Product Details

• Format: Color, Live, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Questar, Inc
• VHS Release Date: July 19, 1991
• Run Time: 73 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302166616
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #178,813 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Journey to Germany, a land of soaring cathedrals, alpine peaks, and fairy tale forests. Sail along the Rhine and Elbe rivers and join the boisterous celebration of Munich's Oktoberfest. Be dazzled by the splendid castle of mad King Ludwig II at Neuschwanstein, and the palatial retreat of Sanssouci Castle. Relish the music and culture of Bach's Leipzig, the literary shrine of Goethe's Weimar, and the porcelain treasures of Meissen. Relive the historic events that led to the fall of The Berlin Wall and explore the study in contrasts that characterizes today's Berlin. Video Visits brings the world into your home. Experience the beauty and grandeur of the world's greatest cities and countries and learn about their people, culture, and history. Entertaining and educational, Video Visits is ideal for travelers and would-be travelers of all ages.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent overview for before (or after!) your trip, May 11, 2003

By 

Esther Schindler (Scottsdale, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Germany [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Most travel videos follow a path. Whether they go by train, car, or donkey, you bop along the road one stop at a time. visiting cities and towns in the sequence you'd encounter them, and you could follow along on a map.

This video is different, and to the viewer's benefit. It's organized by topic rather than geography. For instance, you learn about the evolution of church architecture, with examples inside the Speyer Cathedral before Koln, so that you understand what you're looking at when you finally visit each place. It also provides a historical context, so you learn why and when towns got walls. They actually show details, too, not just a zoom by with a camera; you have enough time to say, "oooh, that's beautiful!" before they move on to the next topic.

The video's main weakness *and* strength is that it doesn't always identify the places it's showing. In the section on walled towns, for instance, I recognized Rotenberg ab Tauber from the photos -- but they never mentioned the town at all. It's a frequent stop for tourists (for good reasons, mind you), so in a way it's a relief not to be told all about it again. But if I'd fallen in love with the idea of visiting "a place just like that" I'd have had no idea where to go.

On the other hand, they don't clutter up the explanations with "hey! look where we are!" that so many other videos do.

In terms of places covered: this video shows quite a bit of East Germany (possibly reflecting the time in which it was filmed, which was relatively soon after the Berlin wall came down). It also goes places I haven't seen covered elsewhere, such as small resort towns in northern Germany. Yes, it does stop in major places like Munich and Berlin, but they actually show you stuff inside the museums instead of the European equivalents of a Disneyland "Kodak Picture Spot." I appreciated that quite a bit.

This video would be worth watching before you travel to Germany, while you're still contemplating what you'd like to see and do. *Then* pull out the guidebooks to choose specific destinations.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Discovering Germany, July 15, 2004

By 

Louis A Messer (Near Ft Worth TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Germany [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This VHS is a must prior to taking a trip to Germany. Find out places to go to and things to look for.