Travel the World By Train: Europe 3

Rating:
Summary: Pretty but superficial coverage
Review: Like all the TWBT DVD's, this one covers too much territory for one hour. Great video and audio quality, far superior to the usual "train buff" DVD. Covers Germany and several Eastern European countries, typically showing a few shots of the train depot, some scenic pictures from the train, and pictures of the riders - including an annoying preoccupation with oh-so-precious children mugging for the camera. No coverage of RR details like the type of locomotives or rolling stock used. A high-quality but once-over-lightly treatment. You will have to look elsewhere for in-depth treatment of the trains or locales featured.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty but superficial coverage
Review: Like all the TWBT DVD's, this one covers too much territory for one hour. Great video and audio quality, far superior to the usual "train buff" DVD. Covers Germany and several Eastern European countries, typically showing a few shots of the train depot, some scenic pictures from the train, and pictures of the riders - including an annoying preoccupation with oh-so-precious children mugging for the camera. No coverage of RR details like the type of locomotives or rolling stock used. A high-quality but once-over-lightly treatment. You will have to look elsewhere for in-depth treatment of the trains or locales featured.

Rating:
Summary: A learning experience
Review: This very educational train ride takes you first through Germany and the beautiful scenery of Bavaria (with Mad King Ludwig's castle). From there you'll experience trips through the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, before undertaking a trip from pre-bombing Belgrade to a Southern seaside resort. You'll meet a lot of kids (some with pets) and a few young lovers on the train, and will get acquainted with all manners of engines, including a car-train and a bus-train. Another interesting journey...

Rating:
Summary: Useful for those considering train travel, weak otherwise
Review: We've been to Germany twice and are considering a third trip. This time, we're planning to travel around the country by train instead of renting a car, so we we intruiged by this DVD.

For our purposes, it was okay. You do get a sense of what it's like to travel across Germany and eastern Europe by train, with pictures of the dining cars as well as the type of countryside you'll go through. It was worth watching just for that.

But the DVD is far from perfect. Although you get some sense of what happens at country borders (basically, it seems someone gets on the train to check passports), they don't give you explicit instructions about what it's like to buy tickets or cope with luggage or find hotels near the train station or deal with other mundane travel details.

Instead, you see a lot of charming faces of people on the train. It does give local color and imply that you can meet awfully nice people by traveling this way ("Look ma, no axe murderers!"), but I'd rather that they spent a little more time talking about what's to be seen in the places you visit. The hour-long video is a bit short in that respect; I don't think you'd learn enough from this DVD to decide what you wanted to see on your trip.

On the other hand, if you're a train enthusiast, it's rather enjoyable. You'll certainly see every sort of passenger train available, from the sleek ICE to tired old cars that look like Ellis Island In Progress.

In short: it's useful to see this once, but don't go out of your way for it.