A 6am wake up call is never ideal for anyone but that is how my long weekend in Frankfurt, Germany began. As I was determined not to check a bag, I managed to pack what I needed (which I would find later was sans an umbrella) into two handbags and arrived on campus on time only to find that the coach was going to be late. Late turned into very late…..very VERY late. Nearly and hour and a half and lots of very British panicking later (think pacing back and forth with a slightly annoyed look on your face) the coach finally picked us up. We had nothing to worry about really, because our flight also turned out to be an hour late.
Frankfurt upon arrival was rainy and rather grim looking. Our hostel was right in the middle of the red light district, which made for some rather interesting window shopping. We made our way to the old quarter for some proper beer (so good even I, who doesn't like beer at all drank it) then back to the hostel for an early night, we had to be at the book fair by 9 the next morning. This would be where my lack of umbrella comes into play because it was raining the whole way back. The next morning I sounded like Brando yelling "Stellaaa" in the rain.
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The outside of the Book Fair
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The fair was massive. 8 buildings that require a shuttle to get from one to the other. English companies made up one building, as did international, German, art, etc. We decided to start in the Art building where each stall in itself was a work of art. They even had a working replica of the Gutenberg Press giving demos. We managed to make our way through most of the building, stopping to admire some truly artistic feats along the way. The rest of the afternoon consisted of hopping around buildings, chatting to local and international publishers, (it was lovely to see some Minnesota publishers there!) and getting insight into the industry from our individual appointments we had.
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| My colleague Mark in front of a Gutenberg Replica |
The next day we had free to explore before we had to hop on a flight back to London. Frankfurt is a gorgeous city. We stumbled upon monuments and opera houses, ate Nutella crepes and bratwursts in the local city market and had a beer in the old city centre. It was a fabulously relaxing end to a fantastic weekend. I do hope to get back to Frankfurt in the future.
