So, Duesseldorf Hbf. After missing an earlier ICE (or IC, I forget which) to Cologne, I manage to miss yet another one at the Hauptbahnhof. Luckily, pulling up on the adjacent platform is a delayed EC headed to Chur, which is half-empty anyway, and made up of Swiss carriages. I get on, and the slightly odd back-bottom movement that you can do to get these Swiss RE seats to recline (yes, there is a definite knack to it!) comes flooding back to me, and so I have plenty room to stretch out and relax.
I have a Rail+Fly ticket - a great scheme where participating airlines will sell you, for €25, a ticket valid from pretty much any German airport, to anywhere in Germany. You can break your ticket as much as you like, as long as you travel on DB, and in the one direction, and can use pretty much any DB train, with the exception of the peak-hour ICE Sprinter services.
So, Cologne it is, where I leave my rucksack in a really disconcerting automated left-luggage system, that involves a hatch opening, you stuffing your luggage in, and it being spirited away to the bowels of the station. Fingers crossed and I head out for a wander round, a visit to a bakers, and, perhaps ill-advisedly, a climb to the top of the cathedral spire. A great way to help you sleep on a night flight - I fully recommend it!
And so back on to the ICE towards Frankfurt Airport, the luggage retrieval system having proven itself thankfully effective. Now, I'd never been on an ICE 3 before, and so am completely surprised by the fact that you can sit at the very front of the train (at least, heading in this direction - IIRC, 1st class is at the other end) where the back to the driver's cab is all glass, giving you a driver's eye view of the journey. Superb! I enjoy train travel at the best of time, and these trains are incredibly comfortable - smooth, fast, big, well-spaced seats... Really quite outstanding. And you can see out the front!
Frankfurt Flughafen Fernbahnhof (the mainline station) is a bright, airy affair, although quite some walk from the terminal. And this is where it begins... A sign informs me that Asiana departs from terminal 1, zone C. Fine, I follow the signs. There's a lot of up and down escalators, but fortunately, they seem to have those luggage trolleys that will go on escalators.
But this is where it begins. There's some construction work going on. Signs start contradicting themselves. I should have followed 1A - it was going straight over a bridge. 1C? Hmm, no. It goes down. And up. And down. And some escalators take trolleys, others don't. And then you go outside, and have to fight your way through bus stops and building works hoarding. And then... Well, you reach the terminal, but there's no indication which airline is where. It takes ages to find the OZ counter, and when I do, the queues snake round...
Some photos of Cologne
here.