Round The World and other travel

Flight Log 2: LH490

Frankfurt (FRA) - Seattle (SEA)

Considering that mine was the only pre-allocated seat in the cabin right up to and including online check-in, I had previously wondered whether I might be the only passenger in First Class. That notion was dispelled during the limousine transfer, but as I entered the cabin after crossing through the galley at Door 1, I saw that nothing could have been further from the truth: all eight seats were going to be taken. Not that it mattered: First is First, and I had no doubt that the full experience would be delivered in the customary style.

I had a short chat with one of the cabin attendants, partly in English and partly in German, as I settled into my seat; it turned out that she was familiar with my home town and its best-known and most striking feature. As I sipped on a refreshing apple juice and nibbled some macadamia nuts, the captain announced the expected flight time as 10 hours and 15 minutes. A sweater, pair of slippers and an amenity kit were all delivered, the latter in a new style of bag that did not strike me as particularly attractive. Boarding was complete by 1110, although loading of freight was still taking place down below. We pushed back precisely on schedule, made the short taxi to 25C and then waited for what seemed like ages as an Airbus A340, 2 MD-11 freighters, an unidentifiable aircraft further up the runway, an SAS Boeing 737 and a Finnair Embraer E190 all departed ahead of us. Finally it was our turn and we took our leave of German soil just three minutes before noon.

Once the seat belt signs had been switched off, the cabin crew started by setting up what I tend to think of as the 'display area' at the front of the cabin - basically it's just a shelf for open bottles and the like, but when nicely decorated with white linen and some flowers and lit with the spotlight, it can be a most attractive cabin feature. I was already conscious of the A330-300's subdued noise levels and felt that this was going to be a particularly civilised environment in which to spend the next ten hours or so. Service commenced with hot towels and it was good to see the return of the red rose petal on the plate, a feature that had been absent during my last few experiences of LH F. I had a nice chat with the Purser, who hailed from Hamburg and was rather excited to be visiting Seattle for the first time. I was soon enjoying a glass of champagne and some ice water and an amuse-bouche was also presented, which on this occasion was some kind of terrine. Lunch orders were taken and, probably through a stroke of luck, the process started with me. The menu was as follows:

LUNCH		WINE LIST
Choice of hors d'oeuvres		Champagne
Caviar with the traditional garnishes		Laurent-Perrier Millésimé 2000
Tart and medallion of lobster, with pea and mint puree		or
Crêpe-coated filet of rabbit, Provençal style		Louis de Sacy Grand Cru Brut
Goat cream cheese on marinated beetroot with walnuts
		White wines
Salad or soup		Merler Stephansberg Riesling Spätlese 2010, Weingut
Mixed leaf salad with chanterelles, cherry tomato and		Kallfelz, Germany
zucchini, presented with your choice of orange mustard or		California Chardonnay 2009, Round Hill, USA
yogurt dill dressing		Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 'Icon' 2010, Nobilo, New
or		Zealand
Escargot soup, Baden style
		Red wines
Choice of main courses		Meritage 2006, Artesa, USA
Tenderloin of veal with morel cream, white cabbage and		Château Belgrave Cru-Classé 2004, Haut-Médoc, France
Spätzle		Callabrigo Douro Sogrape Vinhos 2006, Villa Novo de
Medallion and sausage of freshwater pike-perch in potato		Gaia, Portugal
caper fond
Fried chickpea tart on saffron vegetables with herb		Dessert wine
mushrooms		Huxelrebe & Ortega Beerenauslese 2008, Weingut
Lufthansa Classic: Roast goose with red cabbage and		Bischel, Germany
potato dumplings
		Port
Selection of cheese and dessert		Niepoort 2007 Late Bottled Vintage
Bleu de Gex, Coulommiers, Pont L'Evêque, ashed goat cream cheese and Gruyère, orange marmalade with Piment d'Espelette, grapes and walnuts
Vanilla! Vanilla! Panna cotta, essence, cookie and cake with apple
Variations of Mocha

We left Germany behind near Bremen and passed to the west of Schleswig-Holstein; it was a course with a strong northerly component and it looked like we were going to miss the British Isles altogether. I started up the 2011 movie Contagion, with the intention of watching it as I ate and then trying to get a little sleep in what was destined to be a very long day indeed. Meanwhile, my table was set and when the starters trolley arrived - after a quick check that they had sufficient supplies - I chose to have the caviar and also the lobster and the rabbit. Having finished my champagne by now, I took the opportunity to switch to the Californian Chardonnay, which also served me well as I enjoyed the soup, the veal main course and an interesting coffee-based dessert. I finished off another memorable mid-air feast with the cheese selection and a small glass of port, followed by an Earl Grey tea.

I noticed that, for the first time ever, I had passed well to the north of Iceland, missing it completely. Indeed we were so far north that on my side of the aircraft, daylight was noticeably very poor and faded away into darkness towards the north pole. Darkness falling in the middle of a westbound daytime flight, to recover later? This was definitely a first for me! When the film as over, I started up a recording of two Beethoven sonatas performed by the young German-Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott: they were Nos. 3 and 21 ("Waldstein"), both in C major. I enjoyed them very much except for the short middle movement of the Waldstein, which was taken far too fast for my taste and was over in no time at all. As I passed over northern Greenland for the first time, the landscape below looked strangely atmospheric, verging on creepy, in the near-darkness.

By this time, I was ready to attempt some sleep. This was moderately successful and seemed to be in two parts: first sitting in a semi-reclined position and then lying on my side with the seat fully reclined. I woke up at 1000 Pacific, asked for an apple juice and started up a couple of episodes of the TV series The Cheetah Diaries, followed by a recording of Schubert's Symphony No 9 - apparently I was gripped by some kind of obsession with the key of C major! With two hours left to run, a round of hot towels signalled the beginning of the second meal service. For some reason, menu cards were not distributed for this service and the cabin attendant let passengers look at a single copy when the starters trolley came round, to help explain what was on offer and to allow ordering of the main course. I had a selection of cold starters including a Middle Eastern tabbouleh salad, which was a nice reminder of my trip to that region during the previous month. Instantly recognising the coffee bean-crusted saddle of lamb as something that I had enjoyed on a Frankfurt - Buenos Aires flight in 2009, I decided to repeat the experience and once again enjoyed it with a glass of the Napa Valley red. A cup of cappuccino nicely rounded off the second meal.

Our track had taken us over the Canadian Rockies, passing close to Kamloops, and then south-west towards the Seattle area. We emerged through the low cloud over the docks district, in gloomy conditions similar to those that I had left behind in Scotland. Touchdown at Seattle-Tacoma came a little late at 1308 local time, but we made it to our allocated gate in a commendable four minutes.

Thankfully, Lufty's lapse from excellence the previous day had proved to be a blip. This was another unforgettable first-class experience and I felt privileged to be able to add it to my ever-growing list of similar indulgences.