MUGA Day #31: Frankfurt to DC

For those new to this series, MUGA is he acronym for My Ultimate Global Adventure.

The Style Section of the International Herald Tribune had a cutting edge article on "The New Sao Paulo."  This was one of my stops last year, where I had a memorable meal at DOM.  The same edition had an even better one on "The Reincarnation of Seoul."  Knowing now what was said, my two days there would have been different.

I really hesitate to share this paragraph because it borders on the absurd.  My engineering mind says there is no afterlife and all those paranormal phenomena are essentially bunk.  However, more recently, I've noticed that when I tell my mind to do something, it sometimes works.  My body is like the United Nations, every part is its own nation, and they don't sometimes work together all that well.  Golf is a prime example where no matter what I say, it doesn't matter, there is little coordination.  However, I've found that sometimes simple health strategies do lead to a positive conclusion.  Last night I awoke to a sore throat.  In the past, this would almost surely have lead to a cold or flu.  So I convinced my mind to tell the rest of me that we've seen this virus before (even though this was just made up), so every action should be taken to eliminate these invasive alien viruses.  An hour of intense thinking led to me going to the bathroom to spit out what looked like phlegm.  The white corpuscles had done their job.  There was a slight fever, and some coughing, but I was able to go back to sleep.  Then, this morning, I felt a tad weak, but essentially okay with no sore throat.  I don't want to cough on the plane, as my flight leaves in a few hours to Washington, D.C.  Was this a dream?  No, I think I really mentally stopped a cold from forming.  I tried Google and couldn't find anything even remotely credible to what I'm saying.  Anyone else ever tried this?  Oh, that brain diagram is just an unnecessary diversion.  I didn't focus on any one part of this organ, but maybe I should experiment with this concept by targeting sites to improve my golf game.

I checked into Lufthansa four hours early, hoping for an extraordinary First Class Lounge.  It started rockily, for I was told, after getting my boarding pass in all of one minute, to bypass immigration, take the escalator down one floor, walk to the end of the taxi queue, through the taxi parking lot, and enter the next building.  After five minutes of  observing where taxi drivers eat into an area of an airport that one never sees, and asking a Lufthansa pilot where the First Class Lounge was located (he wasn't sure), I finally somehow made it to a building that showed some promise.  If it were raining or snowing, I'd be wet.  Entering the door, there was an empty room with nothing but an elevator.  No signs.  So I caught it up, was warmly greeted and entered the best First Class Lounge ever, even exceeding the Uber Silver Kris Lounge of Singapore Airlines.  However, Thai Air shuttles you to their First Class Lounge.  Lufthansa needs to upgrade this part of the experience.

There was a full kitchen to order whatever you wanted, from Western to Asian.  I had a simple egg over easy with one piece of bacon and some baked beans, with a Bloody Mary.  I noticed that the list of champagnes and wines was remarkable, plus there was a wide assortment of single malt scotches.  I had a 21 year old Aberfeldy.  A bottle costs around $135.

I hooked up my computer with ease, the first time on this trip.  Everything worked well, and the speed was really quick.

I still have two and a half hours before my plane departs, so I wonder what else I'll be eating and drinking.  The snack selection is excessive:

There is another section for the same great mac nuts I had on my trip from Beijing to Frankfurt.

The room is shifting from breakfast to lunch, and someone just placed a menu on my table.  There is now available for your pleasure: parma, jamon iberico, a wide assortment of vegetables, seven kinds of salads, Scottish smoked salmon and nine types of desserts... to accompany two soups, including Tom Ka Gai (Thai chicken soup with coconut milk), and Seared Filet of Beef, Wiener Schnitzel, Ravioli ai Fungi, Chicken Penang, Classic Beef Wok and Grilled Pike Perch.

Well, I decided to have the Thai soup, to which I added some Johnny Walker Blue Label and had a glass of Taittinger.  The soup was so good that I had the second soup, some garlic thing, and added a small seared filet:

I could also have gone to the food bar:

There is a very large cigar smoking room here, with free cigars and free cognacs:

I gave it a thought and felt that the horrible smell on my clothes would not be worth it.

Half and hour before flight time, we were driven to our waiting Boeing 747-8, their newest plane:

There were only two of us in First Class.  The menu was very similar to the flight from Beijing to Frankfurt, plus I was already stuffed.  So all I had was the caviar...

...champagne and a spot of vodka.  I didn't eat this all for fear of getting sodium poisoning.  Eight hours into the flight I picked at a Japanese box of sushi, with some hot soup and hot tea, plus a glass of beer.  I watched German and French films.  My first view of the USA was New York City in the background:

The plane landed at Dulles, and the whole process only took a few minutes for me to catch a cab into D.C.  However, this cost was $75.  I also found the worst St. Regis in the world, the one in DC, where I am staying.  If the Beijing St. Regis is a 10, this one is a 3, or less.   It is old, there are no evening cocktails, no free breakfast, no water in the room, no room slippers, nothing.  However, it is one block from the White House and next to the McPherson Square and Farragut North Metro Stations.  The Washington Monument can just about be seen in the extreme right side of my hotel:

Plus, there were several receptions going on, so I stepped into one and had a glass of Chardonnay.  One thing I learned in my years here is to look official while you walk right past the check in list...or, if that looks too challenging, look lost and wander around.  This second method also nicely allows you to cut in line if there is one for the best food.  Either of these two techniques should work most of the time.

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