Hi, I'm a tour manager for a dance company.  We're going to Europe and
I need to do a tour book in 48 hres (believe it or not).  I need some
basic info on the different cities/country we’re visiting:


Prague (Czech Rep)
Rome (Italy)
Munich (Germany)
Amsterdam (NL)
Remscheid (Germany)
Anvers (Belgium)
Ferrara (Italy)
Mons (Belgium)
Paris (France)

The info I need is:

General info on each country : basic facts i.e. history, demography,
geography, language, a bit of politics, weather, etc. etc.
Maps for driving directions in each city
Things to do, to see in each city
Useful expressions 
Etc
Etc.

Please help and save my life…  I’ve been surfing for a few hours and
have found resources that are either too explicative (such as the
Cia’s site or too commercially oriented).  Is there anything more
"middle or the road" and more concise.

Thanks for your prompt response.
Rachèle Bélanger
Tour Director, La La La Human Steps

P.S.  You'll be invited to the concerts should you provide accurate
and usefull info.

Hi roach:

Thank you for the fascinating question. It's been some time since I've
been to Europe myself, but I remember my trips there fondly. You (and
your company) should have a wonderful time.

I understand your frustration about travel information available over
the web. Most of the information is either too cold and clinical (CIA
Factbook) or is oriented towards selling you something (hotels, tours,
plane tickets, etc.). For "middle of the road" and "concise"
information along the lines of what you want, I have two words for
you:

Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet has produced the best and most practical travel guides
for 30 years. I've used them myself on several occasions of the last
20 years. They also have a wonderful, user-friendly website that
contains most of the information you need (at a high enough level not
to bog you down). The only thing they are trying to "sell" you is more
information (in the form of their printed material). However, they do
not scrimp on what's available on the website to do this.

Another plus to their website is that most of the information you'll
need is in "one place". That should help you considering your tight
deadline.

The Lonely Planet website is at:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/

To find the information you need, do the following for each
destination:

* Click on the country on the handy map they provide at:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/loc-eur.htm

* Click on the "information" link located at the top lefthand corner
of the country map. This will bring you to an overview for the country
as a whole. On that page you can find:

- demographic information
- geographic information
- language information
- religion information
- government/political information
- financial information (GDP, Inflation, etc.)
- major industries
- etc. 

Using the links along the lefthand side of the page, you can find out
more about:

- history of the country
- culture
- attractions/events (for the whole country)
- costs of travel
- weather (under "When to Go")
- etc. 

* To find out information about the particular city you will be
visiting, go back to the country map (there's a picture/link to it in
the upper righthand side of the page). Once you have the map up, click
on the city itself and you'll be taken to a map of that city.

* Click on the "information" link located at the top lefthand corner
of the city map. This will bring you to a similar page to the country
page - except all the information is city-specific. You can find
there:

- history
- attractions/events
- etc. 

* If you go back to the city map, you can also click on specific
labeled areas of the map for attraction details.


This should provide you with most of the information you need. To make
things a little simpler for you, the following are the links to the
main pages for all the areas you are visiting:

Czech Republic: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/czech_republic/
Prague: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/prague/

Italy: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/italy/
Rome: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/rome/
 
Germany: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/germany/
Munich: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/munich/

Netherlands: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/netherlands/
Amsterdam: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/amsterdam/

Germany: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/germany/
Remscheid: (no page for this area)

Belgium: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/belgium/
Anvers (a.k.a. Antwerp):
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/belgium/attractions.htm#antwerp

Italy: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/italy/
Ferrara: (no page for this area)
 
Belgium: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/belgium/
Mons:  (no page for this area)

France: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/france/ 
Paris: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/paris/


Because the Lonely Planet website has no specific information for
three of your destination cities, I have provided some additional
links below.

Remscheid: 
**********

Dusseldorf (nearby)
http://www.goethe.de/i/eniodue.htm

Bergisches Land (the general region)  
http://www.nrw-tourismus.de/af/pages_e/con_bergischesland_e.htm

Ferrara:
********

Ferrara - Emilia - History 
http://www.eurotravelling.net/italy/ferrara_emilia/ferrara_emilia_history.htm

FERRARA and surrounding area
http://www.itwg.com/geoarea.asp?sessionid=FD06F90DEEB-DC35-11D6-8ABB-00306E0689C9&AREA=88

The town of Lagosanto
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2551/comune_eng.htm

Mons:
*****

Belgium Travel Network
http://www.trabel.com/mons/mons.htm

Mons - Culture 
http://www.eurotravelling.net/belgium/mons/mons_culture.htm


You also asked for driving direction in each city. Could you please
provide me with some more detail here about exactly what you want? Are
you looking for directions from one city to the next, or directions
within each city itself? I'm more than happy to do some additional
research on this aspect for you once I know more what it is you need.


I hope this information has been of assistance. Please have a look
through all I have provided you, and if you feel you need more, let me
know what it is you are still lacking to create your tour book.

If you need any clarification of the information I have provided,
please ask using the Clarification feature. As well, please allow me
to provide you with clarification *before* you rate this answer.
 
Thank you. 

websearcher-ga


Search Strategy:

Lonely Planet
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Lonely+Planet

Remscheid Germany
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&as_qdr=all&q=Remscheid+Germany&lr=lang_en

Ferrara Italy
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&as_qdr=all&q=Ferrara+Italy&lr=lang_en

Ferrara Italy history
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&as_qdr=all&q=Ferrara+Italy+history&lr=lang_en

mons belgium 
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&as_qdr=all&q=mons+belgium+&lr=lang_en

mons belgium culture
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&as_qdr=all&q=mons+belgium+culture&lr=lang_en

Have you tried Lonely Planet (www.lonelyplanet.com)? And for maps,
Multimap (www.multimap.co.uk) or Mapquest (www.mapquest.com)?

Rachele Belanger:

For Belgium I might suggest that Brugge is a lovely place although 1
1/2 hours from Mons but easily found. The Memling Museum there is
lovely.

Ghent is also a wonderful city and the Van Eyck altar piece at St.
Baffo (I remember it as St. Basil's) Cathedral is beautiful.
"Attractions: St. Baffoskathedral is the home of Mystic Lamb, a
remarkable painting by Hubert and Jan van Eyck that was suffering from
the ravages of age and modem-day pollution until American Express
provided the funds for its restoration. The massive, two-sided
triptych now sits safely behind glass in a well-humidified space.


There is a tavern in Ghent where they serve beer in a queck (sp?)
rounded bottom tall container.  They take one of your shoes and haul
it to the ceiling in a basket in order to insure the return of the
container..."The jokesters at Hecberg de Dulle Griet (Vrijdagmarkt 50)
may ask for a patron's shoe, which will be placed in a basket that is
raised to the ceiling until they finish drinking lots of beer from an
unusually shaped beaker."
   http://www.emcoinc.com/travel/html/Europe/ghent.htm

You may wish to follow a art trail which leads to history and
wonderment...Have a beautiful time.

seedy

Rachele Belanger:

I noticed that you are going to Anvers near Antwerp.  Please reference
the following question and be sure to find some Elixer d' Anvers...It
is quite unique.
   https://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=61063

seedy

Just in addition to the answer and other comments, I have a few links
that may be useful.
You can find useful expressions in Italian, German and French here:
http://www.twenj.com/tipslanguagephrases.htm 
You can find Czech phrases and vocabulary here (as well as lots of
other current info about the Czech Republic):
http://www.locallingo.com/countries/czech_republic/language/lessons/index.html
English is widely spoken in Amsterdam, but you can find some Dutch
expressions here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/euro2000/fans_guide/748179.stm


Hope this helps and that you have a great time :o)