South Africa and Namibia: September 2018: Day 11: Groot Constantia

South Africa and Namibia: September 2018

Day 11: Frankfurt to San Francisco

Uniquely bad french toast. Super thin, burned, stuck to dish (!).

Lufthansa Arrivals Lounge at FRA.

Cold food at left, breads at center, hot food at right.

Been up since 3am, time for second breakfast.

Pork and beef brats at the street market next to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof.

The proud proprietors of Rhonhof Wingenfeld.

Street market. Not yet 11:30am, so not too busy.

The real United Polaris seats in the 777-300ER, as opposed to the old ones in the 787.

Still amazing to think United has a competitive business class product.

Bulkhead seats, even in business, mean extra foot room!

Lufthansa Airbus A340-600 at the next gate. Salad.

Salad.

Flight attendant recommended the beef shortrib. It was passable.

Mountains dominate Greenland's east coast.

Greenland's vast inland ice sheet.

80 minutes later, the edge of Greenland's west coast.

San Francisco beckons!

Polaris lounge burger. Aka they forgot to feed me breakfast on the plane. o_0 #customerservicefail

12 hour flights are no fun. 3am wake-up for a breakfast of mediocre (airplane food, no surprise!) french toast are even less fun. The charming service by Lufthansa tries to make it bearable, but add on a 5am arrival in FRA and, superb service or not, it's painful. At least breakfast at the arrivals Lounge was pretty good?

The morning weather, like Cape Town yesterday, started off overcast and brisk, perfect for the second run through Kelsterbach. Then hauled my now-sweaty butt into der Innenstadt (central Frankfurt) for some exploring and a tasty bratwurst at the street market adjacent to the Hauptbahnhof.

Another shower at the airport, then a mostly-excellent flight back to the US on another new United 777-300ER. Apparently US carriers are capable of providing actual service. *gasp*

Topped things off with some beautiful views of the German coast, then Greenland, and finally, of the San Francisco Bay Area on the return flight. Exhaustion finally caught up to me as well, but fortunately after landing at SFO, it was just one more quick flight back to LAX for the trip!