We caught the train from Paris to Germany, which was nice and relaxing. Well… until the end of the journey when we discovered Paul’s camera and some lenses had been stolen from his bag in the overhead storage shelf. The frustrating thing, other than losing the camera of course, is that I remember seeing a man fussing around with ‘his’ bag up there, zipping and unzipping, and never thought to check whose bag he was messing with.
Thank goodness I had nudged Paul into downloading his pics the night before so I could do my blog post about Paris! At least we haven’t lost the photos he took.
After spending an hour or so reporting it to the police and getting a report so that it can at least be claimed on insurance, we finally got out of the station and stopped in our tracks as we saw this:
One heckofa big cathedral, all black and spiky! The Cologne Cathedral is the biggest in Europe, according to my Lonely Planet ebook.
We spent the next four days being tourists, visiting galleries. The Romano-Germanic Museum had the most amazingly well-preserved and broad range of Roman artifacts.
The Wallraf-Richartz Museum also impressed with it’s range of art from medieval times to the nineteenth century, and information in each section was accessible and explained where Cologne fit into the different art eras and movements.
Then on Monday, after getting our laundry done, we met with Berit, my publicity gal in Germany, Regula, who would be moderating the first three evening events and Hans, actor and professional reader. Then, in the early evening, we set off to Bonn. There, in an amazing theatre converted into a Thalia bookstore, we held our first reading and signing event.
I found I could easily keep track, reading my English version of The Rogue while Hans read his parts. There were good questions from both Regula and the audience, and lots of books to sign for lots of lovely fans.
The next day we hopped onto a plane and flew to Hamburg, where the first task of the day was an interview. I wasn’t feeling well – a bit of sinusitis – and we only fit in a short walk and a nap before we headed off to Heyman bookstore. A smaller, but chattier audience this time.
We caught a train to Hanover the next day. I was feeling better, but it was raining, so Paul and I went for a walk along the subterranean shopping mall, where I found a knitting yarn store. Back at the hotel I had a few interviews, then we had a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant with Heinz W. Hebestreit before heading off to Decius bookstore in Laaten. More lovely fans…
The next morning was an early one. We caught the train to Berlin, then settled into the winter garden where I met Urban Hofstetter, Editor in Chief of Penhaligon, my German publisher, and the moderator for the final two events, Margarete.
I spent much of the afternoon there, meeting with two interviewers. Then we gathered together and set off for Babylon, an old art deco theatre where my reading would be held – in a room upstairs, thankfully not on the stage!
First I met winners of a competition, signed lots of books and had my photo taken with them. Then we slipped downstairs and waited for everyone to arrive for the event. Margarete had the audience laughing a lot – often in German making me wish I could understand what she was saying.
The final day of the German tour – and of my European Tour – we travelled by train to Leipzig. I’m so impressed by the trains here. Australia could sure do with some high-speed services between capital cities.
I noticed, as we arrived, that there were more than the usual number of goths around (not that I know what the usual number of goths are in Leipzig!). Outside the station there were hundreds of people dressed in fabulous gothic outfits, and Berit remembered that there was a huge event on that weekend: Wave Gotik Treffen.
After a wander about town to orient ourselves, buy lunch and visit chocolate shops, we returned to the hotel, where I had an unintentionally long nap – I was more tired than I realized. Then after a very light snack we headed to Lehmann’s bookstore for the fifth and final event.
Lots of people and many books to sign. As a spontaneous farewell, I gave my English copy of The Rogue, with notes and doodles, to the reader who had come the furthest to be at the event.
By the end of the night I was feeling both happy that all the events had gone so well and I’d met so many lovely people, and sad that it was all over.
And so my European Tour came to an end. Thanks to everyone who came to see and hear me, who brought books to be signed (especially those who lugged all nine books along), and who stopped – even for a moment – to chat. Thanks to the other authors I met, all who were such good company, and some who gave me new ideas for competitions and publicity. Thanks to the wonderful publishing and publicity people that, with their organisational skills (and money), made the tour happen, run smoothly and were an absolute pleasure to work with.
I have many happy new memories – and lots of extra enthusiasm for finishing The Traitor Queen, and beginning the Millenium’s Rule trilogy, because there’s nothing like encountering rooms of people eager to read your stories to keep you inspired!
At the end of the night we posed for photos. 
Recent Comments