got emotions that'll make it last

I don't want this book fair to ever end, but I also don't want to wait any longer to go to Paris...conundrum. Tomorrow is my last day in Frankfurt, and today was pretty smashing even if my wristband says I walked almost nine miles - I think I believe it. I had to be at my company's booth by nine a.m., which was pretty wretched, but my morning was mostly fun and not at all taxing, so it was kind of nice to hang out with coworkers and chat up the passers-by. I had lunch at the fair, which was a mistake since the only thing I could eat was pretty terrible. But I think I could find something else tomorrow - you would not believe the size of this convention center. Apparently the Frankfurt Book Fair attracts 280,000 people a year, and it's spread out in a convention center that has ten different halls that could each hold a very respectably-sized convention in their own right. And [censored] would be [censored] to know that Placebo is playing somewhere in that complex later this year - ah, memories.

After lunch, I wandered around a bunch of booths and had the supreme thrill of finding my books sitting on the shelf of the agent who is working to sell my foreign translation rights; she was in a meeting, so I didn't bug her, but I took a surreptitious photo and may try to say hi tomorrow. And I saw a lot of the stuff in the hall where my company is located; I somehow doubt that I'm going to get through the other nine tomorrow, but we shall see.

I took a break in the afternoon, since my feet were killing me; my hotel is right across the street from the convention center, but it's a fifteen minute walk to get from our hall at the other end of the complex to my hotel. But I schlepped myself home, took a nap, and did some work for the day job for an hour or so. Then I went back to the conference for a meeting with some other people at six p.m. Then we left, grabbed a bus back to the hotel, saw the line for taxis to take us to dinner, and were dismayed. Ravi and I decided to walk to dinner, even though it was 2.5miles (would have been shorter, but the bridge we planned to take was closed), and we still beat some of the people who were waiting for cabs when we left. But dinner was delicious - Greek food and copious amounts of wine, which is all good enough for me.

But in an utterly shocking turn of events, I managed to leave and go home after dinner (at 10:30pm) rather than continuing to some string of afterparties. My inner peer-pressure-succumbing social butterfly is sad, but my rational doesn't-want-to-get-sick-before-Paris side is thrilled at my unusual display of fortitude and common sense. I'm sure I'll throw it all out the window tomorrow. But now, it's time for bed!