Mona Winks

$80??? Elaine, I have a 1988 edition that I will be more than happy to sell for that price; it is in pretty good condition except for the ripped out Alte Pinakothek chapter ;) The contents from Mona Winks has basically been incorporated into the regular guidebooks. For example, the Paris guidebook has chapters with a Louvre tour, Orsay tour, etc. It is actually much better the way it is now.

We used Mona Winks. Found it very hellpful. Several copies can be located on eBay for less than $10 including delivery.

I believe I got a copy of MonaWinks several years ago as a gift when I made a purchase from Steves.

I also have a copy of Mona Winks as well as "Accessible Europe", (also no longer in print) which I purchased to help a friend plan a trip.

Re: "Did Mona Winks get absorbed into Europe 101?"
No, Mona Winks did not get absorbed into Europe 101 - actually, the two books are quite different. I see that Mona Winks is no longer listed on Rick's site, so I assume it's no longer in print. Too bad. Essentially, Mona Winks was a "copy and paste" of the museum and other walking tours that could also be found Rick's city, regional, or national guidebook. For example, Mona Winks had the exact same tour of the Louvre that could be found in his Paris book. But the nice thing about Mona Winks is that it had all the walking tours of the big museums in one place. The breadth of its coverage may have caused it to not sell well.

I liked Mona Winks but haven't looked for it in a long time. You might find a copy in a library but paperbacks tend to wear out in libraries pretty quickly.

I don't know what the current status is, but I saw some material from Mona (and from 101) had been folded into the itinerary guidebooks a while back. My guess is that Rick and his publisher decided to put everything in one place.

It appears to me also that Mona Winks is no more and that her tours are incorporated into the "country" books. So I will just have to order a used copy from ebay or Amazon. I'm a little OCD about books and I have to have everything "new". I'm also one of those people who can't cut pages from a guide book - You know the book spine screams when you that, don't you?

try Powells.com, they have used copies ranging from $3.50 to $13. While you're there, get sucked into the world's best travel book collection. Once you find your way out, they have free shipping on orders over $50 (no problem for me).

I'll be honest Elaine, I don't know why anyone would want to buy an old copy of Mona Winks. If you want the self guided tours of the Paris museums, get an up-to-date version by buying the Paris guidebook instead. If you want the tours of Rome museums, get the Rome guidebook. And so on ... Better yet, get the audio tour for your Ipod.

I'm with Laura - the museum tours are included in the appropriate guidebooks these days; now "Europe 101" is a different story. That's a (simplified) history book, and it's still in print anyway. History doesn't change much...

I would want the current version of museum tours if I'm going to the be in the museum. Stuff moves around all the time. If you;d just like to read Rick's take on the great European museums, then buy a used copy from Powell's by all means.

That's a valid point - I will just get 101...I was planning on that but wanted Mona Winks also. But I can just get the tours as needed in the country books. And now I have to confess to y'all I don't own an iPod. I have purchased 4 of them, but I don't OWN one myself - they were Xmas & graduation gifts. Does Rick have a lot of stuff Available for iPod? I never cared about having one, but listening to Rick Steve on audio just might push me to buy for me.

You can find the list of audio tours here: http://www.ricksteves.com/news/podcast_menu.htm. He has lots for Paris, Italy, and Britain. Well worth it to get an iPod.

What Doug said is probably why Mona Winks isn't in print any more. It's not unusual for Museums to move things around to make room for a special exhibition, renovate a wing or just keep a fresh look. Mona told where specific paintings were at. I noticed several weren't where the book said when Mona was still relatively new. It probably wasn't worth spending the money to update Mona regularly.

As followup - I found a copy of Mona, (in "very good" condition the seller says we'll see), on eBay for 1.10. So I ordered it. For that price, it's worth taking a look.