Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: A Tale of Two Cities (2010)
Flight Log 4 : LH4425
Madrid (MAD) - Munich (MUC)
I received a friendly greeting from
the Purser as I stepped through the aircraft door and smiled quietly
to myself as I realised why he looked familiar: he was the spitting
image of the character Rolf in the well-known sixties movie The
Sound of Music.
My smile faded slightly as I turned right and spotted a young mother
with a noisy and restless infant occupying 1D and 1F. Hoping that
the little bundle of decibels would quieten down once the flight got
underway, I got myself settled into 2A and took stock of my
surroundings: three rows of Business Class, spotless cabin
presentation, A380 postcards on display and, wait a minute, what's
THAT? Facing me in the seat-back pocket was a long-exposure,
telephoto lens picture of Edinburgh's Princes Street, taken from the
well-known viewpoint on Calton Hill. It turned out that the cover
feature of the Lufthansa Magazin for March 2010 was
'Edinburgh, scene of Ian Rankin's crimes'.
Once everyone was on board, it became apparent that the total complement of passengers up front was eight. Once again, I was lucky to have 2C and 3A (i.e. the seat next to me and the seat behind me) unoccupied. The Captain announced an expected flight time of 2hrs 5mins, while the Purser offered newspapers and magazines. We pushed back more or less on-schedule and, after a very long taxi, took off at 1537. I couldn't help being aware of the fact that 3C was playing his iPod at full strength, even during taxi and take-off. Clearly achieving deafness by age 30 is more important to some people than being aware of any instruction to evacuate the aircraft. Hmmm ... I was now resigned to the idea that, whatever other enjoyment this flight might bring, peace and quiet were unlikely to feature heavily.
Service started with drinks and nibbles; I had a glass of white wine, some water and a little bag of roasted almonds. I was offered a choice of pork tenderloin with wild mushroom sauce, or salmon and tagliatelle, and opted for the former. My very nicely presented meal tray soon arrived, bearing an asparagus and crispy bacon starter, the pork main course served with mushrooms and multi-coloured peppers, a piece of cheesecake, a roll and butter and some Tuscan Amaretti biscuits to accompany coffee afterwards. The pork was every bit as tender as its description suggested. It was a truly excellent short haul meal. "Shame about the entertainment", I thought, and noticed that the Purser had a word with Mum in 1F when the kid started banging a spoon and cup together. It was a case of peace, perfect peace, when the pair disappeared into the lavatory for a nappy change and I was delighted to see the Purser deftly removing the spoon and cup while they were gone. Well done, that man!
As we passed through the northern part of Switzerland, I realised that I was on the wrong side of the plane for a good view of the Alps. Nevertheless, I did manage to spot Geneva and, a little later, the now thoroughly familiar layout of Zurich Airport, far below. There were still patches of snow visible over southern Germany as we made our descent into Munich. Touchdown was at 1745 and, as we pulled onto our remote stand five minutes later, I spotted a pleasing black, metallic shape among the clutter of ground equipment. As I said goodbye to 'Rolf', he volunteered "I think someone is waiting for you outside". "Yes, I think you're right," I replied, unable to suppress a broad grin.
Date: Tue 23 Mar 2010
Aircraft: Airbus A320
Scheduled dep: 1520
Actual departure: 1521
Scheduled arrival: 1755
Actual arrival: 1750
Cabin: Business Class
Seat: 2A
