So I called my wife at nearly 10pm here in Germany and it was still only 4pm there. Wow, that’s weird. Maybe not as weird as when I was in Australia and I would call and it would be an entirely different day in Ohio. But still weird enough.
Notes on the day:
1. Despite sleeping a little on the plane, I pretty much passed out once I got to my hobbit-sized hotel room and slept until 2pm. Now it’s a bit past 10 and man I am so ready to collapse again. Apparently, Germany makes me tired.
2. While I was awake I met Carolin, my handler here in Germany, who will be accompanying me through the country so I don’t take a wrong turn and end up in Austria. Given my discombobulated nature at the moment, this is very important.
3. I met some of the folks at Heyne today, and they are lovely. It’s great to be published by these folks.
4. Holy God, the Frankfurt Book Fair is huge. As in, you could take all of BEA and it would fit in a corner level of huge. I walked an unspeakable amount.
5. Despite the immense immensity of the fair, I just happened to run into a friend of mine, Lawrence Schimel, as I walked into the International room. Coincidence? Or fate? Well, probably coincidence. But a nice one.
6. My big event of the day was a reception hosted by the American ambassador to Germany, Philip Murphy, who was nice enough to include me in his prepared remarks to the crowd. I also had a nice chat with his wife Tammy, and met some of the Consulate staff who brought me over here in the first place. Made me feel like a big shot, it did.
7. And then off to dinner with folks from my publisher; we went to a place serving traditional Frankfurt cuisine, and before you ask, no, I did not have a Frankenfurter. Really, now. I did have Apfelweinbratwurst, however, and it was fantastic.
8. And now I can feel the food coma coming on. Night, all, even those of you for whom it is still afternoon.