Wednesday, December 15, 2010

A European Bookstore Tour

On a recent trip to Germany and the Czech Republic I visited some wonderful bookstores. One of my favorite stores was Hugendubel, which is part of a family owned chain with approximately 35 stores. Great name, great stores. The Frankfurt location was bigger than any bookstore I’ve seen in Canada, with four floors and many stairs and escalators, and it was full of people on a weekday morning. On each floor there’s an area to sit and read (you’ll notice the red leather seats in the pictures), and there’s a little café with delicious pastries. Hugendubel carries mainly German books of course, but there are also lots of English and French books to browse. We also visited quite a few small independent bookstores. In the medieval town of Rothenberg, Germany there are four charming independents within two or three blocks, each one focusing on their own specialty. In Prague we stumbled upon a tiny English bookstore on a side street. Here’s a picture of me sitting outside The Anagram, clutching my bag of literary treasures.

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