O Tannenbaum - A tour of German Christmas Markets and other spots

[I love to travel]

I was just thinking about Frankfurt and this is a very opportune post.

I'm thinking of flying out of Frankfurt and would spend just one full day there. What are your suggestions for a day in Frankfurt. I don't want to spend any more time than that as I'll have been away long enough

Oh and thanks for another wonderful TR

Mainz 30 min train away and is pretty

 

[OZDUCK]

I was just thinking about Frankfurt and this is a very opportune post.

I'm thinking of flying out of Frankfurt and would spend just one full day there. What are your suggestions for a day in Frankfurt. I don't want to spend any more time than that as I'll have been away long enough

Oh and thanks for another wonderful TR

Frankfurt is not a scenic highlight but there is enough to occupy you for a day. The area around the area around the Römerberg is attractive and has been nicely restored. There are some very pleasant walks walks along the riverside. We have always visited our friends in Bad Homburg when we have been there so we often have been outside Frankfurt.

As "I love to travel" suggests Frankfurt is also a good spot for quick day trips. We haven't been to Mainz but have enjoyed day trips to Wiesbaden, Marburg and Darmstadt. It is there any sort of particular activity or sights that you like?

The suggestions in the guide below for a one day itinerary are actually pretty good even if I think that it is a bit too full-on. We have done many of the tours she mentions. You do need to try the Green Sauce and Apple Wine in Sachsenhausen - or elsewhere in Frankfurt. Edit: Oops I forgot to mention that if you do go to the Kleinmarkthalle, which is worth a visit, don't accidentally get Spring Rolls like we did - as mentioned in the early part of this TR O and thank you for the comment about my TR.

One Day In Frankfurt: Your Guide To An Awe-Inspiring Day - Germany Footsteps

Have the ultimate day in Frankfurt with this guide of the best things to do in Frankfurt in one day so you have an absolutely awesome experience in limited time

germanyfootsteps.com

 

[OZDUCK]

We boarded pretty much dead on time. The 'sister' flight to Hanoi had no signs of movement before we left.

There was no special Christmas Menu - this was Christmas Day. However there were wreaths at the front of the cabin. A couple of hours into the flight they played Christmas Music over the PA and two FA's dressed as 'Santa's Elves' walked through the cabin wishing everyone a Merry Christmas with lots of giggles.



Avoid row 5 as the seat is 'missing' a window. There is one window next to you but the second one is partly obscured by the seat in front. My wife in 4K had two windows. As I said earlier in this TR the J seats are very similar to the CX ones - if perhaps a little smaller. There is not a lot of padding - perhaps designed for more petite Asian posteriors. I put a spare blanket under me and it was then fine.



Not huge legroom when sitting up but fine when your feet are on the footrest. It is still better than those awful angled SQ seats.



Before we pushed back the FA's came around and fitted the seat cover to all seats. It is pretty thin but offers a little extra comfort.





On every flight before pushback two of the cabin crew go to the front of the cabin and bow to all the passengers. Their English skills ranged from understandable to very good. All of the Vietnam Airlines staff we encountered were very polite and friendly. They roamed the cabin all night long. As I can't sleep on planes I was sitting up watching the, pretty average IFE, and they were often asking me if I wanted anything to eat or drink. Basically they provided very good service on all four flights.



The Hanoi flight still loading up as we left. It was due to leave at the same time as us.



I was surprised to see this Mongolian Airlines plane at Frankfurt. This is the first time I have seen one of their fleet.



Two Condor airplanes in their distinctive livery.

 

[Flashback]

We boarded pretty much dead on time. The 'sister' flight to Hanoi had no signs of movement before we left.

There was no special Christmas Menu - this was Christmas Day. However there were wreaths at the front of the cabin. A couple of hours into the flight they played Christmas Music over the PA and two FA's dressed as 'Santa's Elves' walked through the cabin wishing everyone a Merry Christmas with lots of giggles.

View attachment 372858

Avoid row 5 as the seat is 'missing' a window. There is one window next to you but the second one is partly obscured by the seat in front. My wife in 4K had two windows. As I said earlier in this TR the J seats are very similar to the CX ones - if perhaps a little smaller. There is not a lot of padding - perhaps designed for more petite Asian posteriors. I put a spare blanket under me and it was then fine.

View attachment 372859

Not huge legroom when sitting up but fine when your feet are on the footrest. It is still better than those awful angled SQ seats.

View attachment 372860

Before we pushed back the FA's came around and fitted the seat cover to all seats. It is pretty thin but offers a little extra comfort.

View attachment 372861

View attachment 372862

On every flight before pushback two of the cabin crew go to the front of the cabin and bow to all the passengers. Their English skills ranged from understandable to very good. All of the Vietnam Airlines staff we encountered were very polite and friendly. They roamed the cabin all night long. As I can't sleep on planes I was sitting up watching the, pretty average IFE, and they were often asking me if I wanted anything to eat or drink. Basically they provided very good service on all four flights.

View attachment 372863

The Hanoi flight still loading up as we left. It was due to leave at the same time as us.

View attachment 372864

I was surprised to see this Mongolian Airlines plane at Frankfurt. This is the first time I have seen one of their fleet.

View attachment 372867

Two Condor airplanes in their distinctive livery.

View attachment 372865

View attachment 372866

Unlike BA where I had the turkey dinner multiple times in December, which I was well surprised at!

 

[OZDUCK]

Just after take-off. Looking towards Bad Homburg and Kronberg



At about 2,000 metres all of the windows were darkened - this was a B787. However, they did not 'lock' the screen dimmer switch. Really there was not a lot to see as the cloud cover was very low and it was night-time conditions within about 30 minutes after departure. There was cloud cover over most of Europe.



The usual 'blue glow' through the darkened widows,



A menu is not at the seat but the FA's bring it to you and take your order before departure. This time I managed to get a quick couple of photos before they moved on to the next passenger.





I ordered the Thai Salad starter followed by the steak. The food on our flights was all very good with a mor ethan adequate quantity. Plus snacks were alays available.

First there was mixed nuts and a glass of Chilean wine. I think they only offered a Chilean or French Red & White wines. My wife did not like the nuts on offer and would have preferred 'ordinary' roasted nuts.



The salad, entrée and a custard were all served together on a tray. The Thai salad was nice but after a month in Germany the chili in the sauce seemed very spicy



The steak dish



It was very moist and not at all overcooked as you can see from this photo. I don't often have steak on flights but this was one of the best I have had.



For comparison purposes only I tried all of the dessert offerings. Again all very tasty.

 

[OZDUCK]

My wife had the Lobster entrée. They do serve a nice warm Garlic Bread on board.



Ice Cream with a Mango Sauce Topping



For breakfast I had the Dumplings. Again it was all very nice. There were croissants and rolls as well.



The path we followed. On the way to Frankfurt I wondered if Vietnam Airlines would use Russian airspace but we never seemed to do so. Both too and from Frankfurt we had a sudden big bump over northern Pakistan. I assume some turbulent hot spots due to the deserts.



Sun rise.



Closer to Saigon over the Mekong River





I knew that Saigon Airport was very close to the city but hadn't realised that it was actually surrounded by it.

 

[OZDUCK]

A video of the landing

 

[Seat0B]

This leg was an ÖBB (Austrian) Railjet train. Clean, modern and unlike most of the German trains we used exactly on time. ÖBB has an on-time performance of 97% while for November 2023 D Bahn had an on-time performance of 52% - all that is needed to be said. The train was comfortable and clean with plenty of legroom in 2nd class.

Exactly our experience with ÖBB too. Ran rings around DB.

 

[OZDUCK]

We were travelling on two separate tickets for our trip back to Perth. Vietnam Airlines to Singapore via Saigon and then on SQ to Perth. I had budgeted for about a 12 hour stopover in Singapore and we were going to check in at the Jewel and then spend the day in town. Our flight from Frankfurt was initially due to arrive in Saigon at 0745 and the leg to Singapore depart at 0905. (Despite being east of Singapore Saigon is one hour 'behind ' Singapore time.) However they changed our arrival time to 0810 and the departure time to 0900 so we were outside the minimum connection times at Saigon. In the end we had our flight changed to a 1410 departure. This meant a long wait in the Saigon J lounge.

However our Frankfurt flight actually arrived just after 0600 so when we got to the lounge I tried to change our flights back to the earlier one. Unfortunately the lounge staff are contract employees not Vietnam Airlines staff and it all had to be done in two languages via a third person. In the end it got too difficult so I gave up. Then our Saigon - Singapore flight kept dropping back so I began to get a bit worried.

The transit experience at Saigon was pretty awful as we had to queue up for a security check before entering the airside area. The line was about 20 metres long when we got there and within half an hour it was about 80 metres long. People kept cutting in as their flights were due to depart. They only had one person doing the 'check' she had a vague look at the hand luggage while everyone walked through a scanner which kept beeping but it was ignored. It was play acting of the worst kind. At least unlike Hanoi we didn't have to show our passports to anyone. The current airport is too small at peak hours but they are currently building a new domestic terminal plus a completely brand new airport.

The lounge is no HK Pier J lounge but it is ok. I mentioned that the Thai beef Salad on board the last flight had been pretty spicy, well it seemed to cause me a bit of grief and I was glad that the toilets in the lounge are Japanese ones with the works - lots of spraying options. They were very soothing for me . Luckily this problem only lasted for an hour or so.








I had very little food







The tarmac views from the windows of the lounge were great.





This was about as busy as it got

 

[OZDUCK]

By the early afternoon I had been awake for over 24 hours but I was still alert and ready to leap into action at any time.





We eventually got the gate call and I was excited because I thought we were going to get a wide body to Singapore



But then the waiting crew picked up their bags and walked off. So we followed them to the end of the terminal and after another 20 minute delay were bussed out to a A321

The J bus.
.




The rest of the passengers were jammed into another old bus. After about a 10 minute tour of the airport we had to wait on the bus for at least 10 minutes while they fooled around with fuel loading line. We eventually got on board and the plane was very hot. Then we had to wait another10 or 15 minutes for paperwork to arrive. After that the pilot announced that we had missed our slot at Changi and had to wait another 20 minutes on the ground

We were parked with a lot of other narrow bodies



Despite their age these seats are very comfortable and certainly not slim line.



I was still cautious about eating so declined a meal on this leg. But this is what my wife got for a 2 hour trip. She said it was again very nice. There was a drinks service and bread rolls before everyone had to sit down.



For the first hour the trip was very smooth but seatbelts were required for the second hour as we were flying into and out of storm clouds.





We seemed to do one of those twisty approaches to Singapore. I am pretty sure this was on an Indonesian island and not the Malaysian mainland.

 

[OZDUCK]

We arrived in Singapore at about 1800 so we still had nearly six hours to spare. We had to enter Singapore and then immediately exit it. Luckily our arrival flight and departure flight were both at Terminal 3. I sailed through the passport machines inwards while my wife had to be manually processed. On exit 10 minutes later she sailed straight through and I had to be manually processed!

Relaxing with a Japanese beer from one of those fancy automatic pouring machines. I had another shower in Singapore after one in Saigon.



By the end of the trip we had so many gifts we had to buy another cabin bag and use a Coles 'cold' bag we had with us.



The SQ Regional J seats are certainly not very spacious.



And they have this stupid wing which blocks your view if you are not as tall as me.



My wifes view out of the window



The menus. While the crew were very pleasant when you dealt with them there seemed to be very little proactive service by them. We had one issue of hot towels on boarding but that was it. In comparison Vietnam Airlines bought them out at every opportunity. There was no general tea or coffee service before arrival.





I had ordered a Biryani form 'Book the Cook' and it was one of the best meals I have had in SQ J.

 

[OZDUCK]

There was a huge difference in the colourr of the scenery compared to what we had been seeing in Germany. I think there was a bit of smoke in the air.







Lots of FIFO planes lined up



And a few QF ones



Ah the green, green grass of home.



Plenty of Virgin planes.

 

[OZDUCK]

And now the fat lady, or fat man in my case, has sung.

My final thoughts ;-

Was it worthwhile visiting the Christmas Markets? Definitely!

Would I visit Germany in winter again? Very unlikely - I got sick of the grey short days.

How were Vietnam Airlines? Well they changed the departure times of all four of our booked flights and the transit experiences in both Hanoi and Saigon were not great. However once you were in the air they were fine. The food was mostly excellent the planes and seats comfortable. They did seem a bit keen to put on the seatbelt sign but not as bad as my one experience with Air Canada. All their onboard procedures seemed pretty familiar and I never felt unsafe. If the price was right I would happily fly them again.

QF in economy. The cabin crew were great but the A332 we had was not an appropriate aircraft for an International flight. It was certainly mechanically sound but cosmetically very poor - almost second rate. And there was lots of broken equipment on board, seats, ovens etc. It was in the sort of internal condition I used to see on JAT flights arriving in Perth in the1970's.

SQ. I have been probably expecting too much from them. I am still to have the fabulous experience that others have reported in the past. Our flights have been pleasant and on-time but with nothing extraordinary about the experience. The food has ranged from barely average to very good. Their strange choices of J seats certainly mitigates against them. The onboard service levels have also been nothing special. We have never been given a piece of cutlery encrusted with baked on food residue on an airline other than SQ from Singapore to Germany in 2022. From what I have been exposed to they seem to be coasting on past glories. I may have been sucked in by those past tales but for the five flights we have had with them in J I had expected better.

D BAHN - I think they will still be pretty unreliable for another 3 or 4 years.

The best experience of of the trip was our visit to Herreninsel on the Chiemsee in the snow - unforgettable.

Anyway thanks to those who have read my ramblings.

 

[Seat0B]

I have really enjoyed your TR @OZDUCK - what an opus magnum- and thanks for the time and effort.

I’m a lover of the Christmas markets and will try to do a trip like this in the near future. I’d been thinking of a Viking river
cruise but have to say @Pushka’s experience has well and truly put me off it.

 

[drron]

By the early afternoon I had been awake for over 24 hours but I was still alert and ready to leap into action at any time.

View attachment 372969

View attachment 372970

We eventually got the gate call and I was excited because I thought we were going to get a wide body to Singapore

View attachment 372971

But then the waiting crew picked up their bags and walked off. So we followed them to the end of the terminal and after another 20 minute delay were bussed out to a A321

The J bus.
.

View attachment 372972


The rest of the passengers were jammed into another old bus. After about a 10 minute tour of the airport we had to wait on the bus for at least 10 minutes while they fooled around with fuel loading line. We eventually got on board and the plane was very hot. Then we had to wait another10 or 15 minutes for paperwork to arrive. After that the pilot announced that we had missed our slot at Changi and had to wait another 20 minutes on the ground

We were parked with a lot of other narrow bodies

View attachment 372975

Despite their age these seats are very comfortable and certainly not slim line.

View attachment 372976

I was still cautious about eating so declined a meal on this leg. But this is what my wife got for a 2 hour trip. She said it was again very nice. There was a drinks service and bread rolls before everyone had to sit down.

View attachment 372973

For the first hour the trip was very smooth but seatbelts were required for the second hour as we were flying into and out of storm clouds.

View attachment 372977

View attachment 372978

We seemed to do one of those twisty approaches to Singapore. I am pretty sure this was on an Indonesian island and not the Malaysian mainland.

View attachment 372974

That island you flew over is actually a Singapore Island being enlarged. SWe flew over the other side of it on New year's eve.




They are joining several small islands together.


A map of the new Island area.


And thanks for the enjoyable TR. Don't think we will emulate it. Don't like those cold miserable days either.

 

[OZDUCK]

That island you flew over is actually a Singapore Island being enlarged. SWe flew over the other side of it on New year's eve.
View attachment 373011

View attachment 373012

They are joining several small islands together.
View attachment 373013

A map of the new Island area.
View attachment 373014

And thanks for the enjoyable TR. Don't think we will emulate it. Don't like those cold miserable days either.

Thanks for that. We did one of those circling descents mostly in heavy clouds and I obviously got lost.

 

[NoName]

Thanks @OZDUCK for another fantastic report! Loved all the Xmas markets. They brought back amazing memories of our brief experience the previous year.

 

[VPS]

Thanks for another great TR

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks to everyone for all their kind words. I always worry that I am boring everyone so it is nice that some people, at least, enjoy my TR's.

I just remembered that I forgot to take a photo of the amenity kit Vietnam gives on their long haul flights. So I have attached a link to their page with a picture and description of the kit and contents. It is not special but gives you the basics. And at least it is sitting at your seat on boarding and you don't have to beg an FA for one. And you do get slippers - not big enough for my 'manly' feet.

(You have to click on Amenity Kit to see the actual kit.)

Personal Amenities | Vietnam Airlines

Personal Amenities

www.vietnamairlines.com

 

[VPS]

Thanks to everyone for all their kind words. I always worry that I am boring everyone so it is nice that some people, at least, enjoy my TR's.

I just remembered that I forgot to take a photo of the amenity kit Vietnam gives on their long haul flights. So I have attached a link to their page with a picture and description of the kit and contents. It is not special but gives you the basics. And at least it is sitting at your seat on boarding and you don't have to beg an FA for one. And you do get slippers - not big enough for my 'manly' feet.

(You have to click on Amenity Kit to see the actual kit.)

Personal Amenities | Vietnam Airlines

Personal Amenities

www.vietnamairlines.com

If it was boring we wouldn’t be following along. I don’t know Germany well so found it interesting. I must admit I find German food a bit to heavy and meaty