My heart went a flutter as I realised that this was the first A380 to be delivered to Qantas (the Nancy Bird-Walton) and was also the aircraft which had experienced the uncontrolled engine failure out of Singapore - I think we all remember those images of locals on Batam Island holding up parts of a Qantas engine.
To add to this was the fact that I had literally just finished the book by the captain of this incident, Captain Richard de Crespigny! All a bit spooky as Dame Edna would say!
The flight was uneventful and it was sort of cool to be on the first A380 delivered to the big QF.
Well, after that bit of aviation trivia it is back to regular programming....as you know by now I am never one to stay still too long and it was time for another road trip. This time to Frankfurt to pick up the three boxes which I had sent full of treasured (and hopefully) useful possessions. The drive to Frankfurt (hence the hot dog reference...I know, I am hysterical) is about five hours but you do get to zoom a bit on the autobahns which is fun.
Journey started with picking up a hire car as S's little SLK was hardly going to cope with all my junk! We had a lovely bronze-is Audi A6 station wagon which was truly lovely to drive. Even S, who is a die hard Mercedes Benz driver grew to like the car (hats off to you Audi!). I was a little bit excited as we were breaking the journey by stopping at a transport museum near Stuggart called the "Auto und Technik Museum". I was told there were planes there which you could go inside - touchable plane porn....better wear the loose pants for this excursion.
Well I was not let down. The highlight was an Air France Concorde and an Aeroflot Tupelov 144 (the Russian supersonic jet - Condordski). I also was able to buy a model of each and pretended that by going onboard counted as flying on them - a long bow I know.
So I needed to calm down after all that excitement as you could well imagine. Not sure taking the wheel was the best option but it was my turn to take control of the Starship A6.
We arrived at Stefan (with an F) at about 6:00 pm to be met by the boxes and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc! After loading them into the car it was into Frankfurt to the Hotel Jumeirah. This is a lovely hotel tucked into the heart of Frankfurt. They have gone with the stock standard interior colours in the room of brown, beige, caramel, ecru etc. It also had the most complicated lighting control system I had come across - it was like the Starship Enterprise!
We also got upgraded (in fact a triple upgrade) which I like to think was due to Rodney being a bit grumpy about something but I think it was mostly about a service recovery from S's last visit. Still, my two favourite words, "Free" and "Upgrade". We had a view across the city skyline which was beautiful except for the giant flat screen TV which blocked it. Spinning on its side helped a bit. Come on people get some homo designers in there to make sure these things don't happen!!
We headed out to dinner that night to a friend of S's....would you believe another Stephan who has a restaurant which is getting some great reviews. And it did not disappoint. I struggled to eat everything with a combination of too much food and not feeling 100%. You can tell when I am unwell when I even refuse wine! Call triple zero!
Saturday started with a wonderful breakfast in the hotel and then a wander through the city before we headed off to see a friend of S's who is also a concert pianist. A lovely afternoon tea was had and a tour of her property which included a decent sized concert hall! I think this gal has some money!
Dinner that night was with some of S's friends at a Creole Restaurant. It was a lot of fun and one of their specialities was a burger made of bison - well could not go past this!
Sunday was merely a travelling day...just a quick 600 kilometres back to Switzerland. It was great to get the boxes home and see what I had packed...I do question some of my decisions.....
I was not able to even get close to unpacking due to the impending arrival of the parentals....this will be the next chapter.
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