Vienna 2010: Trip home via Frankfurt

Me in snow at ruin.

 

Our flights out of Vienna weren’t until after noon, so we got to sleep in a little and not rush to the airport. We met in the lobby, except for my sister who wanted to get more sleep, and made one last walk to the café. Another two pastries and a coffee was my last meal in Vienna.

Back at the hotel I finished packing and we all met downstairs for you pre-arranged taxi ride. When we asked for taxi the night before, they were worried that the standard taxi car would not hold luggage for four people, especially Americans, who tend to over pack. We insisted that we didn’t have too much luggage, but since a van picked us up I guess they didn’t believe us. At least it was the same price and we had plenty of room.

We arrived at the airport over three hours before our fight left. My brother and his wife headed toward the British Airways check-in and my sister and I went to the United counter. It took almost no time to check in and get through security. We walked to the Star Alliance club, where we found a comfortable seat and grabbed from free food and more coffee. I was happy to find out that they provided free Wi-Fi Internet, so for the first time since I left San Francisco I was able to check my e-mail and Facebook accounts.

Frankfurt Dom

As our boarding time got near we headed to the gate and boarded the plane. I believe that we once again had to take a shuttle to our plane and then walk up the steps from the tarmac. I wasn’t dressed for the freezing temperatures, but it was a short walk between the shuttle and plane. On this leg we were in coach, and this plane had very little leg-room, but since the flight was only one hour it really didn’t matter. Even though it was a short flight they still served a sandwich and drink.

We arrived in Frankfurt on time and once off the plane we followed the signs to baggage claim. But once we reached the airport exit, we realized that we made a wrong turn. After walking around we retraced our path and found the door to the baggage claim that somehow we missed. We saw at least one other man do the same. At the baggage carousel our bags were waiting for us to pick them up.

Now we walked to the exit and got a taxi. It was about a 20-minute ride to the Westin hotel. Along the way we looked at possible sites to see later. Inside the warm hotel get got in line to check in, but apparently a woman with her husband had decided that they were more important than us and rudely cut in front of us. At the same time another man walked up to one of the hotel clerks who was busy with a customer and started demanding something. It was at this point that I realized that people in Frankfurt, at least at this hotel, were not as polite as they were in Vienna. So we just had to wait a little longer to get to our rooms.

Christmas Market From Dom

It was already 3 PM so we made a quick turn-around and headed outside into what became the coldest part of the trip. If fact it started to snow shortly after. Our first destination was the large cathedral that we saw on the drive there and I could also see from my hotel room window. However, once there, we saw that it was not that large and not very picture-worthy. So we continued our walk to find the Christmas market that was near-by. Yes, this was our fourth country and fourth Christmas market. As we walked along the crowed pedestrian shopping area, I spotted a church down the street. We walked there and even though we really never figured out the name (I think it is just called the Dom Cathedral) of this church, it was defiantly the biggest one around. Plus, as a bonus, it had a dome – and it was still open! We paid our 3 Euros and entered the door to the tower. It was starting to snow harder and the sun had already set, so I guess I felt the need to “run” up the steps so I could get some photos before it got too dark. I don’t know how many steps there were, but I’m sure there were more that the dome in Vienna. At this dome we were able to walk to the very top, where there was an outside walkway with 360-degree views of the city. I walked around, taking as many photos as possible, but since it was snowing and getting dark, most of my photos turned out hazy, but still captured the old city below and even the new skyscrapers that were all build after WWII. Much (or most) of Frankfurt was destroyed in the war, and this building was one of the few that survived.

Christmas Tree.

There were only two other people at the top crazy enough to be outside in this weather. After we had our fill of the view, we walked back down the narrow passageway, and I was surprised to find at least one person climbing up. Once outside, we walked back towards the Christmas market which was very busy, but then again it was a Friday night. Thanks to my sister for buying a cone of fries. Hot food was what we needed to keep going. We did have plan for the evening. My sister and arranged to meet the creator of a “my.flightmemory.com”, a web site she uses to track her airplane trips around the world. We need to be back at the hotel by 6:30 to meet him. So after exploring the market and listening to yet another local band (of singers) sign Christmas songs, we meandered back to the hotel. My sister kept in contact with Sam and when he said he was in the hotel she told him to look for her brother, the tallest person. So as soon as I stood up, a man looked at me and yes, it was Sam.

Sam was very nice had happy to meet us. He actually lived about an hour away from Frankfurt, so it was very nice of him to make the drive to hook up with us. We were relying on him to take us to a local German pub where we could drink some good dark beer. Outside the hotel he said we could either walk or take the subway. We decided to walk, not realizing how far the walk was. We had to walk to the other side of the river Main. The walk actually went rather quickly as we talked to Sam about his web site and Germany. Sam spoke perfect English and understood everything we said. Our destination was an area of Frankfurt known for its bars. This place had a name, but I don’t know what it is.

Snow at Pub

Once we arrived, we looked at the menus of some of the bars and walked into one that looked promising. Sam asked the bartender what dark beers they had, and I opted for a dark hefeweizen and my sister got a dark bock. We sat and talked as we drank our beers. It was rather quite as we were the only ones in the bar. Also, the bartender was smoking, and Sam was surprised because smoking is not allowed in any German bar or restaurant. After we finished our first beer, I made the decision to try a different bar. This may have been a bad choice because we at the next stop not only did they have less of a selection of beers, the employees and customers were smoking even more! So much for having smoke-free clothes to wear on the flight home. We asked for dark beer, and they basically told us to just to order beer, meaning drink whatever beer they had on tap. We did and the beer was pretty good.

Our next stop needed to be a place that served food. We looked at the menu outside a nearby place and all agreed that there was something on the menu we could eat. Once inside I was happy to see that this place was a very casual restaurant where you sit on a bench at a long table. Also there was no smoking and a man was playing German songs on his guitar, or some other instrument. For my meal I finally ordered the Schnitzel. I’m not sure if was veal, but it was breaded and fried, and included a local Frankfurt green sauce, which had a unique flavor.

After our meal, we were ready to go back to the hotel. Sam used his phone to find the nearest subway station, and it was far enough away that it would have been shorter to walk back. But with it being so cold, we just took a taxi for a 10 minute drive back. At the hotel we thanked Sam for meeting us and said goodbye, as he had a one hour drive back home in the snow.

Christmas Market

Once again, our flight the next day didn’t leave until after noon, so we were able to get more sleep. We met downstairs in the morning, checked out and took a taxi to the airport. This time the taxi, after asking us, took the autobahn to the airport. Sam had told us that all freeways in Germany are called autobahns, so the term does not mean a road with no speed limit. However, our taxi drive hit 160 kpm at one point, and we got to the airport much faster that the trip from the airport.

We checked in and made the usual trip to the Star Alliance club where we got food and coffee. Unfortunately, there was no free Internet. While we were waiting, we could see the runway and gates, and saw our place arrive and be blocked by another air plane that needed to be towed for some reason. Then our plane sat, apparently waiting for an open gate. Turns out that there was less than a 30-minute delay in our departure time. Once we boarded the plane and found our business-class seats (this time we had to pay to upgrade), we were served our champagne, just to wait some more. An unfortunate event took place near us that caused another 20-minute delay. A man didn’t quite make it to the lavatory before he got “sick” all over the floor. It took a long time before the situation was taken care of, but eventually we departed.

The flight was from Frankfurt to San Francisco, an estimated time of 11 ½ hours. This was an unusual day, as we left Frankfurt on a Saturday and arrived in San Francisco on Saturday. During the flight, I saw the sun set, rise and set again. The flight took the polar route, so we flew over Greenland and down through Canada. At the beginning of the flight we were fed dinner. During this time I watched another movie called “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale”. This movie, which I had never heard of before, starred Richard Gere, and was “A drama based on the true story of a college professor's bond with the abandoned dog he takes into his home” (via IMDb). If you have not watched this movie – you should. It is a very touching film which draws you in. It helps if you like dogs – and who doesn’t?

Cheers!

 

After the movie was over I listed to music on my iPod. As I started to get tired, I played my self-hypnosis CD “Confidence building”. Side “A” takes you though a self-hypnosis session, and side “B” is just some very relaxing music with soft, almost subliminal suggestions. After it was over I not only fell asleep, I slept for four to five hours! I didn’t wake up until they started serving breakfast, about on hour before landing. However, since it was 3 PM local time, it was actually lunch, once again making this an unusual flight.

We landed about 30 minutes early, despite leave late. This was my first time entering the US in the San Francisco airport, and the first time using my global entry pass that I was granted a few months before. With this pass, you can bypass the line for customs and just use a kiosk, where you look into a camera, answer some questions and get your fingerprints digitally scanned. We got though very quickly, but for some reason, it took over 30 minutes for our luggage to arrive, and by this time everyone on the plane had cleared customs. Once we got our luggage, we had to re-check it and then go through security again. So for this first time I got selected to go through the new x-ray scanner. I wasn’t worried about radiation and the who process took less than a minute.

With one leg left, we had almost two hours before our flight. So after taking the long way to the club, we eventually made it to the lounge and found a spot to relax, watch some college football, and read e-mail. Our plane departed on time and this time we had first-class seats for the 90-minute flight to San Diego. Before long we landed in San Diego, departed the plane and walked to the shuttle pick-up area. I said goodbye to my sister, who was leaving for American Samoa in a few days.

Karen in Dom with Snow

I had another bad experience on the shuttle to the parking lot, as the driver let too many people on the bus and was rude to the many who wasn’t happy about the driving putting someone’s luggage on his backpack containing his computer. At the parking lot, I quickly exited the bus rather than waiting for it to take me to my car. I got home by 10 PM, but as usual, as tired as I was, I could not just go to bed. I had to unpack, take a shower, turn on my computer and check e-mail and then relax in front of the TV.

Around 11 PM I “hit the hay” and slept in Sunday morning, knowing that this was my only day to sleep in before returning to work. On Sunday I just relaxed, watched football, took a long jet-lagged nap, relaxed some more and then went to bed with the alarm set for 6 AM.

This was a whirlwind of a trip four countries in eight days. I’m glad I took so many photos so I could remember what I saw and did. So what is our destination next year? Perhaps the Maldives, a small island nation off the southwest coast of India. Now that will be a long journey.