Frommer's Munich and the Bavarian Alps: This book was so compelling that I had my husband read it aloud to me every night while I was taking a shower. I didn't want to miss a word. During the winter it made me dream of a summer vacation far from the heat of Tucson, Arizona in the shadow of the Alps Mountains. I imagined myself in Munich and Berchtesgaden. In Munich I was going to see the Residenz, the home of Bavaria's 700-year old royal family, the oldest in Europe, the Wittlesbachs. The archways where the appearance of all the towns of Bavaria has been preserved in paintings sounds fantastic. It's amazing how they survived the bombing of Munich during World War II. Now all I have to do is get there!
Update: I got there all right in the summer of 2012. The Residenz was under construction that summer, but we drove up in front of it anyway and honked in case it might remember my winter dreams about it. Instead we went to the Hofbrauhaus and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. It was right next to the Mandarin Oriental, a grand historic hotel. And my Alpine dreams were fulfilled by a visit to Berchtesgaden. We climbed up a 24 percent grade to reach the Obersalzberg. We ate at the Berggastof and gazed out the big picture window. The Alps were so close that you could reach out and touch them.
Note: This was one of the most influential books I ever read. It actually inspired me to drive from Tucson to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, cross the Atlantic, drive around Europe, and return again.