I finally post about Germany and RingCon! (part one)
When last we left our hero, she was on her way to Germany without a way to hook up to the interwebs because Rogers laughed at her when she talked about an international plan for her phone. Okay, technically, she could have gotten onto the web at the RingCon hotel had she been willing to carry her netbook down to the public areas for wifi (cable didn't fit)(this will be taken into account for the Italy trip in the spring) but that wasn't really practical given her responsibilities to the convention.
And by she/her I mean me/my.
So the flight to Germany was great. Empty seat next to me and although Air Canada seemed to think we all needed dinner at 11pm - unlike Delta who on a red-eye will get you seated, turn off the lights, and all but tell you to shut-up and close your eyes - and then breakfast five hours later, I actually managed a little sleep.
I realized upon landing at the Frankfurt airport that the Frankfurt airport is HUGE and possibly Ju (Ju Honischh author of Obsidian Hearts, Dreams of Salt and Bisse -- unfortunately only available in German although I'm lucky enough to have an English copy of Obsidian Hearts) and I needed to have made more specific plans than just "meet at the airport". Fortunately, Ju is smart and was standing right where international travellers emerge from baggage pickup. Interestingly, flying to the US from Canada requires significantly more documentation and discussion than flying internationally. I said good morning to the customs guard at Frankfurt, he gave me a look that suggested he'd about had it with English speaking tourists, stamped my passport and that was it. He didn't scan it, he didn't ask me how long I was planning to stay or what I was doing there or require the address and phone number of the place I was going. Security before boarding in Toronto was a lot less uptight too.
Anyway, Ju found me! Then we walked 10K to the car. Did I mention HUGE? I'm not kidding. Leaving the parking garage is somewhat similar to driving through an Escher painting.
Driving to her house, I thought Germany looked a lot like Canada. There wasn't the OMG palm tree disconnect that you get in LA or the OMG wrong side of the road disconnect that the UK provides. Frankfurt's a bit warmer so fall was less advanced but, essentially, the flora's the same.
But the old part of the city was so cool! Ju's guest room/outer office used to be the widow's goat pen on old documentation about the house. We went for a walk along the river, I took many photos of old buildings, we talked about urban history and development. Like I said, so cool!
A gate on the river.
That night we went for dinner with our publishers from Feder and Schwert in the really, really old part of Frankfurt - which wasn't originally part of Frankfurt but was absorbed and I took a lot more photos. Ju is really good at explaining local history, I just wish I was better at remembering everything she told me! I wasn't supposed to drink due to the liver thing that had hospitalized me a week earlier but I had a glass of apple wine with dinner. What? There was an apple thing. How often to I get to have apple wine in a historic restaurant in Germany? There was also an enormous pig foot which was really delicious but could have fed a family of four. I swear mine was twice as big as the other order at the table!
The restaurant. (we ate inside, it was later than the digital lighting shows)
Over dinner, I learned to say thank you in German, three different ways. I never did get the hang of "I'm sorry." which was remarkably unCanadian of me.
Next morning, Thursday, we loaded the car and it was off to Kloster Eberbach, the Cistercian monastery where they filmed part of Name of the Rose. (although it hasn't been an actual monastery for some years) Another friend, Franklin was able to join us and we had a wonderful morning wandering around peering at history. In the chapel, now de-consecrated and used for concerts, Ju sang a bit as we stood up where the altar would have been and the acoustics were so amazing that as the notes came back to us, it sounded as though she was singing harmony with herself. It was magical! We had lunch, said goodbye to Franklin, and headed for the Bonn and RingCon.
The monks sleeping quarters.
The wine presses. (15th century, I think)
Yes, parts of the autobahn move as fast as Top Gear tells us it does. Parts are at 100K. Parts are under construction. Except that it's legal to drive 170K (which I think was our top speed)(and people were passing us) it was remarkably like the 401.
We found the hotel with only a minor wobble and in fine fannish fashion, when we couldn't find signs leading of the underground parking garage (mostly because there weren't any) followed fans who seemed to know what they were doing up into the hotel. Our suite was weirdly proportioned. The living room area was huge, the bedroom and bathroom smallish. (as we had a filk in the living room Friday night, this worked out well.)
Because the convention hadn't actually started, we spent Thursday evening in the bar with filk friends. (okay fine, we spent other evenings in the bar too) The mix tape they were playing had about fifteen songs on it and was the weirdest mix ever. But the cocktails were half price and really tasty. What? Seriously, forget I even mentioned that liver thing...
So is it only North America that doesn't include breakfast as part of your hotel stay?
First thing Friday was the press conference which Ju and I had been told was part of our schedule but it was actually for the actors. Now, I was there not only because Germany was my first foreign market and my books do well there but because of Blood Ties - also why Dylan Neal and Kyle Schmid were there. Duh. Dylan was in fine form at the press conference - cranky, sarcastic, he had the room in stitches. As I said to Kyle later, "I thought about asking how you guys felt working from such incredible source material but I was afraid you wouldn't recognize me and Dylan would."
Ju and I went to Dylan and Kyle's Q&A later - mostly so I'd have some idea of what the three of us would be doing on Sunday.
Dylan Neal and Kyle Schmid
Opening ceremonies are really a ceremony and, unlike in most North American cons these days, it's really well attended. All the guests, scientists, lecturers, authors, and actors got a chance to speak briefly. And yeah, the actors got the biggest rounds of applause but everyone was made to feel not only welcome but an essential part of the convention.
I'm pretty sure it was right after that we met Kiki. Because we all went back to the bar together, then after Ju left the vampire ball, up to the room for a little filking. I played the heavy around 1AM because I wasn't sure about the noise carrying to other hotel rooms and because I (and Ju) had to be up and sparkling on Saturday.
I did my reading Saturday morning at 11 to a fairly full room. I read Quid Pro Quo, a Vicki/Mike story because it's in Evolve, a Canadian small press anthology, and I figured no one in the room would have read it yet but that I should read something Blood Ties ish. Reading in English wasn't a problem because there were so many nationalities attending RingCon English was the lingua franca. During the entire trip I ran into only two people who weren't functionally fluent in English. (Weirdly, because my brain knew I wasn't surrounded by English, my brain kept trying to switch me to French. Which would have been useful had I needed to order chicken, ask where the bathroom was, hook up, or talk about my aunt's hat.)
After the reading I went down to the WerkZeug booth (thanks for the name, Ellifaey!) in the main concourse; they were the only bookseller there so that's where the author's signings were happening. These guys were amazing! And remarkably good looking. They had coffee and water and cookies and chocolate and we hung out there a fair bit whenever we wanted a bit of quiet time that didn't involve going to the room and working. (in all fairness, Ju got a lot more writing done than I did)(I was a bit giddy)
I signed steadily for a little better than an hour and a half and might have gone longer but Cultus Ferox were doing mini-concerts just down the hall and they're a little loud to talk over. (more on them later) On Friday, Kristen had given me a BloodTies.de name tag and it was so much fun meeting other members of the forum during the signing. I signed mostly German books (duh) some English, and a few French. Oh, one Polish.
After the signing, Kiki and I went off to listen to Cultus Ferox - found Ju, lost Ju, it's a good thing all three of us are tall. (Ju had two gorgeous historical gowns with her but I don't think I got a photo. Sigh) Then I went up to the room to write and maybe fall over a bit before coming down for dinner and the masquerade.
The masquerade was as much performance as costumes. An amazing Boromir, who worked even with the helmet off, won. I thought I had a photo of him but I don't...
I met up with Kiki again that evening for the Phelps twins Q&A (Fred and George Wesley)(What? They're cute! And twins!) then we went over the Jason Manns concert. He's a good guitarist (plays a Taylor) with a pleasant voice that showed signs of being a really good voice when he cuts loose. I don't know if he was saving things for the tour he was doing after the convention but I got the feeling he was holding back, concentrating on the nice stuff. He generously called Gil Birmingham, one of the Twilight werewolves, up to do a mini set. Gil had the rawer rock/blues style I prefer. I did enjoy Jason's concert though and did a little quiet singing along on a couple of his covers. He had great audience participation on Halleluiah and a lot of attention after the concert for photos. (I got a chance to talk to him briefly on Sunday and he's a really nice guy. Tall too.)
Jason Manns - the stage decorations were interesting...
part two