June, 1997 (continued):
Arriving in Frankfurt, Germany, I had a couple of hours before my connecting flight to Nuremberg.
I visited the Lufthansa Business Class lounge, had some refreshments, uploaded & downloaded some e-mail, and then strolled down to Gate 4 to wait for my next flight to board; it was scheduled to leave at 1:05PM.
I took a seat in the gate area right in front of the stairs where the passengers would be exiting for the bus to take them to the plane.
All I had to do was wait for the boarding announcement.
To pass the time, I picked up a copy of USA TODAY and found myself reading a story about some golfer who did something or other. Reading about golf is almost as exciting for me as talking about, thinking about, or watching golf.
I awakened from my golf-induced trance to discovered it was 1:00. And no passengers were in sight.
Apparently, everyone already had boarded the plane. My best guess is that they made a single announcement, in German only, and somehow I missed it.
Worriedly, I tracked down an Lufthansa employee who assured me the flight had not taken off yet. It had, however, left the gate, and there was no way for me to get aboard it now.
As you probably know, I have incredible powers of persuasion, and after considerable effort and negotiation the plane left without me. (Note to Myself: Learn how to swear in German.)
So now I had an extra three-hour layover at Frankfurt Airport. And my trip was just beginning.
Three hours later, I was on a much smaller, propeller-driven Lufthansa flight that did manage to deposit me safely in Nuremberg, where BCI’s Frank Salzbrenner was waiting to take me to my hotel (the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza). Although featuring the Holiday Inn brand, it didn’t feel American; inside it had a very comfortable European ambience.
On this trip I had spotted two potential opportunities for getting outside and walking around (my version of “site-seeing”).
The first was to have been the afternoon of my arrival in Nuremberg, but the missed flight connection obliterated that chance. I checked into the hotel, showered (always a nice feeling after a day-and-a-half of traveling), changed clothes, and went downstairs to meet BCI’s Birgit Heinhöfer and Magic FM’s Jörn Landmark, who escorted me several hundred yards down the road to a restaurant where 15 – 20 of their staff members and guests would be dining.
As Birgit pointed out, it was a typically Franconian restaurant, opening out onto a small lake. The entire area was surrounded by trees & lush greenery. With luck, I would get to bed early and be up the next morning in time to take a nice long stroll.
Well, I did get to bed early and I did arise early…only to be greeted by rain. After the day’s seminar, it was back to the airport and on to Oslo.
Next Installment: My unpleasant run-in with Diana Ross in Vienna….
