Trip Report: Belgium, Netherlands, NW France

This is my first trip report, so sorry if its not so entertaining. I tried
to include some info on the hotels, restaurants & places we visited, which
hopefully may be useful in the future.

Days 1 & 2, Brussels

We flew into Brussels as a central location for our trip to
France/Belgium/Netherlands. I'd heard it wasn't the most interesting city,
but we hadn't been there and it seemed like a good place to rest up from
the flight. Besides, Belgium seemed like a good place to start; the food &
beer is great, and the people are friendly and almost always seem to speak
good English.

True enough, there was about a half-day of sightseeing. We ate a decent
but frugal meal at one of the restaurants on the street just north of the
museum, (which I'd mistaken for the Rue des Bouchers). I tried Jupiler
beer for the first time - I usually go for the strong ales but after
seeing the signs a hundred times I thought I'd give it a try (besides, it
was cheaper than Coca-Cola!). It really was much better than I expected!

We stayed in the Les Ecrins hotel
(http://users.skynet.be/bs364837/home_uk.htm), which was perfect given
that we really got no sleep on the flight over. The hotel was close to a
metro station, and as quiet as a country home. We had essentially a one
bedroom apartment, complete with kitchen. The proprietor was a very nice
fellow, and he provided us a map and some local info.

My wife & daughter spent much of the second day shopping - there is a huge
pedestrian shopping area just east of Place De Brouckere (Rue Neuve?).
There were also enough brasseries in that are for me to sample a few beers
while waiting, and we had a couple of "kebabs" (which weren't kebabs at
all, but something like chicken giros). There are a couple of grocery
stores on Rue Saint Catherine, southeast of the St Catherine metro station
- these provided some cheap snacks and drinks. Frequent rain somewhat
limited what we could do anyway.

Days 3 - 5, Amsterdam/Haarlem

Off we went to the land of giants on bicycles.

We took Rick Steves' advice and stayed in Haarlem. Haarlem is a charming
little town, with few cars and swarms of bicycles. There is a wonderful
main square with a huge cathedral on one end and some sort of smaller
church on the other end. We were near the smaller church. There was a
flurry of activity around this church all afternoon, as newlyweds or proud
parents of (apparently newly-christened) babies seem to pop out every hour
or so. Tourists would join in on the celebration and applaud as well. Off
the square, there were bicyclists everywhere. Streets were either
primarily used by bicyclists or the streets would have separate little
"mini-streets" on the side partitioned off for bikes. The town was
surrounded with a canal and Amsterdam-like gabled houses. It was a
pleasant town for walking, and probably a better town for biking. We were
really enjoying Haarlem.

We'd heard that the Dutch were the tallest people in the world, but we
really weren't prepared for it. I figured it was some fluke of averages,
where they might be just a tiny bit taller than other people, and in the
end it would result in some slightly greater average height. But these
people are giants. It wasn't unusual to see women my height, and men
several inches taller than me..and I'm about average height for just about
any causasian country I've been in. It was like being around a basketball
tournament. Truely amazing!

We had Indonesian food at the place that Rick Steves calls the best in
town, De Lachende Javaan. The 22€ rice table ended up being 22€ per
person, so we orded some a la carte meals - my wife had fish in a chili
sauce, which was very tasty; I had some truely awful curry chicken, and my
daughter had very bland sate. We were glad we didn't shell out 66€ at that
place.

Our hotel was the Amadeus (http://www.amadeus-hotel.com/), on the main
square - also out of Rick Steves' guide. This was without a doubt one of
the noisiest hotels we've ever stayed in. The single-paned windows did
nearly nothing to muffle the sound, and the restaurant crowds seemed to
grow increasingly rowdy as night progressed, with occasional whooping and
hollering beginning around midnight. Then about 6AM, the huge Saturday
market began setting up, with an amazing amount of crashing and banging.
At this point I was becoming very disallusioned with Rick Steves!

We took the short train trip to Amsterdam, and decided to get passes on
the metro as it was definitely going to rain (so bicycles were out). This
didn't work out well at all - most of the trams follow just a few routes
through the town center and then shoot out to the suburbs...which is what
we did. Realizing where we were, I got us off at the Albert Cuyp market
and we browsed around there awhile. This is a HUGE open market with
everything from clothes to food, south of the Heineken brewery. My wife
really likes these sorts of markets, so she was happy. But at that point
we really had little choice but to start walking back. We headed back up
the west side (never quite finding the Jordaan district), wandered into
the red light district and back up to the station, stopping occasionally
to avoid the rain. My wife & daughter really don't care for museums or
art, but much of the sightseeing of Amsterdam is its museums; exhausted
and lacking much else to do, we headed back to Haarlem.

We then wandered around Haarlem as much as our sore feet could stand,
looking for a restaurant that was reasonable and not too smoke-filled (if
only we'd have done that the day before when we were already walking
around!). We finally settled on an Italian restaurant across the street
from Vroom & Dreesman, mainly because it was very busy with locals. I
think it was the Venezia (it was definitely not the Black Beauty, which
was next door). The food was great, and the service was friendly.

Sunday started out much better; morning was quiet, and we finally got some
sleep again. Then we headed to the Zaanse Schans
(http://www.zaanseschans.nl/EN.html) - an enchanting little hamlet that is
just what one would imagine of old Holland, complete with wooden shoes &
windmills. There actually are working windmills, a small old town of
various shops, and a wooden shoe store where they demonstrate how wooden
shoes are made (once they started using machinery). It really gives one
the feeling of being in a lowland, where one faulty dike would mean the
end of it all. It was a fun place for an afternoon, but didn't really
require all day. The trip required a stop in Amsterdam anyway, so we
decided to take advantage of the good weather and do something there. My
companions both wanted to take a boat ride, though by this time it was
very hot and I really thought a ride on a glass-enclosed boat was a bad
idea. They insisted, so after an hour of torturous baking we again dragged
our weary bodies to the sanctuary of Haarlem, and again dined at the
Venezia.

Monday morning, we were again awaken by the banging and crashing of yet
another market setup, but at least we were finally leaving. We lugged our
baggage the kilometer to the train station, and hoped for better days.

Days 5 & 6 - Ghent

We took the train back to Brussels, and rented a car for the next few
days. Driving into Ghent isn't nearly as straightforward as the maps would
have it appear, but we made it to the old town center and suddenly found
ourselves surrounded by massive cathedrals in every direction. We were
completely awestruck (we were also going the wrong direction, but hadn't
noticed..the policeman directing traffic certainly noticed, though!).

We stayed at the Erasmus Hotel
(http://www.hotels-belgium.com/gent/erasmus-gent.htm), a pair of
16th-century buildings that had been updated quite recently. It was a
lovely hotel, very quiet and a very short walk to the old city center. It
was so nice to finally get a good night's sleep. There is also a big
shopping area nearby, which the girls enjoyed.

For food, we had read to "look for the places where the bicycles are
parked", but we only found but one...McDonalds! My wife & I picked up
some mussels and fries at a stand while heading to the Veneziana (across
the street from the Gravensteen castle), which a guide said was the place
to go for waffles and ice cream for my daughter. It started raining again,
so we ran up to the Veneziana...and for the first time met an inhospitable
Belgian. As my wife entered the restaurant, still holding some fries, the
owner ran toward the door wagging her finger, saying "no, no, no, you
cannot bring those in here". We understood she probably didn't want food
from somewhere else in her restaurant, so we stood outside under the
awning finishing off the fries and perusing a menu. The owner then opened
the door and said, "in fact, I'd prefer you don't eat them out here
either." So off we went into the rain, and never returned. It was
understandable why the place had no customers. There were plenty of other
places to get waffles.

The touristy part of Ghent is quite small, and can easily be walked in an
afternoon. By the third day as we were leaving, we'd seen it several
times, but we still found ourselves saying "wow" as we walked across the
St Michel bridge. Ghent is truely a sight to see.

Day 6 - Rouen, Honfluer

We stopped by Rouen en route to Honfleur. The cathedral is awesome, if
nothing else because of its massive size (this is the cathedral that Monet
painted several times). The nearby pedestrian street looks like
half-timbered houses on Rick Steves' video, but that was just fancy
camerawork. At ground level, its all modern shops...yet another shopping
area. Rouen is worth the stop for the cathedral, but I was glad we weren't
staying. I was really getting sick of shopping!

The old town center of Honfleur is a little old port, which was swarming
with tourists (on a Wednesday!). The streets are about as wide as my
living room, snaking all over town, and we spent a half-hour or so finding
the hotel and a place to park. Really the thing to do is just park in the
main lot and start walking. Honfleur was cute, its main attraction being a
old harbor which is small enough to easily fit in one picture. Otherwise
there was very little there and it didn't seem deserving of all the
tourist traffic. We stayed at the Hotel des Loges, which lacked character
but had an amazingly comfortable bed with sheets that were way too nice
for a hotel, and towels that were nearly big enough to be bedsheets
themselves.

The restaurants were all fairly expensive, and of course focused on
"fruits de mer" - seafood. Unfortunately, only one of us really likes
seafood. We finally settled on "Le Poullian'aire" (or some similar name).
The food was OK, but we were surrounded by customers smoking cigarettes
and all we could really think about was leaving. We were reminded that
this is what dining in France is like - we're not used to being around
cigarette smoke and find it very onerous, so we wouldn't be dining in
restaurants as much for the rest of the trip.

Day 7 - Normandy

We drove down the coast to Bayeux, and had intended to visit some D-day
monuments. We got off the motorway earlier than planned, and passed
through several coastal towns. It was an accident to get off the motorway,
but I didn't bother to try getting back on because I thought it'd be nice
to pass through some non-tourist towns. It made for slower travel, but was
worth the time. You really don't see much of the people from a train or
motorway.

We passed through several towns, some which had nothing to do with D-day,
some which did. It was easy to imagine the struggle that it must have been
to get from the beachhead to these higher grounds under enemy fire. There
are good descriptions of the landing at several locations. We then visited
the American cemetery. It was surprising how virtually all the headstones
had a date in either June or July of 1944; these young men must have spent
their last days with death all around them. Standing in a sea of crosses
makes one ponder the futility of war.

Next was Bayeux, which has the main attraction of a long "tapestry"
(really an embroidery) that describes the events leading up to the Battle
of Hastings in 1066, and the battle itself. Each visitor is given an
audioguide which describes the various scenes at a blistering pace (with
no way to pause or back up), and before you know it you're at the end. Its
worth the time to go back and look it over one more time. Bayeux also has
a beautiful cathedral.

We stayed in Fougères, which is in Brittany...it would have been nice to
spend more time in Normandy, but our quick pass through the region was
enjoyable.

Days 8 & 9 - Fougères, Mont St Michel

In Fougères, we stayed at the Les Voyageurs hotel
(http://www.activereservations.com/ho...ah-223665.html),
actually a Citotel. It was a modest but clean hotel, very quiet and quite
inexpensive.

We spent the morning in Mont St Michel, which is splendid beyond words. It
would have been marvelous to stay the night there, but the hotels were
booked (for triples, anyway) months ago. By mid-day it was swarmed with
tourists, and it was time to go. We were planning to spend the afternoon
in Dinan, but we liked Fougères so we headed back and walked around there
for the afternoon. Fougères has an enormous old fortress, a pleasant
garden, a small midieval section, and friendly people. What can I say, we
really enjoy small towns.

Days 10 & 11 - Loire Valley

After a pleasurable drive into the valley, we stopped at the chateau in
Villandry. This has a beautiful garden, and we spent a good while there.
Then we went to Chenonceaux, which has one of the best-known chateaus. We
stayed at Le Relais Chenonceaux
(http://www.chenonceaux.com/uk/index.html), which was passable,
inexpensive, and very quiet. I would have spent a bit more to stay at La
Roserie (http://www.charmingroseraie.com/), but they never replied to my
inquiries.

We toured the chateau, which wasn't nearly as spectacular up close as it
is in the pictures. Perhaps we've just been inside too many palaces and
have become jaded? It was clear that the place had received a good deal of
wear and tear from its million visitors a year. We rented a boat and rowed
around in the river, which my daughter really enjoyed.

We ate at Au Gateau de Breton, which I got out of a guide (not sure
which). We were a little worried because it was so empty, but the food was
exceptional. I was very hungry and ordered a la carte chicken with
tarragon, that was one of the best meals I've ever enjoyed. My wife
ordered a 3-course meal with fish, which was rather meager (fortunately I
had a drumstick to spare!). My daughter wanted to have a omelette before
we strayed too far from Brittany, and it was quite good. As we were
finishing up, the tables began to fill!

On the trip to Paris, we stopped at the Chambord chateau. This place is
truely spectacular; pictures never seem to capture the dramatic details of
its exterior.

Days 12 - 15 - Paris

We've been to Paris two years ago, but my wife really enjoyed it (the only
big city she's ever really liked) so we were back for a few days. Much of
what we did was repeat visits to various areas; we were actually wishing
we'd stayed in the country a day longer. It was very hot, and the sun was
brutal. Often we retired early to cool down catch the last half of the
Tour de France.

We stayed at the Hotel Leveque (http://www.hotel-leveque.com/), another
Rick Steves favorite. We liked the Rue Cler area, but in the past few
years it seems to have become the "American Quater". The brasseries &
restaurants were all filled with Americans (doing their best to appear
French it seems, but given away by the accent). The Leveque was subjected
to much of the same noise that kept us awake so much in Haarlem, though
the windows were more soundproofed. We stayed in the Hotel Muguet on our
last trip, which was much quieter (but more expensive). The Leveque had
air conditioning and free ice, which was much appreciated at the end of
the sweltering hot days.

Our final day we decided to have a nice dinner. Eating in Paris has always
been awkward, as we never any idea what we might be ordering; we finally
found a place with English descriptions (which unfortunately weren't very
clear and in one case was just plain wrong). My wife (who insists that
meat be cooked thoroughly) unknowlingly ordering some sort of
thinly-sliced raw meat (the menu didn't say, even though it did indicate
raw on the tartare items). I ordered a steak, which I suppose was a timid
choice but again provided backup for my wife's minimal meal. In any case,
the place was thick with smoke and all we really wanted to do was leave.
The Bordeaux was good, though - far better than the Kronenburg 1664 beer
I'd had a few days earlier, which from my vague memory of Budweiser seemed
to be a dead ringer for that swill.

All in all it was a fast-paced but enjoyable trip. Amsterdam, Rouen &
Honfluer were generally unspectacular, while Zaanse Schans, Ghent,
Normandy & Brittany were particularly nice. Haarlem was a great little
town, if only we'd managed to find a quieter hotel location.

--
-BB-
To e-mail me, unmunge my address

On Sat, 16 Jul 2005, BB wrote:

This is my first trip report, so sorry if its not so entertaining.

I thought it was fine. Maybe put it on a web page?

Our hotel was the Amadeus (http://www.amadeus-hotel.com/), on the main
square - also out of Rick Steves' guide. This was without a doubt one of
the noisiest hotels we've ever stayed in. The single-paned windows did
nearly nothing to muffle the sound, and the restaurant crowds seemed to
grow increasingly rowdy as night progressed, with occasional whooping and
hollering beginning around midnight. Then about 6AM, the huge Saturday
market began setting up, with an amazing amount of crashing and banging.
At this point I was becoming very disallusioned with Rick Steves!

I also stayed around that square at a different hotel. But my room was on
the back. Too bad yours wasn't also on the rear.

Don www.donwiss.com (e-mail link at home page bottom).

"BB" wrote in message
...
This is my first trip report, so sorry if its not so entertaining. I tried
to include some info on the hotels, restaurants & places we visited, which
hopefully may be useful in the future.


I'm afraid I didn't tot them up.

Was the Rick Stevens score positive or negaitive?

tim



-BB-
To e-mail me, unmunge my address

On Sat, 16 Jul 2005 23:26:27 +0200, tim (moved to sweden) wrote:

I'm afraid I didn't tot them up.

Was the Rick Steves score positive or negaitive?

Pretty much negative when it comes to hotel and restaurant selection, at
least for this trip. Still, I've gathered a considerable amount of useful
information over the years from his books in regards to travel
alternatives, sights where crowds are a problem, and various other needs.

--
-BB-
To e-mail me, unmunge my address

BB wrote:

This is my first trip report, so sorry if its not so entertaining.

Nothing to apologise for: I enjoyed it thoroughly; thank you.

It happens that I have visited most of the places you did, which makes
your report particularly interesting to me: it's very enjoyable
getting somebody else's view.


I tried
to include some info on the hotels, restaurants & places we visited, which
hopefully may be useful in the future.

Good idea.

Days 1 & 2, Brussels

Brussels is indeed worth a day or two: not that many major tourist
draws, but a pleasant and surprisingly relaxed place. Good beer, too,
as you observed.


Days 3 - 5, Amsterdam/Haarlem

I haven't tried Harlem, but I have been far less disappointed with
Amsterdam than you seem to have been. I like the museums and the bars,
the canals and the buildings, and the people.

Days 5 & 6 - Ghent

Ghent is lovely, albeit small. You might have overlooked opportunities
to visit some of the neighbouring towns, many of which are pleasant.


Day 6 - Rouen, Honfluer

We stopped by Rouen en route to Honfleur. The cathedral is awesome, if
nothing else because of its massive size (this is the cathedral that Monet
painted several times). The nearby pedestrian street looks like
half-timbered houses on Rick Steves' video, but that was just fancy
camerawork. At ground level, its all modern shops...yet another shopping
area. Rouen is worth the stop for the cathedral, but I was glad we weren't
staying. I was really getting sick of shopping!

I'm with you on Rouen except that I take a different view of the
modern shops in the timber buildings: many of them are extremely well
integrated into the structures.

The old town center of Honfleur is a little old port, which was swarming
with tourists (on a Wednesday!). The streets are about as wide as my
living room, snaking all over town, and we spent a half-hour or so finding
the hotel and a place to park. Really the thing to do is just park in the
main lot and start walking. Honfleur was cute, its main attraction being a
old harbor which is small enough to easily fit in one picture. Otherwise
there was very little there and it didn't seem deserving of all the
tourist traffic.

Did you miss the wooden church?

The restaurants were all fairly expensive, and of course focused on
"fruits de mer" - seafood. Unfortunately, only one of us really likes
seafood.

Honfleur is great for food but I take your point: if you are not into
seafood, the options become more limited.

We finally settled on "Le Poullian'aire" (or some similar name).
The food was OK, but we were surrounded by customers smoking cigarettes
and all we could really think about was leaving. We were reminded that
this is what dining in France is like - we're not used to being around
cigarette smoke and find it very onerous, so we wouldn't be dining in
restaurants as much for the rest of the trip.

Both herself and I are fairly tolerant of tobacco smoke (I smoke a
pipe) so we might not feel as troubled as you did. In general, though,
I find that many French people do not smoke in restaurants. You were
unlucky.

Day 7 - Normandy

Next was Bayeux, which has the main attraction of a long "tapestry"
(really an embroidery) that describes the events leading up to the Battle
of Hastings in 1066, and the battle itself. Each visitor is given an
audioguide which describes the various scenes at a blistering pace (with
no way to pause or back up), and before you know it you're at the end. Its
worth the time to go back and look it over one more time. Bayeux also has
a beautiful cathedral.

Bayeux is worth visiting. I never use audio guides, and now you have
given me a further excuse.

Days 8 & 9 - Fougères, Mont St Michel

In Fougères, we stayed at the Les Voyageurs hotel
(http://www.activereservations.com/ho...ah-223665.html),
actually a Citotel. It was a modest but clean hotel, very quiet and quite
inexpensive.

Been there, and I would endorse your recommendation. Friendly, and
with a fairly good restaurant.

We spent the morning in Mont St Michel, which is splendid beyond words.

Agreed. Especially the cloister.

It
would have been marvelous to stay the night there, but the hotels were
booked (for triples, anyway) months ago. By mid-day it was swarmed with
tourists, and it was time to go. We were planning to spend the afternoon
in Dinan, but we liked Fougères so we headed back and walked around there
for the afternoon. Fougères has an enormous old fortress, a pleasant
garden, a small midieval section, and friendly people. What can I say, we
really enjoy small towns.

I like Fougères for much the same reasons that you did, but if I was
forced to choose, I'd vote for Dinan.

Days 10 & 11 - Loire Valley

We toured the chateau, which wasn't nearly as spectacular up close as it
is in the pictures. Perhaps we've just been inside too many palaces and
have become jaded? It was clear that the place had received a good deal of
wear and tear from its million visitors a year. We rented a boat and rowed
around in the river, which my daughter really enjoyed.

It's the exterior and the setting which are memorable. With the Loire
chateaux, some of the better interiors are in the less spectacular
buildings.

On the trip to Paris, we stopped at the Chambord chateau. This place is
truely spectacular; pictures never seem to capture the dramatic details of
its exterior.

Agreed. It's one hell of a lump.

All in all it was a fast-paced but enjoyable trip. Amsterdam, Rouen &
Honfluer were generally unspectacular, while Zaanse Schans, Ghent,
Normandy & Brittany were particularly nice. Haarlem was a great little
town, if only we'd managed to find a quieter hotel location.

I'm glad it went well for you.

Thanks again for taking the trouble to report back.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

Padraig Breathnach wrote:

[]
Both herself and I are fairly tolerant of tobacco smoke (I smoke a
pipe) so we might not feel as troubled as you did. In general, though,
I find that many French people do not smoke in restaurants. You were
unlucky.

Unfortunately, if you are bothered by smoke (I am) it only takes one
smoker to ruin your meal! I've certainly been bothered by smoke on many
occasions in restaurants in France, except for Nice where I didn't find
it too bad- and a few restaurants we visited even had non-smoking
sections. (My experience is France is usually limited to Paris though,
which might be a very different matter.) The last two visits to Paris
have been in warm months with pleasant weather when eating outside was
the norm- that was fine then.

It's a real issue for myself and my partner. In part we were probably
spoiled by so many years in the US where smoking was either not common,
or simply prohibited- and you'd always have separate sections. Just back
from two weeks in various European countries, it was hard not to assume
that smoking was the national cuisine in them! I found this a bit
disheartening, as I really enjoyed nearly all of the food, and was
usually eating outdoors. I would hate to think I could only stomach
eating in these countries when the weather permitted outdoor eating, but
non-smoking sections are still very rare.

--
David Horne- www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

On Sun, 17 Jul 2005 02:21:27 +0100, chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco wrote:

It's a real issue for myself and my partner. In part we were probably
spoiled by so many years in the US where smoking was either not common,
or simply prohibited

I don't know if I'd call it "spoiled" so much as habituated. I don't
recall it bothering me so much when smoking was more common where I lived.
Now it gives me sinus headaches.

It wasn't meant to be a complaint, just an explaination of why there would
be little discussion of restaurants in the rest of the report. We still
ate out, and had the best dinner of the trip a couple of days later.

--
-BB-
To e-mail me, unmunge my address

BB wrote:

On Sun, 17 Jul 2005 02:21:27 +0100, chancellor of the duchy of besses o'
th' barn and prestwich tesco wrote:

It's a real issue for myself and my partner. In part we were probably
spoiled by so many years in the US where smoking was either not common,
or simply prohibited

I don't know if I'd call it "spoiled" so much as habituated. I don't
recall it bothering me so much when smoking was more common where I lived.

I think it's always bothered me. I grew up in a smoking household, and
never liked or got used to it. I don't get a headache from it,
thankfully, but it inevitably spoils the experience of the taste for me-
given the link between smell and taste. I wouldn't fancy dining next to
an open sewer for similar reasons.

In the UK, I won't go to a restaurant unless it's either non-smoking or
has a decent separated section. There are certainly enough restaurants
here which give that option. The problem when travelling in many other
countries is that the idea of separation doesn't exist.

--
David Horne- www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

On Sun, 17 Jul 2005 01:23:52 +0100, Padraig Breathnach wrote:

Thanks again for taking the trouble to report back.

You may not recall, but it was actually at your suggestion. :-)

And thanks again for your help in planning the trip (your advice and
previous trip reports was the basis for much of the Normandy/Brittany
itenerary, which was really the best part of the trip).

--
-BB-
To e-mail me, unmunge my address

Padraig Breathnach wrote:

BB wrote:
[]
Next was Bayeux, which has the main attraction of a long "tapestry"
(really an embroidery) that describes the events leading up to the Battle
of Hastings in 1066, and the battle itself. Each visitor is given an
audioguide which describes the various scenes at a blistering pace (with
no way to pause or back up), and before you know it you're at the end. Its
worth the time to go back and look it over one more time. Bayeux also has
a beautiful cathedral.

Bayeux is worth visiting. I never use audio guides, and now you have
given me a further excuse.

I've hardly ever used audio guides, but on the few occasions I have,
I've generally found them useful- some more helpful than others.
However, the key point perhaps is that in this case it doesn't seem as
if you could pause or rewind the commentary. That would be a nightmare-
I'd certainly want to make sure it had a pause/rewind feature before
paying extra for one.

--
David Horne- www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk