LH 1765 TXL FRA 1120 1235 36A
Headed to the lounge area (on a mezzanine a few
steps above and opposite the mezzanine that has the
BA lounge) where the concierge pointed me to the FTL
lounge. I pulled out the white card and was thereupon
invited to the other lounge, which as it was midday
was not grossly overcrowded. Had just time to look
it over approvingly and go off to the gate. TXL is
a circular terminal, which is interesting. Service
to Frankfurt goes out from 8 and 9, as far from the
club area as possible. A very officious agent helped
me; he noted rather rudely that I'd changed my
itinerary, which should incur a fee: I pointed out
that the flight I'd originally been booked on didn't
exist, and anyhow it was United that had made
the change. So he reluctantly called the ticketing
office and after receiving whatever information he
needed was quite a bit more polite (though never warm).

A300-600. A fat, ungainly-looking plane. Got me
there in one piece, albeit in the wayback just
before the thing narrows, and as usual I slept
most of the flight. Woke up as the plane picked
up the Main and followed it into town. I'd been
scheduled on a later trip, but LH changed its
schedule a couple weeks earlier, so I had the
choice between a later or an earlier flight.
Figured that I'd maybe go into town and hit a
Bierstube or two, but ended up lounge-hopping
and duty-freeing instead. Went first to the
Business Lounge in A, where the concierge said,
you're welcome here, but your flight is in B and
the lounge there is bigger and nicer. I had a
Henninger Pils on tap (hoppier than the offers
in the other lounges) and a small glass of a
1999 Ortenberger Spaetburgunder; it disappointed
me as it was as sweet as soda pop, and the night
before my friends Hans-Erich and Christiane had
served me the 1997 Meyer Nakel Blaueschiefer
Spaetburgunder, which made me completely rethink
my attitude toward German red wines. Checked my
e-mail and read a little Flyertalk on the terminal
(first minute free, then 7 something DM for 6
min; but it doesn't cut you off until 7 minutes
have passed) and moseyed around the rest of the
terminal. Snacks at the Business lounge both here
and in B were about on a par with Red Carpet Clubs'.
Moseyed to the RCC, which is in a part of the
terminal for which the word "godforsaken" was
coined. Nice little spot, pretty quiet as it's in
C, and neither UA nor LH was running anything out
of that wing. Snacks were slightly subpar for an
international club - pretzels and very greasy
peanuts; also bread and butter and jam and
croissants. After a while they put out a tray of
chocolate-chip-orange cake (dry but tasty) and
these smore-like things (a marshmallow atop a
wafer cookie, all covered in chocolate). The
red wine was Ch. Ardolot (Corbieres) 1999, a
revoltingly grassy, somewhat too sweet Bordeaux-
style wine; the sparkler was Henkel Trocken, but
it was flat; the white was Mussbacher Eselhaut
Riesling Kabinett Trocken - very fresh, amazing
floral nose with ripe tropical fruits and good
acid, a surprisingly decent wine. In addition to
the usual liquors, there was the Moskovskaya
Osobaya vodka, which was somewhat sweet but
otherwise pretty normal. The beer today was
Krombacher Pils (reasonable), with Warsteiner
and Lowenbrau available in bottle. Oddity: the
flight magazine they offered was neither United's
nor Lufthansa's: it was Skylife, from Turkish Air.

After a pleasant short stay, off to the post to
post postcards and off to do a bit of shopping.
The booze places had some amazingly good and
amazingly bad prices on brand-name things; the
selection of German wines, however, especially
the BAs, TBAs, and Eisweins, included mostly
estates and even grapes! that I didn't know
anything about, so I passed. I bought mostly
a selection of chocolates by Neuhaus, Leysieffer,
and Niederegger (whose marzipans are similar to
the famous Mozartkugeln but are fresher and I
think somewhat better). Wasn't tempted by most
of the merchandise (the caviar prices were
absolutely unconscionable: maybe a lot of sheiks
come by). Senator Lounge in B follows the model
I saw in Munich: overcrowded and unattractive
but with food. The wines were better than the
Business ones - a choice of Chilean Cab or Merlot;
the sparkler was Oppmann Chardonnay Brut nv, which
I kind of like as it is very clean, moderately
fruity, and goes well with a variety of foods. I
had a bacon-mayonnaise-tomato sandwich, which was
good if you like cold fatty bacon (I don't mind it)
and are not worried for your heart. Likewise they
served little pork sausages that were cold, fatty,
and soft: reminded me of partially uncured salami.
I had a few of these and made up for my sins with
a rather mushy overripe kiwi. Didn't try the salmon
and cream cheese sandwiches or the cheesecake, but
both these items seemed reasonably popular. It was
getting on toward boarding time, so I headed to B46
and noticed few people there, so one more lounge,
another Business one, this one huge (the concierge
at A was right about that at least) but rather
crowded and very smoky. Had a Radeberger Pils
(mild, no great character) and then headed back to
the gate for boarding.

UA 977 FRA IAD 1700 2010 9J
777. Not a notable flight. The crew was merely ok.
The movies and things were the same as on the
outbound; I asked for Ch 9 and was told that they
never have Ch 9 in Europe. I pointed out that both
into and out of CDG and LHR I often get it, so the
FA said, well, maybe it's just Germany. I wasn't
getting anywhere with this but did note that it had
been available the whole flight into Munich. It was
good that Flashbacks had a whole segment on the
Supremes; Grand Performance featured a piece that
I'd learned by having been hired to play in the back
of the second violin section when the Moscow Ballet
was here in the US, during one of the thaws in the
Cold War (great nostalgia value); the Jazz channel
had derangements of Broadway hits; and the feature
movie was Bedazzled (Elizabeth Hurley has the most
incredibly sexy voice, and she's no hardship to look
at either). My seatmate was a cultured and thoughtful
Tuebinginer who was heading to Germantown to consult
with, I think, some kind of hardware company. So I
had a pleasant enough time until naptime, which was
about halfway through the flight, after supper:

To begin
Salad Nicoise with sea bass filet
Anchovy dressing

This was one of the ugliest things I've ever had
the misfortune of putting in my mouth. The fish
was stiff and hard and covered in congealed grease.
The salad was ancient. There was another film of
congealed fat on the dressing. I had a bite of
each thing just to see if it was as bad as it
looked (answer: affirmative) and sent it back. The
FA didn't ask why or ask if I wanted to try the
alternative, which actually looked pretty good.
C was probably full, so maybe no alternative was
easily available. At any rate, it wasn't the most
responsive cabin crew I've seen in my life.

(or) Sliced Parma prosciutto with cantaloupe melon
Mustard fruits

Seasonal salad leaves
French vinaigrette or blue cheese dressing

I asked for vinaigrette and got the blue cheese.

Main course
Marinated loin of lamb with natural jus
Mushroom artichoke ragout and basil mashed potatoes

A huge portion, half a pound or more. Gray on the
outside but miraculously pinkish within. The
accompaniments were tasty, but the artichoke stuff
warred with the wine (the Eshcol Cabernet) and the
basil warred with everything.

Herb and pine nut crusted salmon with red bell pepper sauce
Linguine, carrots with tourne zucchini and turnips

This was also a big portion and looked quite nice.

Chilled deli plate with cream of mushroom soup
Smoked ham, turkey breast, peppered salami, pastrami
and Gouda cheese

Dessert

The world's finest cheeses with fresh fruit and
Sandeman's Porto

German apple cake with strawberry sauce

Surprisingly, as I usually am frugal with my lactase
pills, I had the cheeses. "World's finest" is a bit
of an overstatement. There were two cheeses: a very
underripe Tomme de Savoie (the FA when asked what
they were said he didn't know but thought they were
"Emmenthaler and Swiss") and another thing that I
didn't recognize: it has the appearance of a young
Munster but was flecked with fragments of green things
which turned out to be minced green onions. The flavor
and texture were of butter.

Lindt chocolates

Big blue paper packages with one medium-sized candy -
a crunchy nougaty sort of thing.

Prior to arrival
Philly cheese steak sandwich with caramelized onions
Parslied potato wedges

Cheese plate with seasonal fresh fruit
Goat, Cheddar and Port-Salut

I'd had enough cheese so had the sandwich when offered.
It was rather fatty beef, a good portion of it, in a
brown gravy with maybe a touch of process cheese food.
A brown wholegrain roll with sunflower, flax, and other
seeds. The potatoes were mushy but tasted okay. On the
side was another roll (white) and a big pat of butter.

[Postscriptum:] Today's menu features beef imported
from Argentina and Brazil

Arrived at Dulles in the evening, right on time.