Frankfurt Book Fair this weekend

The Frankfurt Book Messe (Fair) is being held again this week. It's the world's largest book fair and has many fascinating things for the book lover to see and do. I wrote about my experience visiting it last year; click here to read more about what I saw and did there.

The Book Fair will be open again to everyone this upcoming weekend,  22-23 October.

Frankfurt Book Fair link with more information, in English.

The Local wrote an article (in English) about the 2016 book fair. Read it here.

Frankfurt Book Fair is this weekend!

This weekend is the annual Frankfurt Book Fair, the biggest book trade fair in the world. It's worth a visit, even for those who don't work in the book industry.

Official website for the Frankfurt Book Fair here.

I wrote about my previous visit here.

What does the fox say? Welcome home

I was at the Frankfurt Airport when I saw a guy carrying what looked like a piece of a cardboard with a dead fox skin and some branches on it. Of course this piqued my curiosity so I had to snap a picture. Was this someone creating a display in a store?

I wasn't sure what I was looking at but I later found my answer as we both waited for our people at the arrivals gates: it was a sign to welcome someone home! I was just seeing the back of it.

Bauer Lipp has gone too far this time!

My family visited a farmers' market near the Hauptwache when we were in Frankfurt. A bottle of "Spargel Geist" caught my mind. Bauer (Farmer) Lipp produces the bottle of spirits (schnapps) with a stalk of Spargel inside.

I believe that the farmer has gone too far with the love of Spargel.

Roadside Candy Machines: Frankfurt am Main Hauptbahnhof

I saw this guy outside the Hbf in Frankfurt. There's the ubiquitous "sticky hammer" and some cola-flavored bubble gum. If I didn't find these things so unsanitary, I would have been tempted to try the gum.

I felt like a weirdo as I was taking the picture because a ton of people were waiting for the bus.

It's Frankfurt Book Fair time again!

The Frankfurt Book Messe (Fair) is being held again this week. It's the world's largest book fair and has many fascinating things for the book lover to see and do. I wrote about my experience visiting it last year; click here to read more about what I saw and did there.

The Book Fair will be open again to everyone this upcoming weekend,  11-12 October.

Frankfurt Book Fair link with more information, in English.

Curiosity in Frankfurt

I saw this restaurant, the Zum Eichkatzerl, when I was in Frankfurt for the Fahrradmarkt and I must say that I am so curious about the place! I think squirrels are adorable and I want to figure out what exactly an "Eichkatzerl" would be. I'm guessing it's a Hessich term for squirrels based on context clues. I met a German who was from Hessen and she said she had never heard the term before so I'm even more intrigued. I totally want to try the restaurant, just based on the mural that depicts squirrels in suits. Cute, cute, cute!

Seen in Frankfurt: Skatepark Osthafen

Skatepark Osthafen
Eyssenstraße
60314 Frankfurt am Main

During our trip to the bike market in Frankfurt, we walked along the river and saw this wonderful skate park. It was jam-packed on a Sunday with kids and adults riding their bikes and skateboards on the ramps. There are basketball courts and a playground too.

Chillin' with my gnomies at the Frankfurter Garten

We saw these gnomies at the Frankfurter Garten. Ganz toll, eh?

A Visit to the Frankfurter Fahrradmarkt

For some crazy reason, I decided that I (eventually) want to start commuting by bicycle. My friend C suggested that we attend the Frankfurter Fahrradmarkt this past weekend to to see if we could find something for me at the bike market.

The market was hosted in the Frankfurter Garten, which is more than just a garden. It's also a community space for people to gather, eat at the food stand, play something something similar to bocce ball, and engage with others in the community. It was a festive atmosphere, with families hanging out and enjoying the sunshine.

The bike market was definitely hipster heaven! There were fixie bikes galore. Unfortunately, I'm looking for something more practical for a beginning commuter, so I didn't find anything for my tastes, but it was fun to look over the bikes.

This bike, with its bright colors, was the belle of the ball. We saw a lot of people checking it out.

Clever idea: using an old radiator as a bike rack.

This tandem bicycle wasn't for sale but was sure interesting!

 Part of the garden and the bocce ball pit.

 

Roadside Candy Machines: daring me in Frankfurt

I spent Sunday in Frankfurt with a new friend and we came across this candy machine on Hanauer Landstrasse, just east of Grusonstrasse.

Whoa! It is really banged up. I was dared to eat a gumball from it. I am the queen of bad ideas sometimes but was able to bow out of this challenge, noting that there was no way to extract said gumball from the machine.  [phew]

December's Adventure: Day 1, Frankfurt am Main

Saturday, December 14

On day one of our epic journey, I met my cousins M and D at the Frankfurt am Main airport to begin the trip. They were lucky enough to have direct flight in from Detroit (thank you, Delta!). As we were leaving the airport through the parking garage, they were immediately struck by the Fraunenparkplatz. Of course, it's not hard to miss at the airport because it's painted this crazy Pepto Bismol pink, maybe to drive home the fact that it's parking reserved for women.

The first order of business (in my mind, at least) was to ditch my car and get on the public transportation, which was available at the Stadion Park and Ride lot just a short drive from the airport. We grabbed a Gruppentageskarte, which allowed us to take the train into town and ride the public transportation in Frankfurt for one rate.

Our first stop was Römerberg and we visited the cozy (reproduction of the original) square. Since I have been to Frankfurt once before in the fall, I cheated and took my cousins through the same tour that I wrote about here, except I skipped Sachenhausen. I also started to tell them about the "very special" local drink, Apfelwein, talking about how the locals are so fond of it. M and D were keen to hear more about it. However, I don't want them to make the same mistake that I did and try to drink the bitter stuff so I came clean and told them that it doesn't taste good at all. Even my German colleague, who lives in the area, has agreed how unpleasant we find it. With a name like "apfelwein," it brings to mind a sweet, fruity wine. It's definitely not! It's a bitter cider. Be warned!

After we cleared up the mystery surrounding apfelwein, we enjoyed the Christmas market in the Römerberg square and then moved on to Paulskirche. I also mentioned that in the linked entry, Paulskirche is where the first constitution of Germany was written. Luckily for us, it was actually open that day so we took a look around inside. There are displays on the walls (in German and English) that tell the history of the building and the German struggle for democracy.

We continued with a visit to the Kleinmarkthalle and then on to the horror of all horrors: Primark on a Saturday. It's a clothing store chain that sells excellent warm leggings. I prepared my cousins and told them that my plan was to get in, grab some leggings and pay, and get the heck out. As I had expected, it was pure chaos but we managed to complete the errand (though I screwed up and bought tights instead of leggings, but they're still warm so it was okay).

After that, we were all quite worn out from our wanderings and my cousins were tired from jetlag. I attempted to get us back to the Park and Ride. Though I've visited Frankfurt before, I won't lie: I found the Hauptbahnhof incredibly confusing (am I just dumb, or do others find it that way, too?). It seems like I always stumble along, trying to find the U-Bahn within the confluence of the S-Bahn, buses, and long distance trains. Getting back to the Stadion stop is confusing, too, because of the number of lines that stop there and getting the right one that actually makes the stop. After fumbling around, I finally got us back and we drove to Kaiserslautern and took a much-needed nap so we could attend the House of Sustainability's Christmas Market in the forest. There is more about that to come...

Cool trick! Free cell phone charging at Zeil Mall in Frankfurt

We stopped by the Zeil mall in Frankfurt. In the basement, near the Rewe, there is this cool locker thing where one can plug in one's phone to charge and lock it up. It says that it's free for 30 minutes. I didn't look at it closely, so I'm not sure if there's a catch, but it's a neat idea.

Visiting Frankfurt after the Book Fair

After the visit to the Frankfurt book fair on Saturday, I walked around Frankfurt a bit lot (my legs are still sore). My first stop was Römerberg, part of the Altstadt (Old Town). It's a charming square with what look to be 15th/16th century buildings. They are actually modern reproductions as the area was bombed heavily during WWII. The tourist information office is on the right side (or north side) of the square.

Römerberg, Altstadt Frankfurt

I walked north to the next square, which is where Paulskirche (Paul's Church) sits. I was excited to see this church in person because I learned about its importance this summer during my history classes. Paulskirche was the site of the National Assembly's first meetings and where the first constitution of Germany was written. Unfortunately, those efforts in 1848/1849 were not successful because of interference by Prussia, the Austrian Empire, and some of the other German states. Anyway, Paulskirche was also destroyed in WWII and has since been rebuilt and is now a forum for public events instead of church services.

Paulskirche

Road in front of Paulskirche

I didn't go inside the building since it was closed for the day, so I continued north through the pedestrian zone, past tons of stores and restaurants. My next stop was the Kleinmarkthalle, an indoor food market with fabulous offerings. I felt like a country bumpkin brought to the big city as I admired the dried lavender, hummus, and cheeses at various booths. Of course, there are also many vegetables, fruits, and meat available, among other things. I restrained myself and only bought some sort of sheep's cheese spread and some hummus to eat the next day since I planned to go out for dinner.

Kleinmarkthalle, exterior

Kleinmarkthalle, interior

After that, I knew I wanted to try some Frankfurter Apfelwein. It's a local favorite and I was excited, because I generally like wine and I haven't yet found a fruit wine that I didn't like. Well, this was actually more like a cider (alcoholic) and I definitely did not care for it! I kept trying it, just to be fair. I ended up giving the glass almost full back to the waitress when I retrieved my pfand (deposit for the cup). I felt bad about that but I just couldn't drink the slightly bitter drink.

Frankfurter Apfelwein: nicht für mich!

After some more walking around, I decided to head south to Sachsenhausen, a district with many restaurants. There was a Persian restaurant I wanted to try, but alas, even after I made the hike down there, it was closed! I was disappointed, especially after all of the walking. I picked up a falafel/salad plate at a take out place but it just wasn't the same.

However, the upside is that I saw a bar named after the ever creepy Struwwelpeter. Our friend Pete is not a German relative of Edward Scissorhands; instead, he's Shock Headed Peter, who didn't groom himself well enough (hence the long, nasty finger nails) and as a result, was unpopular. Yay for cautionary German tales! Holy crow, are the rest of the Heinrich Hoffman stories freaky and/or super frightening, such as the kid who won't stop sucking his thumb so a tailor cuts it off. Eek!

I thought my legs were done for the day so I finished my meal and walked to grab a train. I saw one station decorated with these statues:

What a way to end the day :)

This man has been causing English speakers issues

This statue in Frankfurt looks so innocent...until the English speaker tries to pronounce the person's name. The subject of this statue is Johann Wolfgang von Göthe, a very famous German author born in Frankfurt.

To English speakers, we usually hear his last name as "Gerta." However, there is no letter r in his name. My German teacher explained to me how the o with an umlaut becomes an r sound (at least to the ears of those whose first language is English). I still don't get it. It just "is" and we all must make peace with it!

Also, if a person is typing and doesn't have access to the umlaut on the keyboard, she can add an e after the letter. That also explains why Göthe's name is also written as Goethe.

Roadside candy machines: Frankfurt

I saw this gem when I was in Frankfurt for the book fair. Someone spray painted "Ich!" (I! in English) on it.

 

There's even a view of the Main River behind it.

A visit to the Frankfurt Book Fair

I just motored home from a trip to Frankfurt for a visit to the Frankfurt Book Fair and some city exploring. The Frankfurt Book fair, or Buchmesse in German, is the biggest trade book fair in the world. According to the book fair's website, there are 7500 exhibitors who visit from more than 110 countries. The first three days of the fair are limited to trade professionals and the last two days, on the weekend, are open to the general public.

I was curious about the fair; I had read about it in the US and thought that since I live about an hour or so from Frankfurt and I had some free time this weekend, it would be a good trip to make. I bought a ticket and was pleased to see that it also included a public transit ticket throughout the Frankfurt region. That wasn't a bad deal for 17 euros.


The fair took up most of the Messe, or the exhibition hall in Frankfurt, and that place is HUGE. It reminds me of an airport in many ways; it even has those moving sidewalks. Just like the airport, the Messe seems to offer almost unlimited walking.

The event itself is huge, too. Even though it's a trade show, the general reader can very much enjoy it too. Keep in mind that most of the books will be in a foreign language -- mostly German (yeah, duh); after all, this book fair is held in Germany. There is also a huge selection of foreign publishers; there were books in French, Spanish, Asian languages, Portuguese, etc.


I was most impressed by the reproductions of illuminated manuscripts. One booth featured a demonstration of a woman sewing the spine of the vellum pages! Her colleague was hand stamping leather bookmarks and handing them out.

There were also a great section with some beautiful art books. I was thrilled to look over the prints and recognize many of the art pieces or at the very least, the art period, all thanks to the art history class I'm finishing now.

Some of the booths had gifts like post cards, little notebooks, and cards for sale. One booth was selling these unusual cardboard cutouts, about the size of a book.

The book fair didn't offer just books; there were also discussions, author talks, and even a cooking show!

In addition to the cooking show, the other "show" was people watching. It seems that about a third of the attendees were teenagers dressed in costumes. It made more sense once I found out that the Book Fair even hosts a cosplay championship. Wonders never cease! (Okay, I feel really old writing that.)

Kids these days! They have tails.

All in all, it was a very interesting (and exhausting) day. Even for those only read English books, it's still worth a visit to look at the art books, flip through some books in Turkish, and even better yet, people watch.

Frankfurt Buchmesse is this weekend! (Book Fair)

This weekend is the Frankfurt Buchmesse, or book fair. It's a huge, internationally recognized book fair. In fact, I remember reading about it while I was living in the US. It's big and included on the list with the New York book fair.

Here is the website with more information, in English: www.buchmesse.de/en/

That's it for what I'm going to write now, but I'll definitely have more to say about it after the visit!