Advantages:
Disadvantages:

...I fell in love with Paris when I went there earlier this year. The city is just breathtaking, with exquisite architecture and attention to detail. You could spend hours just walking along the Seine, and the little cobbled backstreets in the Latin Quarter. Of course all the tourist attractions are amazing, and suprisingly quite reasonably priced. The Eiffel tower at night was just spectacular, and can be seen lit up from all around the city. Without too much effort, you can find cheap accomodation and very reasonably priced restaurants..most of which have menus in English if you need one. The shops are amazing as well...you can always dream. The metro is fantastic for getting around, and a carnet of 10 tickets is very reasonable.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: beautiful, romantic, great food and wine
Disadvantages: expensive

...I took my girlfriend to Paris one Easter and had a wonderful time. The city has got to be one of the most beautiful I've seen and the food and the wine is fantastic. It is a very romantic city, probably due to slower pace of life and beautiful surroundings. Some people moan about the people being being very unfriendly. Personally i didn't find that to be the case at all. Obviously some people are rushing to work or whatever and can't be bothered with tourists, but we've all experienced that. The hoteliers and restauranteers were great, though I think if you were to expect them to speak English the chances are they would be rude. if you're in their country make the effort to speak the language and you'll be welcomed accordingly. One thing I would say is that it is a tad expensive. if you avoid the main centre and eat out in the Latin... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Like Taking a Holiday!
Disadvantages: Like your Wallet has Taken a Holiday!

...... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Bene!
Disadvantages: Non!

...This wonderful little book was presented to me many years ago after I had completed a Latin seminar (what would turn out to be the last of my language courses as an undergraduate). It was a wonderful gift, and I have found much use for the various phrases, and an extraordinary amount of humour that can be derived from the blandest of statements when translated into Latin. For example, the innocuous phrase 'Darn! There goes my beeper!' becomes quite funny in Latin: Heu! Tintinnuntius meus sonat! One has visions of Caesar fumbling through his tunic for some beeping object. As one might readily object -- how can there be a word in Latin for beeper (or bleeper)? Such things did not exist. Author Henry Beard had to improvise, but then again, that is what langauges have been doing, well, at least since the Roman times. One can see... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Bene!
Disadvantages: Non!

...After Beard's first book, 'Latin for All Occasions', one might say this book is a case of deja vu, or prius visum, as the Latin would have it. The first volume was presented to me many years ago after I had completed a Latin seminar (what would turn out to be the last of my language courses as an undergraduate). It was a wonderful gift, and I have found much use for the various phrases, and an extraordinary amount of humour that can be derived from the blandest of statements when translated into Latin. It was a gift that was so appreciated by both giver and recipient that naturally the second volume became a gift as well. Who said Latin wasn't useful? Henry Beard, in this volume and its predecessor, demonstrates that it is very useful, and not just for identifying a dish on a menu in Rome that looks suspiciously like the Latin word... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Much funnier than the original, easy syntax
Disadvantages: Need to understand Latin pretty well, weird vocabulary

...haven’t already read it in English. The cover is almost identical to the original cover, except the Hogwarts Express now says “Hamaxostichus rapidus Hogvartensis” on the front, and the title’s in Latin. I was most disappointed to note that the sign for Platform Nine and Three Quarters is in ordinary Arabic numerals, not Roman ones. Though as the Romans didn’t really go in for fractions, and their numerals aren’t suited to them, that’s not really all that surprising. Harrius Potter is much, much funnier than Harry Potter. This is for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that whenever you read it, you have a voice in the back of your head singing ‘You’re reading Harry Potter in Latin! You’re reading Harry Potter in Latin!’. But the main reason for this, in my opinion, is the way in which the translator Peter Needham gets around... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Good location
Disadvantages: Tiny baths!

...Just back from 4 great nights in Paris at La Villa hotel. The location is fantastic - only a short walk away from loads of exciting restaurants and cafe-bars in the happening Latin Quarter. Try out Le Pres Aux Clercs next door (Hemingway's old haunt apparently, he used to live close by) - the food is fairly expensive but very good and the massive tree in the middle of the dining room is amazing! The hotel itself is on a quiet street in the heart of St Germain, plus all the rooms have shutters, which help to keep the noise to a minimum at night. The reception staff at La Villa are generally very helpful and the rooms are clean and well-decorated/furnished. Each room is equipped with a minibar, complimentary toiletries,robes and hairdryer. My only complaint is that the baths are very small (I could not lie down in ours, and I am only 5... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: In the middle of the city
Disadvantages: No dining, no A/C, noisey rooms

..., but there is no restaurant in this hotel. You can order room service and they bring it to the hotel on the back of a motorcycle. The food is cold when it arrives. So, for dinner I recommend jumping on the Metro to Saint Michel and wandering the streets of the Latin Quarter