it is the most charming and beautiful place I've ever been - Berlin is simply magnificant. I recently read, in a book (name escapes me) "Berlin is always in a state of becoming and never in a state of being." That was first said around 1900 and it again holds true 100 years later. That in part, is what makes Berlin so magnificant. It has so many things that no other city in Europe has. Bombastic imperialistic architecture lies within bombastic communistic showpiece architecture, which lies next to classic baroque architecture, which all lies next to ultra modern architecture. West Berlin the capitalist show piece during the Cold War and East Berlin was the communist show piece. United as one- Berlin is in the state of becoming Europe's showpiece. This guide takes you through Berlin like no other guide could possibly do. I had the unfortunate circumstance of being in Berlin a few weeks before this guide came out. I hit the main sights -but missed so much more because I used Time Out! It is unfortunate because this guide is so much better- save the lack of hostel information... but it shows you everything you could possibly want to see and do and know.. From strolling down the beautiful Unter den Linden to sitting in the Lustgarten or roaming through the green arces of the Tiergarten...or even soaring to the top of the television tower. Eyewitness Guide will take you there. If I could be anywhere in the world right now, I'd be anywhere and everywhere in between the Brandenburg Gate and Alexander Platz. If you're thinking of going to Berlin- stop thinking and go... If you're thinking of buying this guide, stop thinking and buy.
Rating:
Summary: Best Guide Out There!
Review: Just got back from a trip to Europe. Thought before hand that Prague or Paris would have been my favorite city. Although everything you may have heard about Prague is true- it is the most charming and beautiful place I've ever been - Berlin is simply magnificant. I recently read, in a book (name escapes me) "Berlin is always in a state of becoming and never in a state of being." That was first said around 1900 and it again holds true 100 years later. That in part, is what makes Berlin so magnificant. It has so many things that no other city in Europe has. Bombastic imperialistic architecture lies within bombastic communistic showpiece architecture, which lies next to classic baroque architecture, which all lies next to ultra modern architecture. West Berlin the capitalist show piece during the Cold War and East Berlin was the communist show piece. United as one- Berlin is in the state of becoming Europe's showpiece. This guide takes you through Berlin like no other guide could possibly do. I had the unfortunate circumstance of being in Berlin a few weeks before this guide came out. I hit the main sights -but missed so much more because I used Time Out! It is unfortunate because this guide is so much better- save the lack of hostel information... but it shows you everything you could possibly want to see and do and know.. From strolling down the beautiful Unter den Linden to sitting in the Lustgarten or roaming through the green arces of the Tiergarten...or even soaring to the top of the television tower. Eyewitness Guide will take you there. If I could be anywhere in the world right now, I'd be anywhere and everywhere in between the Brandenburg Gate and Alexander Platz. If you're thinking of going to Berlin- stop thinking and go... If you're thinking of buying this guide, stop thinking and buy.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent guide
Review: Just got back from Berlin and found this guide very helpful. Used in combination with Time Out, you have the city covered. Where one is weak, the other is strong. This guide has great pictures, maps and area information. Time Out is better with restaurant reviews, first-hand perspectives on neighborhods and the local scene in general. Take them both!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent guide
Review: Just got back from Berlin and found this guide very helpful. Used in combination with Time Out, you have the city covered. Where one is weak, the other is strong. This guide has great pictures, maps and area information. Time Out is better with restaurant reviews, first-hand perspectives on neighborhods and the local scene in general. Take them both!
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