The Start of Book Fair Recap

Note: I am not thrilled with this recap, but I wrote it over the weekend and never posted due to my coughing fits. More book fair recaps to come.

I seem to have picked up a cold at the book fair. It sounds as if this is not unusual, but it’s still not fun. It’s mostly a cough, which has meant a lot of cough drops and a lot of tea. And of course, it has meant that I’ve spent Friday and Saturday night cooped up in the hotel room resting instead of trying to muster up the courage to go out on the town by myself. I’ve logged quite a few hours of German TV including: How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, The Roast of David Hasselhoff, Das Super Talent, Das Model und der Freak, Bedtime Stories and CNN.

After we arrived Frankfurt and checked in our hotels, we met at the stand for setup. The main stand was already set up, but we had to place product. It was three hours of manual labor and it definitely put my manicure over the edge. I couldn’t believe how big the stand was…and how big the hall was…and really how big the whole fair was. I heard someone say that it’s the seventh largest gathering of humanity. I’d say this is definitely possible. After setup was complete, we headed to lunch. I don’t know if it was the beer I had at lunch or the hard work, but I could barely keep my eyes open once lunch ended. We all went our own way for the afternoon. It seems most everyone checked email, rested, or worked out. I would have liked to walk around the city or work out, but my gym shoes were the first thing to come out of my luggage when space got tight. It was also the right decision since I definitely used my free time to take a nap.

Next up was family dinner night. It was the 22^nd dinner at a wonderful little Italian restaurant. It was great to see our VPs in from Chicago and I even got some extra big hugs from everyone back at the office. I sat next to Daniel at dinner and laughed the whole night. He has some great stories from his year in North Carolina (and his elopement in NY!). We also discussed his love of fruit juice spritzers--of which rhubarb is his fave. The food was outstanding—my favorites were the gnocchi and lasagna. And dessert was a combination of three varieties—ice cream, brownie, and cake/pie. I'm really not sure what we ate, but boy was it good. It wasn’t a late night because we all had to get up early for the fair, but it was certainly a fun night.

*Also, just to reiterate, this recap does no justice to the amazing food we consumed.