Oops. Somebody spent five days in Frankfurt without remembering to say she was going. Anyway, the book fair this year can be counted as a success for us.
Who makes such lovely books? Don't you wish your books looked so nice?
The graphic arts hall (Hall 4) was amazing and was where I spent a lot of me free time, trying to soak up inspiration. I'm working on convincing everybody that we need a letter press in office, to print covers for our hand bound proofs. If we don't get one for the office, I'll have to add it to my ever-growing wish list for 'some day.'
I did a little buying in Hall 4, including The Utterly Pointless Counting Book ('There are 3 coats of paint on a wall.') and a few amazing paper projects. The man selling the DIY paper machine-y things was great; he'd obviously spent hours and hours thinking up ways to draw and assemble the little moving parts, and he was proud of them but perhaps realized other people might think it was a silly use of time. I wouldn't agree with that, of course; I thought they were excellent.
The letter-pressed exhibition poster and the actual letter blocks came from two different people, but I had to speak German to both. Having studied German for seven years (and then not studying it for the last four or five) has left me with surprisingly little vocabulary, but I was able to find enough words to get my questions understood. I was rather impressed with my own ability to understand what was being said around me (and to me -- wherever I go, people always ask me for directions). I hadn't been to Germany since I was fifteen; I guess I've learned and retained a bit more of the language since then.
And now, lying around all day, waiting to get my vim back.
Ich hoffe, daß die Messe Spaß war! Ich wußte nicht, daß ich Deutsches schreiben könnte. Anscheinend bin ich guter der. Und ich kann die internets gut benutzen.