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Summary: A great guide for all
Review: This wonderfully entertaining museum guide turned my bored teenage daughters into art and history lovers - as I read "Mona Winks" to them while travelling through Europe. They'd visit any museum or monument so long as there was a Mona Winks description of it, and other people would actually gather around us to hear our 'much more interesting' description. Although I am an artist with a solid background in Art History, I find this book to be very entertaining. It provides just enough background information to enable the viewer to appreciate each work of art, and interesting enough info to make them curious to delve a little deeper. If you can't find this one in stores, look for his "Europe 101" or any of his other travel guides. They're definitely the most engaging of any travel books I've read.
Rating:
Summary: Gotta have it!
Review: We've used this book for 2 trips to Europe so far. And my whole family loves it! We missed the English speaking tour at Versailles and didn't even mind. We had torn out the section of Mona Winks and used it. It is informative and entertaining. Since we had 3 people using it we saved a fortune on tour guides. And I'll bet the book gave a lot more information than any guide would have. I wouldn't dare go to Europe without this book. The only thing better would be having Rick there himself.
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Summary: Europe's museums for dummies
Review: When my parents and I went to Europe for the first time, we wanted to visit all the top museums but didn't know how to get started. I got Mona Winks because I love Rick Steves' guide books. I followed the instruction, ripped up the book, and carried only the chapters we needed. My parents (they only speak Chinese) were a little suspicious about it. Our first stop was the National Gallery in London. We went there at the hour that the guide recommended and the museum was almost empty. We went through all the important paintings in two hours, and learned a great deal of art and art history. In the museum, we met a couple holding the same ripped pages from the same guide!With the help of this book, we visited five other museums including the British Museum, the Louvre and Versailles. We avoided the crowded hours and the expensive local guided tours. This book saved us a lot of time and money, and helped us gain a lot of basic knowledge of history and art of Europe. After the trip, I mailed back all the pieces from the book and $5.00 to Europe Through the Back Door, and they sent me a new copy! Next time when I visit Europe, I will take the book with me again. If you are a art dummy, this is really the only book you need to tour Europe's top museums. That's all I have to say about this book.
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