Text 30796, 146 rader
Skriven 2009-11-06 15:28:44 av Michael Loo (1:18/200)
Ärende: 347
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Pat got business class, row 6, for this one, and I sat with my
friend Glen in row 8. European business is just coach with the
middle seat left unsold, but we were told to expect something
special for catering; otherwise I'd be happy to sit squished up
against either Pat or Glen for the day.

Breakfast was standard-issue prestaled airline food.

Tropical Bounty
Hawaiian style breakfast

Fresh Tahitian fruit salad - fruit cocktail, actually, apple,
pear, canteloupe, and honeydew, tasting of plastic, the
Tahitianness supplied by a piece of pineapple;

Chilled deli platter - two slices of salami, one of slightly
smelly cheese which I didn't eat;

Assorted freshly baked pastries & rolls - I got a small stale
pretzel roll; I didn't eat it.

Specialty Beverages

French Pressed Kena Estate Reserve Kona Coffee

Beachcomber Mimosa

Mahalo Bloody Mary

The coffee was pretty good - this guy Vince, who had flown out
from Kona just for the event, it turns out, is the owner of the
coffee plantation, so I promised to taste it. It was brewed
incredibly strong but was neither rank nor acidy, quite smooth
with a bit of a tang.

We landed in a snowstorm in Oslo, greeted by the SAS brass and
an FA singing Fly Me to the Moon, followed by a folk ensemble
performing accordion tunes and dancing rustic dances. We got
to inspect a 73G that had been fitted out as a medevac plane,
which some people found rather cool, but I found depressing.

More prestaled airplane food: a choice of fish or pasta. The
salmon got good reviews, but I had the other, enticed by some
julienne of bacon sprinkled over the top. It turned out to be
rotini with pesto. On the side, an envelope of vollkornbrot
and a Japp candy (like a Tootsie roll, only Norwegian).

Our warbling lark sent us off with an expert but somehow I
thought inappropriate version of Cry Me a River; after that,
Tommy the tour organizer, a guy I know from way back, was
launched from the medevac aircraft via the emergency slide.

==

The plane food took a turn for the better, as we were served
Laurent-Perrer Brut and Rose Brut, both quite toothsome
Champagnes. 

Smoked salmon and shrimp with mustard sauce were quite tasty,
going well with the less urinary and more tropical fruity
Pouilly Fume Bochye Chantellyer 07.

Lovely smells emanating from the galley: this turned out to be
venison in brown gravy, quite good. Apparently SAS catering took
over from Condor for this flight. A little tin of lingonberries
was provided to show us the wonders of these fruits, which to me
combine the weaknesses of blueberries and currants. Ch. Pesquie
Quintessence 06, a standard Cotes du Rhone, went well with.

Rice pudding with raspberry sauce underwhelmed, as the sauce was
way too sweet. Glen ate it all up, commenting that raspberries
(all I detected was sugar) are her favorite fruit.

Talisker 18 Classic Malts Selection was just a bit harsh
and extremely smoky.

At some point, the cockpit opened for tours. Being cool and
elderly I passed this opportunity up at first, but then Glen
wanted to go, so we went forward and got essentially as much
time as we wanted in the cockpit. I sat in the jumpseat for a
few seconds, which was enough for me, and then I gave up my
place to another starstruck (and also middle-aged) passenger.

The pilot (chief pilot of Condor) gave us a little thrill by
doing a full-power aborted landing (cleared in advance with
the air traffic control) and going around to show us what the
753, an amazingly engineered plane, can do in an emergency.

Spent the day with interior mockups and a sort of focus group
thingy at the Airbus factory. I could have gone with the majority
and seen the Lufthansa 380 in final production, but I am more
interested in the passenger compartment. We got to try new
versions of the 320, 346, and the unreleased 350. Oh, yes,
macaroons and babas au rhum courtesy of Airbus.

It was someone's birthday on the plane, so we had Norwegian marzipan
cake, which was a white cake filled with whipped cream and then
frosted with marzipan. It was very sweet and quite good, though I
didn't have much of it, as it didn't go with the Trapiche Vittorio
Colletto (stemmy, tannic, pretty good) or even with the Chateau
Dereszla Tokay, which came warm and thus cloying. I switched to
Scotch - Highland Park 18 was a terrific dram and put the Glenmorangie
18 Extremely Rare to pale shame by comparison.

The Tower Lounge outside the border crossing was recatered for
us, including things we brought. It was funny going outside Shengen
for a party and then reentering an hour later, considerably the
worse for wear. I had two big name boozes, Oban 1993 and Cognac
Montaubert 1978; both were quite a bit hotter and harsher than I
would have believed. Finished this party with a glass of Absinthe
Tabu. The border crossing was closed when we left, so we had to
trek off to the next area half a mile away to reenter Europe.

Pat, being apparently under the mistaken impression that she has
to buy me booze to keep my attention, bought a bunch of us beers
before it was time to turn in.

==

Woke up a bit late and moseyed to the conference area, where I was
again put in an overflow group led by a Dr. Pfragner, who gave
us a more candid tour of the airport facility than I think the
regular guide would have. We were bussed around the whole
perimeter (inside the secured area) and got to see some really
cool stuff, including worms' eye views of numerous takeoffs and
landings. Back in time for booth displays about Lufthansa and
Swiss (I got some black salt from Lufthansa, some chocolate from
Swiss, and a set of travel electric plugs from Star - none of
which I needed; passed up numerous cutlery, keyrings, luggage
tags, pens, and other assorted knickknacks, though). While the
chairman of Lufthansa Dr. Mayrhuber gave his much-anticipated
speech, I lunched on smoked salmon and prosciutto sandwiches
and a bowl of rather weird chili that had Indian spices, kidney
beans, and very nice crunchy corn kernels in it. Oh, yes, some
pre-staled Mozartkugeln for afters.

That was the anticlimactic end of my trip; I said goodbye to
people and took the train into Frankfurt, where I'd booked a
place at the Courtyard in order to save E20 for my last night.
Missed the tour of the arrivals lounge and the goodbye speech
by some Star marketing guy. There was also a pizza party and
stuff at the Lufthansa corporate training facility in Seeheim,
but I figure I'd had enough.
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