Frankfurt Update

It really is both a blessing and a tragedy that we don’t have the same bakery culture in America as exists in Germany. Tragedy because, my God, the amazing, carby goodness that you can pick up on your way to the train! And there’s always somebody within line of sight who’s holding a paper bag, nibbling whatever they picked up on their way to the train. So it’s not indulgence; it’s just fitting in. It’s a blessing, however, because we don’t walk anywhere in America. I mean, I do my fair share of getting around on foot, but it’s nothing compared to what I manage when I’m here. So you earn that sneaky shortbread posing innocently on the bread roll.
Today was the first day of the book fair. It’s noticeably quieter this year, even compared to 2008, which was already markedly less busy than previous years. I actually had to leave in the early afternoon, as terrible as I felt about it (it’s the entire reason I come over here, after all), because I slept only three hours last night, bringing my total sleep-time to nine hours since I woke up Sunday morning (as I’ve been telling everybody). I knew that if I didn’t try to fit in a nap today, there’d be no correcting the cycle, and I’d be utterly useless for the rest of the fair. So tonight, with the help of medicine, I’m hoping to finally get more than a handful of consecutive hours of sleep. Finger crossed.
When I woke up from my late-afternoon nap today, I made dinner, which consisted of organic mushroom soup — made from a packet of powder that was surprisingly good! And I had a Brezel I picked up from the bakery on my walked back from the train station. It was a good post-nap, chilly-weather meal.
I’ve uploaded some photos of my visit to the Palmengarten, which you can see in my Frankfurt 2009 set. I had a really nice visit this year; the colours aren’t as amazing as last October, but there was still so much to look at. And I was able to climb around a bit more this year, whereas I’d sort of crippled myself last year.
And now, to bed.