RE 30014 SZG Hbf MUC Ost 0709 0902/S8 MUC Ost MUC 0927 0957

I didn't take this train. It turns out the_happiness_store
was on my flight to Chicago and had a car and was glad of
a passenger, so I passenged. Aside from a curious incident
involving a visit to the breakfast nook with melville and
a lost wallet followed by a wrong turn leaving town, thanks
to an incredibly ambiguous map drawn by the front desk, the
trip was uneventful, and we spent most of the time chatting.
There was plenty of construction on the Autobahn, plus
pretty heavy rain as we got to Munich, so we took perhaps
20-30 more than we could have under ideal circumstances.

Gassing up and car rental didn't take long, and we were in
the airport in plenty of time.

I breezed through checkin; the_happiness_store, not carrying
a US passport, had a harder time, so we agreed to meet at
the Senator Lounge, and I was on my way. Biz class security
took thirty seconds, and then only because I had trouble
getting my laptop out of my briefcase, passport control
even less, so I had plenty of time to enjoy the lounge.
I stood behind a young Asian woman at the entrance, and
after she was waved in, the agent went away! I had to pursue
her to show her my credentials; she apologized, saying "I
thought you were together," which was somewhat flattering,
as the Asian woman had been about half my age.

The place was really crowded. I can see why LH might want to
get sticky about letting the riffraff in ... it was a while
before I could find a place to park my butt.

The Lufthansa Cocktail was available: I don't know what it's
about, except that when it was invented in 1955 they must
have had sweeter teeth than we have now. It's a syrupy
apricot-vanilla substance that might go okay over ice but is
unbelievably cloying on its own. Cut 1 to 10 with Sekt it
was quite palatable.

J. Oppmann Schloss Wurzberg was honeyed and rather nice,
though a tad sweet for my taste.

I didn't bother with the Bouvet Brut, as I won't drink less
than the Saphir, which, as it's E2 dearer, doesn't appear.

I preferred the classical, restrained Schlumberger Brut 06,
which is made in the Champagne style and does a pretty good
imitation, with a certain flintiness, lemony yeasty notes,
and a good long dry finish.

I didn't check out the sweets or breads, preferring
charcuterie.

There was a deli buffet including Leberkase, Genoa salami,
something that looked like turkey roll but tasted like
bologna, a link sausage with liver, and little knackwurst
with a piece of metal. No cutlery anywhere to be found,
though, and napkins were hard to come by.

As opposed to the_happiness_store's experience at another
lounge - I'm not sure which one, where he didn't find any
food at all.

UA 907 MUC ORD 1220 1514 763 5F Ch9^ Empower^

the_happiness_store was in row 9; myself in the bulkhead.

Three FAs worked the biz cabin from time to time - a grumpy
young brunette, a pixyish and pleasant sort of Audrey
Hepburnish brunette, and a pretty hot Germanic blonde;
either of the last two would please even the jaded FT palate
were they perhaps a decade younger; or mine if they were
perhaps a decade older.

The seats are actually quite okay. My IFE console was dead,
so I asked for them to cycle the system, and the thing came
to life more or less. Just as well, F was full, with 5C and
something in the last row open.

The reds were the palatable if unsubtle Furiant Malbec,
with cherry and berry flavors, good balance of acid,
tannin, and a touch of sweetness. Audrey (not her real
name) sold me on the former; but when refill time came
around, the blonde poured the Bushmen's Gully Shiraz,
which is one of the more boring wines on this planet, with
a distinct resemblance to what you might get out of a box
someplace. Audrey's return made everything right again.

My seatmate was a young engineer working his dream job at
Audi; he was flying to the States to do some crash tests.
His flights MUC-CHO-IAD-MUC cost just over E4000, thank you
Audi, and he had probably not flown international biz before
(he had flown intracontinental, as he mentioned this) and
was enthralled with it all, especially the seats and -
oddly - the food.