Customer Reviews

Germany [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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