Guest Post #1 - Book Read 'Round the World: Rikki from Germany Shares Her Book Hobo Experience

The Enchanted April = Red Pin

Journeyed from Nuremberg, Germany to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada

Distance Traveled = 4102 mi./ 6601 km.

Guest Post #1

Rikki from Germany

I just received word from Sandie at Imagination Cafe that she received her package from Rikki at The Bookkeeper so I can now post Rikki's guest post about her experience! After you finish reading, make sure you go check out Rikki's wonderful blog as well!

_____________________________________________________________

I am Rikki from The Bookkeeper (http://www.rikkidonovan.com) and I was the first in the group for The Enchanted April. I received the book from The Book Depository, so there were no surprises in the package (except for what will the bookmark be like?).

Questions

To make it easier for me, Carin provided me with a few questions about Germany, so I wouldn't be left to my own devices. The questions I answered (Sandie Lee will probably be surprised about my ramblings) were:

1. Since most of the non-native English speaking bloggers I know are blogging in English, I wonder what most people in your country read. Do most people read books that are published in German only, or are people in general fluent enough in English that they can read either English or German books?

Most people in Germany definitely read books in German only. A lot of people speak English, but not at a level where they feel confient enough to read books in English. There are not many books, I think, that have not been translate, so basically there is no limitation in their reading material. However, if one chooses to read books in English it is now not a problem anymore to get any book you like in its original version.

2. If someone were to visit Nuremberg, what is the one thing you would tell them they cannot miss doing or seeing, and what would you tell them to absolutely avoid?

The one thing that people ought to see is the old town of Nuremberg. It was more or less completely destroyed during WWII and has been rebuilt very beautifully. One sight that shows this is the church of St. Lawrence. There is a photo of it taken after the war showing only ruins and rabble and now it looks grand and impressive again.

There is really nothing anything that I would advise a visitor to absolutely avoid, but I'd suggest instead of going to the tourist restaurants around the market square to go to a country inn outside the city to experience the delicious real Franconian home cooking - as heavy and unhealthy as it might be.

Shopping!!

After reading the book I went shopping for Sandie Lee. This was fun. I wanted to buy mainly book related items with a German touch which is quite hard over here, believe it or not. It seems the German language is turning into a hodgepodge of German and English (called Denglish over here) and shops sell more items with English writing on them than German. Anyway, after looking around for some time I found some nice book related items and a fridge magnet. Additionally I went into a few bookstores to collect their free bookmarks (all in German surprisingly) and added them to the loot. A pretty card on top of it all and then I was done.

What I got was a book with "Lieber Lesen" on it (I'd translate this as "[I'd] rather [be] reading"), a metal bookmark with the poem Loreley by Heinrich Heine and a fridge magnet with the Nuremberg castle. I bought the magnet in the most tourist-y shop you can imagine right in the city center on the main market square. You can see the castle and its surrounding buildings and even though it is an illustration it looks quite like the real thing. The bookmark I bought at Thalia, a bookstore I showed you in abundance some time ago (http://www.rikkidonovan.com/index.php/2010/07/16/book-locations-the-bookstore/). The bag I bought at a  place called Hugendubel, a book shop I plan to show you soon.

I love the idea of this Book Read 'Round the World event and can't wait to see what all the other participants have to say about the book and about the experience.

One Sentence Review

Oh, a very short review of The Enchanted April? This is hard because short is not my style, :-). But I will try...:

"Travelling broadens the mind". No book has shown this in a more charming and delightful way.