I walked around town today with my cell phone camera and went a little nuts with the Vignette filters. Wanna see? Go here. 

This is Conrad Tribble, the US Consul General in Munich, and yes, those are tribbles that he is holding and/or wearing, proving that he has a good sense of humor about his name. Consul General Tribble and his wife Christina were gracious enough to hold a brunch today in my honor, which was attended by science fiction fans, academics, journalists and also some folks in the film world here in Germany. It was interesting group of folks, and by request, I also did a reading from Redshirts — a different chapter than I read the night before since there were a couple of the same people there. Later on I also played the ukelele, as Consul General Tribble just happened to have one in the house. It’s not every day you get to play the ukelele for one of the top American diplomats in Germany, especially one who is himself a musician. I don’t think I embarrassed myself too much.

In any event, a terrific time with terrific people. And now I’m back at my hotel, out of the suit I wore to the brunch, and about to walk out into Munich to do a little sight seeing. I leave the country tomorrow, back to home. As noted before it’ll be sad to go, but I’ll be happy to see my wife and child.

Tomorrow is a long day of travel (A nine hour flight to the US, a ridiculously long layover in Philly, and then a late flight home); depending on events, I may not update at all tomorrow. In which case I’ll catch up with you all on Monday.

Update: 11:15pm (Germany): The Munich Consulate has updated its page with pictures from the brunch and last night’s event.