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Rating: 
Summary: The rough guide was rough reading
Review: After years of visiting family in the Netherlands and visiting obvious tourist attractions, I felt it was time to find a guide to help me unearth those not so noticeable sights. I quickly discovered that it was challenging to locate a book that focuses solely on the Netherlands. Then I stumbled upon the Rough Guide to the Netherlands. I thought I had finally discovered the ideal comprehensive Dutch travel book. But after opening the beautifully photographed cover, I dove into the introduction only to find the following statement, "Indeed for such a small and accessible country, the Netherlands is, apart from Amsterdam, relatively unknown territory." Unfortunately, I did not find that this book helped to dispel this myth and encourage travel anywhere outside of Amsterdam.By the tone of the writing, it felt as though the writer(s) had a negative image of this country even before writing a sentence. They overlooked many of the quaint, personal aspects of this country, as well as many of the attractions that I considered obvious places to visit. I was able to attain more useful information about cities in the Netherlands from my outdated copy of Let's Go Europe 1993, which covers information on over a dozen countries in just one book. In the back of the Rough Guide, there is a section of assorted English/Dutch translations, which can be extremely helpful for travelers. They list simple terms like hello, good-bye, thank you, etc and important translations for questions like, "where is the bathroom?" If you are looking for a travel book to list a handful of plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face attractions in Amsterdam, then you found your book. If you are looking for an all-inclusive guide to aid your explorations throughout the Netherlands, this is not it. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this review, I have not found a book I can recommend and I am also sad to say this is the first book that I will return to Amazon.
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