From Germany to New Hampshire

     If you have read some of our past “Find of the Week on the Used Book Floor” blogs, you know that we are always game to conduct any type of research that helps us to learn about our discoveries.  This week, however, provided our most challenging quest yet: translating German to English. Yes, our find this week is from Germany!

     Nestled into the pages of Anita Shreve’s 2013 paperback copy of “Stella Bain” was a ticket to SUC Bus Und Aquaria Gmbl. Translation?  In case you are not fluent in German, (and we certainly aren’t), we discovered that SUC Bus Und Aquaria Gmbl is an indoor/outdoor facility in Coburg, Germany, that boasts large swimming pools, waterslides, comprehensive diving facilities, saunas, wellness centers, and more.  In fact, for short, they are known as the SUC Aquaria und mehr, which means “aquarium and more” in German.  The ticket cost 1.60 euros (about $1.90 in dollars) and was purchased for one time use by an individual who visited the facility on August 8^th of 2017.  What a journey that ticket has been on to get here to New Hampshire!

    

     What is particularly interesting about SUC Bus Und Aquaria Gmbl is its location.  Coburg, Germany, lies in the foothills of the Thuringian Forest and is located 80 miles west of the Czech border.  Unlike many areas of Germany, Coburg was barely damaged in World War II and as a result, it still contains most of the original historic buildings and castles, making the town a popular tourist destination.  We found it slightly notable that with all of the castles, theaters, historic parks, museums and churches to see, the individual who visited Coburg chose to go to the water park.  Maybe they had already experienced enough history for one day.

     We would be remiss if we didn’t tell you, though, that Coburg’s biggest claim to fame is being the possible birthplace of…wait for it… the hot dog.  Though The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (yes, that really exists) claims that Frankfurt, Germany, is the birthplace of the hot dog, this claim is hotly disputed throughout the country, as many believe that a butcher in Coburg created the classic (some valuable trivia for you, right there).

     Shreve’s “Stella Bain” is for sale here at Bayswater for $4.99 and includes the ticket in German.  Perhaps you can do an even better job of translating it all!  Just a reminder that we will be publishing one blog at the beginning of each month only during the winter months, but you can catch up with our previous finds of the week from the used book floor at bayswaterbooks.com and on facebook.  Better yet, stop by the store in Center Harbor and check out the used book floor for yourself!