Oct182011

Gail Carriger Returns from Germany! The Frankfurt Book Fair & Beyond

Well, Gentle Reader, I am back in the land of interweb access and full sized blankets. I had a wonderful time in Germany where they seem quite fascinated with good Italian coffee and gelatto, amazing cheese, and marvelous pastries. A girl can live on such things.

Don’t know what to do with tea, those Germans. You should have seen me trying to convince them to bring me milk (NOT cream, thank you very much), and when they did it was warm and frothy. Luckily the tasty breakfast buffet came with an ubiquitous cereal bar and so I merely snagged milk from there for my morning pot and drank delicious lattes the rest of the time.

The AB and I landed in Frankfurt but skirted quickly out of town to Wiesbaden, one of the spa towns and made post haste for the hot water. After 11 hours on a flight who doesn’t want a nice bath and a sauna? Kaiser-Friedrich-Therme

The spa and an angled house, yes the house was leaning. So cute.

After that we went to Frankfurt for the Book Fair it was . . . an experience. It’s like BEA only bigger and requires a map and at least 30 minutes to get around, the fair, mind you not Frankfurt. I met with many of my foreign editors and publishers ~ from Russia to Japan to Sweden to Italy to Germany and beyond ~ although not all of them, as it was so crazy a few of them didn’t make the meetings.

With my Italian editor and having high tea.

One of my favorite things to happen in Frankfurt was visiting my fans. A small but excitable group meet me at the Horse and Hour British pub and sat outside in the cold drinking bear and chattering away. I was a little jet lagged so not quite up to snuff but I learned all sorts of interesting things about the Germany steampunk movement and Clockworker which left me well armed with information for my meeting with my German publisher (the very aptly named Urban) the following day.

Photo of self with Sam, who has a write-up in German of the event, is the creator of this marvelous piece of fan art.

 

“I dare to dream of lovely books getting beautiful faces.”

The AB and I escaped before the fair really got crazy and went to spend five days off grid on the Rhine. It was stunning. We used Koblenz as our base and from there did totally touristy things like Riesling tasting, visiting
–> medieval towns and castles, boat tours, and an unexpected flower show (the Buga).

 

 

–>

In Koblenz we stayed at the Hotel Brennar which I highly recommend. The hotel would certainly have suited a low key Lord Akeldama resplendent with white walls and royal blue and gold accents.

 

 

 

The food in Koblenz would have suited Alexia. There is an endless supply of amazing eats. The AB and I tried everything from bratwurst with mustered and buns and ~ YES! ~ sauerkraut, to boat faire of puff pastry and chicken in gravy sauce (“Good for the ladies” says out steward) to super high end local cheese platters to pair with our Riesling to ultra modern cuisine.
The food on the boat.
Cheese platter to go with wine.

 

Ice cream disguised as spaghetti.

I did find one new fruit I wanted to try, Physalis but I had never heard of it and didn’t have the courage. From the wiki article I probably would have enjoyed it.

 

Book News:
Paranormal Wastelands enjoyed Soulless!

Quote of the Day:
“Plain buns are really one of the most harmless styles of refreshment (though the spirit quails at the thought of the ordinary station bun, which resembles nothing in life so much as a geological fragment), or sandwiches may be eaten, provided they are not of ham.”
~ Lillias Campbell Davidson, Hints to Lady Travellers 1889

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Posted by Gail Carriger

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