Tag Archives: Frankfurt Airport

holidays, Luxury, short breaks

A little Swiss serenity: Bahn to bedroom to bar… part two

Bill booked us on an Intercity Express (ICE) Train leaving the Frankfurt Airport train station at 1:50 PM. We got first class seats, and since it was a non-stop ride, I figured it was going to be stress free. And, for the most part, I was right. We took a cab from our house in Breckenheim to the airport, arriving well ahead of time.

Since we hadn’t had lunch, we stopped at Burger King by our platform and had a quick bite to eat. Then we hauled our bags down to the platform. It was frigid outside. I was glad we weren’t at an outdoor station. I was also glad I managed to get almost everything I needed in a backpack, although I did stuff it. I decided to bring my trusty “coatigan” sweater, which necessitated a carry on bag. I made use of a tote bag Atlantic Magazine recently sent me. It came in handy later, when Bill went shopping for snacks and wine.

We reserved seats with a table. It would have been nice to have gotten a “two top”, but we wound up in a four top. Bill did this because he didn’t want to force me to ride backwards for three hours. I have a tendency to get motion sickness. On the way down, no one else shared our four top with us, and the car was very quiet. In fact, we were in a “quiet zone”, and there were signs requesting silence. I don’t know if all first class cars are like that, but I didn’t mind it too much. The ICE trains are nice, because they are clean and almost always have clean, functional toilets. There’s also a restaurant on board, where one can get drinks, snacks, and sandwiches.

My goofy man.
Brrrr…
Beer makes everything better.

Our train arrived in Basel at about 5:00 PM. We hauled our bags out of the train and schlepped them to the lobby of the station, where Bill got some Swiss Francs. Then we walked outside and quickly found a taxi to take us to Les Trois Rois. I took a few photos on the way down the escalator…

The hotel and downtown Basel are not very close to the SBB train station, one of two train stations in Basel. The other is called Basel Bad, which is in a seedier part of town on the other side of the Rhein River. We stopped at the Basel Bad station on the way into and out of the city. It’s located just two kilometers south of the German border. Wikipedia tells me the SBB station is Europe’s busiest international border station!

We arrived safely at the hotel and a bellman very quickly greeted us and grabbed our luggage. A very friendly young man welcomed us to the “Three Kings” hotel and checked us in, then asked us if we’d like a morning newspaper. We said we’d love to get The New York Times, which was one of our choices. We never did get the paper delivered, although it was no big deal. I’m already a subscriber, anyway. It would have been nice to get a paper version, though, especially given how expensive the room was.

One thing I would like to mention… When I booked our room, I didn’t realize I could have booked breakfast with it. I wish I had noticed that, since pre-booking breakfast does make it slightly less expensive. Breakfast costs 55 Swiss Francs per person, which is a lot of money… but if you pre-book, it’s only 45, which is slightly better. On the other hand, we discovered the lovely Bachmann Confiserie across the street, which was a lot less expensive and was perfectly fine for our needs. They sell chocolates, but they also have a cafe menu and serve wonderful fresh pastries and bread.

The receptionist introduced us to the concierge, who assured us he could help us with any reservations or tickets we wanted to book. We had already made reservations at Alchemist for dinner, and we had lunch plans for the Cheval Blanc. We also received Basel Cards, which entitled us to free rides on the city’s extensive public transportation and half price admission to museums! I wish we’d had one more day to take better advantage of that benefit.

Finally, it was time to visit room 110, a “queen” room with a balcony and river view. This was not the cheapest room available at the hotel, but it was pretty small. However, the terrace/balcony was quite large and offered a great view of the Rhein. As you will see in the gallery, we didn’t have the best weather on Friday…

Huge patio
Afternoon view
Minibar… this was included in the price of the room.
Bathroom
Washlet toilet. It squirts cold water, though.
Great shower
Instructions. Unfortunately, they are upside down.
Controls for the toilet.
Hall
Library
Foyer
Evening view
Lots of Rhein dinner cruises start and finish by the hotel. We had a great view of the action.

We decided to visit the bar before we headed off to dinner at Alchemist. It was pretty busy on Friday night, and we had to sit at the bar. There were a couple of American women there, one of whom had put her stuff on a barstool. The very chic hostess politely requested her to move her stuff. There was a hook under the bar for purses, jackets, and stuff.

The drink menu at the bar was pretty pricey, which is to be expected at a five star hotel. They did have an impressive array of gins and whiskies, as well as some very interesting looking cocktails. Bill decided to have a gin and tonic, while I had a margarita. A piano player played contemporary hits to a lively crowd, and I was just enjoying the very classy ambiance. It really is a cozy bar.

Loved the fireplace!
The tequila used in my drink. I’d never had it before.

I probably would have been happy to eat dinner at the bar, but we had 7:00 PM dinner reservations. Bill got the check, and we made our way over there. I will write about our experience at Alchemist in the next post, as I want to make a video for it and that will take some time. Stay tuned.

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Champagne Bucket trips

Today is the big day… we’re off to Armenia, at last!

At about 3:15 PM Germany time, a cab will pick up Bill and me and take us to the Frankfurt Airport. Then, after we get through all the check in stuff, we’ll head to the Lufthansa Lounge and hang out until our 6:10 PM flight to Vienna, Austria. At about 10:00 PM tonight, we’ll board our Austrian Airlines flight to Yerevan. It’ll take about 3.5 hours. We’ll land at 4:40 AM, Armenia time– three hours ahead of Germany time.

Once we get through customs and collect our bags, we’ll make our way to the hotel… which hopefully will either let us check in early, or store our bags until 3:00 PM. Then, the fun will begin… and we’ll see what kinds of trouble we’ll get into during our eight crazy nights in Armenia. I’m still a little nervous about this trip, but I think overall, it will be awesome to be back and see everything… and take lots of pictures and videos.

I have a feeling the time will fly by, and when we get back here early in the morning on November 19th, I’m going to feel like I never left. The next day, Bill will go into Wiesbaden for his dental implant procedure. I’ll probably have to go with him, since they won’t want him to drive himself home. Then, the next day, we’ll go pick up our framed art from the Czech Republic… and probably drop off more art from Armenia. I do expect we’ll buy some art there, if we can manage it. I hope we can get something for the house that will remind me of the place that forever changed my perspective, and my life.

I hope I’ll have some interested readers… If you are among them, watch this space. I expect to fill it with some fresh posts about a place I haven’t seen since 1997. I already know it’s changed a LOT.

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short breaks

Big business in Poland, part one

Hi folks. Sorry it’s been awhile since my last post, but Bill was away for most of last week and this week, we are in Wroclaw, Poland (otherwise known as Breslau to Germans). Bill and I visited Wroclaw for a few hours back in 2008. We were impressed by it then, but it’s come a long way in eleven years. In fact, Poland as a whole seems to be in better straits than back in 2008.

I hadn’t actually wanted to come with Bill on this trip, mainly because when I tag along on his business trips, I usually spend a lot of time bored. I don’t enjoy dining alone in restaurants and I’m kind of hesitant sometimes to visit local attractions by myself. I’m not sure why I’m like this, since I was single for a long time. Wroclaw is a pretty great city… It’s much underrated and you get a lot of bang for your buck here, since it’s Eastern Europe. I should probably be more adventurous, too, since so many people here speak English. Seriously, eleven years ago, Poland was NOT like this… One thing that has not changed, however, is the wonderful, whimsical artistic spirit here… so many great musicians, artists, dancers, and performance artists. We really need to spend more time in Poland if we can manage it.

Anyway… our trip began on November 16th, which was our 17th wedding anniversary. Since we had to put Arran in the “hunde pension” on Saturday anyway, we decided to spend a night in Frankfurt and have a nice dinner. I chose the Jumeirah Frankfurt Hotel, located in the big shopping district downtown. And because we’re old and don’t feel like wandering around the city, we opted to have dinner at Max On One Grillroom, which offers excellent beef, lobster, and other dishes. I was curious about this hotel chain, since it’s based in the United Arab Emirates and only has three hotels in Europe– Frankfurt, London, and Mallorca.

Before I get too cranked up with a review, I’ll just say that Jumeirah is a lovely place in Frankfurt. I booked us in a gorgeous skyline king room that offered views of the city that didn’t disappoint. Service was mostly impeccable; the food was outstanding; and we had a very nice evening at the hotel, though definitely not without a price. After we left the oasis of Jumeirah, we had to deal with the hellish Frankfurt Airport. Wroclaw is a great city and we like this week’s business hotel, the Sofitel, but it kind of pales in comparison to Jumeirah. If we can swing it again in another city, we definitely will.

I will start writing up this trip very soon… perhaps starting tomorrow or the day after. For now, I need to sleep off the beery lunch I just had at the Doctor’s Bar across the street. Like I said, Wroclaw has come a long way in the beer department since 2008. I also never knew about the 600 gnomes in this city… and I have managed to spot a bunch of them so far. Stay tuned for more in the coming days, after I’ve had a nice nap.

Part two

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Cologne, North Rhine Westphalia

The Eagles sure didn’t stink in Cologne… part 1

Last October, as Bill and I were preparing for our big move from Stuttgart to Wiesbaden, I found out that the Eagles, one of my favorite bands of all time, was going to be playing two dates in Germany in 2019.  2018 was our summer of concerts.  We saw The Rolling Stones in Stuttgart, Paul Simon, Bonnie Raitt, and James Taylor (all at one show) in Dublin, Roger Hodgson in Stuttgart, and the Irish Folk Festival in Stuttgart.  I also knew we were going to be seeing Elton John in Stuttgart in May 2019.

Given that we’d already spent so much money on shows and knowing that a move always requires more spending, I hesitated slightly before I bought the tickets.  When we go to concerts, they usually turn into major spending events.  I usually book us a nice hotel, so we don’t have to worry about driving far to get to the venue or trying to park (although we made the mistake of driving to the Elton John show).  I also don’t bother with “nosebleed” seats.  There was a time when those were the best seats I could afford, but now I want to sit closer, which always means more money.

I asked Bill what he thought about seeing the Eagles, even though the band’s legendary frontman, Glenn Frey, passed away in January 2016.  After some thought, Bill was okay with attending the show.  Now it was time to choose a city.  I had a choice between Cologne and Munich.

We had been in Cologne once before, back in May 2012, when we took our very first Space A military “hop”.  I remember we stayed at the Ibis in the train station, which was fine for a night when we were totally exhausted, but probably wouldn’t do now that I’m older and richer.  I also know Munich is expensive, since we did a blind booking out of Cologne on Germanwings (now known as Eurowings) during that same Space A hop and got Munich.  Don’t get me wrong– Munich is so much fun; but it’s super pricey.  Even average hotels down there cost a mint.  Munich is also further away from us, now that we’re in Wiesbaden.

Both of the shows were on work nights, but the Cologne show was the day after Memorial Day, so we decided it would be easiest to go to Cologne.  Bill would use up one less vacation day, and both the concert tickets and the lodging were less expensive than Munich.  Now that we’ve been back to Cologne, I can say that we’ll probably go there for more shows.  Not only was it super easy to get to the concert venue, it’s also super easy to get to Cologne from where we live.  And, as a bonus, we discovered an amazing hotel in the Excelsior Hotel Ernst!  As long as we can afford it, I think the Excelsior Hotel Ernst has effectively ended our Ibis days in Cologne.

This trip was also important, because it provided an excellent opportunity for our dogs to try out a new doggy pension.  When we lived in Stuttgart, we used Dog on Holiday, which I would absolutely recommend to anyone.  In fact, we’ve decided that anytime we need to go to or through Stuttgart with our dogs, we will try to have them stay with Max and Christine.  But it wasn’t practical to take the boys to Dog on Holiday from Wiesbaden, so we needed to find a place for them closer to our new town.  In February, we visited the Tierpension Birkenhof, and arranged for our boys to have their first stay during this quick trip to Cologne.

 

I got us fifth row seats!

 

With all of the arrangements made, we set off for the “city of pleasant smells” on Monday of this week– Memorial Day.  Since our hotel was super close to the train station and the train station had a stop near Cologne’s Lanxess Arena, which was where the Eagles would be “crying”, we decided to take the Inner City Express (ICE) train from the Frankfurt Airport.  The Tierpension Birkenhof is fairly convenient to the airport, although not as convenient as Max’s pension is to the Stuttgart airport.

 

 

 

The Tierpension Birkenhof was recommended to Bill by one of his co-workers.  It’s always interesting to see the differences in the “doggy hotels” in Germany.  When we were in Stuttgart the first time, we used to use Hunde Hotel Haase, which was a beautiful facility in Bad Niedernau, a very country hamlet south of Stuttgart.  Kiersten, the  lady who ran it back in those days, was absolutely awesome.  But, when we came back to Stuttgart in 2014, she’d left and took the hotel’s good reputation with her.  We used the Hunde Hotel Haase a couple more times, but kept hearing horror stories about dogs that were left there.  That’s when we switched to Dog on Holiday, which has been universally great, despite it’s somewhat urban location.

 
 

Tierpension Birkenhoff is a rather large facility that cares for dogs and cats.  It’s located in a somewhat suburban area, yet it’s near farmland.  The owner doesn’t accept VAT forms, and we haven’t yet met him.  We have met two of his employees, both of whom seemed very kind.  

 

I have noticed that each German dog facility has its quirks.  At the Birkenhoff, you’re not allowed to bring your own dog bed.  I’m not sure exactly why this is… I think it’s because the other doesn’t want to have to worry about the owners’ beds getting dirty.  Nevertheless, it does make things somewhat more convenient for us, since we’re about to trade in our RAV 4 SUV for a Volvo SUV and will probably have to bring the dogs in my Mini Cooper next time they stay.  Mini Coopers are small.  Dog beds take up a lot of space.

 

Frankfurt Airport train station to Cologne Messe

 

Once the dogs were dropped off, we made our way to the Frankfurt Airport.  Bill had reserved parking with ACS at the airport, which turned out to be very convenient, once we figured out where P4 was.  The reserved spots are reasonably priced and located near the terminal, so there’s no need to haul heavy bags long distances from far away lots.  Frankfurt Airport is a bit more confusing than Stuttgart Airport is.  It’s huge, and finding parking can be super confusing and annoying.  But now that we know where the ACS parking is, I’m sure we’ll use it all the time.  It really made parking super easy.

 

Frankfurt Airport also has a big train station, making it easy to access a lot of cities.  If we had left from Wiesbaden, it would have taken a lot more time, required us to park in the parking garage from Hell, and we would have needed to change trains at least once.  From Frankfurt Airport, it was a straight shot to Cologne.  

 
 

I like how, in Germany, “bullshit” isn’t a bad word.  You’ll even see it on billboards.

 

We had time for lunch, so we stopped at a restaurant called Little Italy, not to be confused with the Little Italy in Wiesbaden, which has become one of our favorite Sunday lunch stops.  The Little Italy at the airport is in the shopping area called The Squaire.  It’s not long on ambiance, but the food and service are good.

 
Mmm…  food!
 
 

Bill went vegetarian with spaghetti and fresh vegetables, tossed in a little olive oil and washed down with a tempranillo.

 

I had a very lovely tagliatelle salmone.  The salmon was cooked to perfection and melted in my mouth.  I love salmon that isn’t overcooked, and they did a really good job with this.  However, I probably would have preferred about half this much food.  

 

With lunch sorted, we headed down to the platform where we’d catch our train to Cologne.  But then, about ten minutes before we were to depart, our original train was cancelled due to some people on the tracks.  Don’t ask me what that means.  I have no idea.  Bill ran up to the Deutsche Bahn (DB) information kiosk, where he was advised that we should take another train. 

 

Instead of dropping us directly at the Cologne Hauptbahnhof, would go to the Cologne Messe stop.  That would require us to take a city train one stop over the Rhein River.  The nice thing about the train we took was that it went directly from Frankfurt to Cologne, with no stops.  It was also practically empty, which was a good thing, since changing trains also erased our seat reservations.  Within an hour, we were whisked to Cologne, having flown past beautiful scenery at about 280 kph.

 

I was surprised by how fast our trip from Frankfurt to Cologne was on the ICE train.  It was also very comfortable, since the train has clean toilets and a restaurant.  We did not use the restaurant during our trip to Cologne, but it was nice to have had the option.

 

 

Bill checks the schedule…

 

This is the life.  First class all the way.  Second class probably would have been fine, too.

 

We could have taken a more leisurely train to Cologne and probably saved some money, but this was a really nice way to get where we were going.  It’s been too long since our last train trip.  I think we need to take them more often.

 

It was a simple thing to take the S-bahn over the Rhein River to get to Cologne’s main station, home of the city’s majestic Dom and our hotel, the Excelsior Hotel Ernst.  

 

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