Passport to Europe: Seven Fabulous Cities (2004) Review

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(More customer reviews)Host Samantha Brown travels to
- Brussels, Belgium
-Prague, Czech Republic
-Amsterdam, Netherlands
-Lisbon, Portugal
-Barcelona, Madrid and Seville, Spain.
Each show format is a little bit of history of each location, places to visit and travel tips. Samantha Brown also spends some time showing each of the hotels she is staying in, chats with locals, eats some food and looks at Cathedrals, historical buildings and museums. The hotels she stays at and the way she travels is definitely on a high budget and she can spend a lot more then most people. The architecture in these cities shown in the DVD is amazing.
If you like travel shows and/or are interested in learning more about Europe and some interesting places to visit, this is a good DVD. Samantha is a fun host and is likeable. I think the travel host has a lot to do with liking the series or not.


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Enthusiastic and adventurous, Samantha Brown is the perfect tour guide for the most exciting places in the world. Explore exotic locales up close and personal as you may never have seen them. Samantha interacts with the locals and discovers popular landmarks many tourists miss. Plus, she discusses the culture and history of these intriguing areas and shares invaluable travel tips. BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: Samantha visits the royal chocolate supplier, enjoys the city's legendary waffles and is surprised to find the city's equivalent of a hotdog cart - an escargot stand! That's the kind of adventure that's easy to stomach. PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC: Behind the Iron Curtain until 1990, Prague has emerged as a top tourist destination. The city's breathtaking architecture, art, music and unique style are unlike anything you'll see anywhere else in the world. AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND: Known for its laid-back attitude, Amsterdam is the perfect place to just hang out and soak up the atmosphere and history. Samantha hops on a bike to explore the tree-lined canals and colorful neighborhoods and checks into a houseboat for a different kind of hotel experience. BARCELONA, SPAIN: Samantha experiences Barcelona's renowned nightlife as well as the surreal architecture of Antoni Gaudi. Stroll the picturesque medieval lanes, and explore the sidewalk markets and festive street celebrations. MADRID, SPAIN: Sample the sensual city of Madrid with a visit to the famed Prado Museum, a stay in a hotel with a flair for the dramatic and a meal of unexpected local favorites - paella and hot chocolate. SEVILLE, SPAIN: Bypass the frantic pace of a typical European vacation with a visit to Seville where locals think the world is moving way too fast. Moorish castles, Gothic cathedrals, Spanish wines and tapas await those ready to enjoy life to the fullest. LISBON, PORTUGAL: This longtime city of adventure continues to be one of Europe's most exciting places. Samantha visits a coffeehouse to experience "fado," a music inspired by such emotion that no other nation has duplicated it, and stays in a luxury hotel that was formerly a royal palace.

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Van der Valk Mysteries, Set 1 Review

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(More customer reviews)"Van Der Valk,"a classic cult British mystery television series, set on the streets of Amsterdam in the early 1970's, has finally been released on DVD. The series, a police procedural that stars Barry Foster (Bob Rusk in Alfred Hitchcock's "Frenzy,"Alfred Hitchcock The Masterpiece Collection - Frenzy / Family Plot / AFI Salute to Alfred Hitchcock plus other extras Bonus Disc (DVD);Smiley's People, Ryan's Daughter , and The Sweeney - The Complete First Series), plays the title character, based on the novels of Edgar Award-winning British mystery author Nicolas Freeling. The entertainment was made by Thames Television for Britain's ITV (Independent Television stations); debuted in the U.K. in 1972, and ran for five seasons. It was broadcast in the United States on PBS (Public Television stations) in the 1990s. Set 1 is a 2 DVD box set that runs approximately 306 minutes; it includes all six episodes from Series 1 and an interview with the series' creator, Freeling. Unfortunately, as the cast speaks in a mixture of accents, some Dutch, some English, and Foster in best cockney, playing his character as one of the lads, the production does not offer subtitles.
The series was shot largely on location in the charming old city of Amsterdam, all cobblestones and canals; however, neither the visual nor the sound quality is up to what we might expect today. Production values are also lower than we might expect with a similar entertainment today - and there are no guest stars. The dramas are gritty, and make full use of their setting, the peculiarities of the Dutch character, and their time. Van Der Valk smokes like a chimney, drinks hard --doing both in the actual station house -- and is out and about, driving a police car after having had a few drinks, with, of course, no seat belts. It's definitely the 1970's, grass cloth walls, caftans, KLM calendars wherever you look, all brown outfits: the real 1970s, not the Life on Mars: The Complete Series 1970s.
The catchy theme song by Dutchman Jack Trombey was commercially released as "Eye Level:" it became a Top 40 Hit, and sold millions of copies worldwide. To my ear, it strongly echoes the music you could then hear in Amsterdam, played by organs in the streets: I actually visited that city twice in the late 60's, early 70's, during the years of my English exile, and can still hear the notes.
Foster portrays Van Der Valk in a counter-intuitive way: he's not the character we would expect from the Dutch stereotypes we carry, such as phlegmatic, pragmatic: his policeman is excitable, free-wheeling, and rebellious. The policeman has, in fact, been called a Dutch "Columbo." However, the author Freeling (born Nicolas Davidson in London, England in 1927), had Dutch-German blood through his mother, and lived most of his life in continental Europe, in France; he also frequently went to Amsterdam to research its goings on, so let's assume he knew what he was doing. He published 37 books in all, and won the three most prestigious mystery writers awards, the Edgar of the Mystery Writers of America; the Gold Dagger of the Crime Writers' Association, and France's Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere. Unfortunately for us all, he grew tired of his Dutch creation, and killed Van Der Valk off, just as this series was airing, in 1972.
The episodes are:
1. One Herring's Not Enough. A sculptor/art school teacher walks in to confess killing his wife and her young lover, but there's no sign of such a crime.
2. Destroying Angel. An unknown man living above a seedy bar is poisoned to death. Commisaris Van Der Valk considers it a woman's crime, and suspects one of the sex workers in the brothel next door.
3. Blue Notes. A world-famous Dutch violinist returns to Amsterdam for a rare performance. Someone smashes his Stradivarius, and then he ends up dead.
4. Elected Silence. The daughter of a controversial right-wing journalist disappears; where's the ransom note. What's going on?
5. Thicker than Water. A well-to-do young Englishman shows up dead in an Amsterdam canal, and his powerful mother doesn't seem to care. The dead man's trail leads Van Der Valk through the city's seamiest gay, transvestite, and sado-masochistic bars.
6. The Adventurer. A fatal accident; the dead man, a Lebanese, is carrying a gun and a picture of an anonymous local stonemason. The commisaris is troubled.
Now listen, I initially saw this series during the years of my English exile; it was great company for me. And I loved it: and I loved the underlying Freeling books. I believe I read every one of them, up to the 1972 work in which the author killed off his best-loved character. So don't try to argue with my opinion on this.


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