Before studying modern languages at Oxford University, MICHAEL IVORY perfected his German by spending time at a Rhineland boarding school. He subsequently taught in Germany and, after qualifying as a landscape architect and urban planner, took many student groups there to learn from the country's considerable achievements in these fields. He has traveled extensively in central and eastern Europe, and has watched with particular interest as the peoples and countries of the former Soviet bloc have adapted to the post-Communist world. Writing a guide to the whole of Germany was the fulfillment of a long-standing ambition. JEREMY GRAY was born of English parents in Louisiana. He began his… writing career at news agencies, working at Agence France Presse and Bloomberg in Germany before moving to The Financial Times in Amsterdam. Gray has more than a dozen guidebooks to his credit, including bestselling titles on Amsterdam, Montreal, and Munich, and has contributed travel photography to publications around the globe. Gray now lives in the pulsing heart of Berlin's Mitte district.