Getting There ... (part 3)

The first class lounge in the Frankfurt Airport is yet another adventure in and of itself. The first two pictures were taken with the fisheye lens ... believe me, the place didn't need the special effects to help it!







These "lounge" chairs looked out of floor-to-ceiling windows onto the terminal outside.

For once, food was not my first priority - I was actually quite stuffed after the NY to Frankfurt flight. But I couldn't resist visiting their offerings anyway before touring the rest of the facility.

The thing below I kind of put in the same class as the orange press (something which I had never seen before but which was strangely prevalent), except that it's a bit more morbid/macabre/bemusing. In both the NYC and Frankfurt lounges, there was an in situ prosciutto slicer. For some reason, I just found it hugely bemusing to see the leg of pork resting there just waiting to be sliced up next to a beautifully presented plate of the final product.



Below is a picture of the lady's room. While it looks very conventionally modern, what I found amusing was the exit sign. In general, it looks like one of those emergency exit signs, but instead, it's for a regular exit, so it just looks as if everyone in Frankfurt should be rushing about whenever they want to leave a room.



I'm very sorry that I didn't take a picture of their sleeping rooms - they had several units of essentially "small" bedrooms for people to nap in while they're in between flights. "Small" is relative, though - while each room is only big enough for a bed with some comfortable walking space around it, the bed itself was at least a queen size, and as you can imagine, beautifully appointed.



Now here's the real kicker - the showers. Except it's not just a shower, it's a full bath and shower - COMPLETE WITH RUBBER DUCKY.



Amazingly enough, we were told by one of the lounge attendants that these duckies are in very high demand ... they have even been sold for considerable money on eBay! I was going to steal the ducky (not for eBay, but because it just looks so cute) but the attendant actually gave me a pre-packaged one as a gift. So I left this one bobbing happily in the bath water when I left. (I was a glutton - I took a bath first and then rinsed off with a shower. I had to use a shower cap for the first time in my life because it would've taken way too long to dry all my hair.)



This is the interior of the first class cabin in the flight we took from Frankfurt to Tel Aviv. I'm so sad I didn't have time to try and get a photo of the plane from the outside - it was one of those double-decker types, where the upper level was reserved for the first class passengers. The seats were the same type as what were on the previous flight, so there was considerably less exploration on my part, even if we had more time to do so.

We were stuck on the tarmac for a little while this time, about an hour's delay - the reason for it is amply illustrated to the the left. That is slush/ice/snow rimed on the port of our plane, and I'm shooting through the only clear corner of it to capture someone working on de-icing the wings on an Air Canada flight next to us.

Once again, luck or divine providence was with us - we had landed in the one handful of hours in which Frankfurt had cleared enough to start delivering flights again, and from all reports, ours was one of the few that took off that day. So, once again we hit the window perfectly; after taking our own turn at de-icing, we trundled down the runway (and were treated to the sight of trains of dump trucks taking piles of bulldozed snow and ice out of the terminal) and then we were back in the air.

This time, I slept aaaaaall the way through the flight. Four hours, I believe it was, and the combination of exhaustion (total sleep from Thursday to Sunday: 2 hours + 7 hours + 3 hours + 4 hours) and jet lag was really starting to hit. (That will actually play a critical role later where the Mount Zion Hotel is concerned.)



Welcome to the airport in Tel Aviv, Israel! I forgot the actual name of the airport - dedicated to some famous historical figure - but after finally getting through customs (which took forever ... the lines themselves were relatively short, but it took a while for them to process each person), I was treated to the sight of the lobby, along with some unusual adornments:



It was like a balloon graveyard. There were dozens of the things clinging to the ceiling, and I don't know if it was tradition or if the kids in Israel were just particularly clumsy, but even as I was staring upwards with mouth agape, I saw another casualty slowly wending its way upwards to join its brethren.

From this point on, everything was somewhat of a muddle which wasn't helped at all by my jet lag. I was basically useless, even as a guard over our luggage since my eyes kept slipping closed. I eventually just made sure I had a limb touching every piece so that even if I was conked out, if something was moved, I'd feel it. Louis did some footwork getting some of the local currency and trying to figure out where we were supposed to go - apparently, coordination for our stay was not very coordinated. Long story short, we hired a taxi and started making our way blindly to the Mount Zion Hotel, as someone from the wedding planning network had told us that the hotel had plenty of rooms and that we would find accommodations there.

Well, as it so happened, no, Mount Zion did not have plenty of rooms. AND there were no reservations for us. There were some dodgy insinuations about the hotel's upper management/reservations people (told to us after the fact), and whoever called the hotel on our behalf never finalized a reservation for us; simply told us to show up. Whatever. End result is that, Louis pointed me out (by this time, I was totally draped over the back of one of their lobby sofas snoring) and after a little more wheedling, the staff took pity on the pathetic jet-lagged Asian and actually gave us one of their deluxe rooms for the evening. The next night, we managed to get another room, and that managed to tide us over until we could move into the Dan Panorama.

We had already been prepared to find lodgings difficult to arrange due to the holiday season plus the wedding, but we really had no idea. On top of all that, the storms had backed up the tourist population - flights were canceled left and right, and the lobbies were filled, half the time, with stranded folk. Boy, does it make a body grateful to have a room at all, now!

Well, finally, that documents most of the journey here ... next post, FINALLY, some real pictures of the city!

Getting There ... (part 2)

So, carrying on from NYC! Now the real fun begins.

Our flight was for the afternoon, and while the day begin beautifully enough, by the time we hit the airport we could already see the overcast beginning to move in. Our driver regaled us with tales of a tornado that had wandered across the highway just a week before, which had actually resulted in one fatality. We were pretty blessed in our travel, though; we were delayed by an hour (before even boarding, so we were not even stuck on the tarmac), but otherwise, took off without incident even though we heard later the airport shut down before the evening.

We arrived 2+ hours before our flight only partially because an international flight requires it. The other reasons are well documented below.

Now, imagine this. I had absolutely NO idea where we headed (this is how rushed this entire trip was - even I, the OCD trip planner, had no idea what was going on AND I did not demand the details - I was too exhausted to do so). My greatest concern up till this point was simply that I had not had a chance to eat since I got up this morning. But Louis insisted that I did not want to gorge on street-side hot dogs and that I should wait for the following instead:





This is the first-class lounge of Lufthansa at the JFK airport. It's an upper level looking down on the "business-class" lounge, which in turn looks out onto the terminal/tarmac. There was both a small lunch menu as well as a buffet - and while the lunch menu was very intriguing, the buffet itself was already more than satisfying:



We didn't even have to rush - our flight had been delayed by an hour, just a hint of the troubles that would soon visit JFK. All in all, though, we had an uneventful boarding and take-off, and after that, I was far too distracted by the whole flight experience to even spend much time on-line or reading the six issues of Scientific American I had packed.



Yes. First class on Lufthansa is a pretty amazing experience. What I'm wearing is a set of pajamas that THEY provided us. They even had slippers, though I habitually bring my own house slippers around with me when I travel, so I just used my own.

When we were still in the lounge at JFK, I had to inquire about eating arrangements. Since I have to eat every 4 hours and this was an 8 hour flight, I was obviously a little concerned about how often they were planning on having meals. Well, as it turned out, I needn't have worried - they pretty much fed us CONSTANTLY.

Everything on the menu, I could pretty much order, at any time. Part of the reason why I spent so little time on the computer and reading was because I was too busy trying the appetizers, entrees, and desserts (yes, multiple courses of each). I seriously considered starting a cardio/calisthenics class in the first class section to help work some of it off. (Check out the near armrest - they even stuck little roses in them for us! Absolutely unbelievable.)



This was pretty awesome - the plane was one of those that had chairs that could lie all the way flat like a bed. It was not QUITE as comfy as a real bed, but with about five minutes of experimenting, I figured out all the positions that worked well and managed maybe about an hour's worth of sleep. (It might have been more if I hadn't been eating so much - I think everyone else managed 3 hours.) I like this shot in particular because the plane was banking over a city - you can see all the lights through the port side windows! They darkened the cabin so that people can sleep, but otherwise, there was some soft ambient lighting so that people can get around without tripping over each other.

So, after an hour's nap, I'm pretty much awake again. Everyone else was still asleep, so the cabin was almost perfectly dark - which also made it perfect for some night photography! There were very few reflections in the windows, I had pretty much my choice of ports to shoot out of since the first class section only had two rows of chairs, and other than turbulence (which made it difficult to shoot low-light photos), it was a fantastic opportunity.

This photo of the moon was shot at the 70mm end of the lens, and so it was quite tiny in the original photo. I cropped it down and sharpened it a bit - but ONLY slightly. This is where the Nikon D700 really shone ... I was shooting at 1600 - 3200 ISO! I could probably have pushed it even further (which I actually did today for some unlit room shots), but I hadn't been brave enough at the time, having only shot at a maximum of ISO 800 up till this point. Besides, in hindsight, with the moon as small as it was in the picture, it probably would have appeared more pixelated at the higher ISOs.



We were about half an hour before descent to the Frankfurt airport when I took this shot. That's the moon shining over some unknown towns and cities. The extra highlights around the moon are just reflections within the port/window edges.



I think this is the most beautiful of the high-altitude town shots I got. Unlike the others, this had a multitude of colors, and the flowering of patterns made me think of algal clusters on a pond surface.



I have no idea if this is Frankfurt downtown, but since we were already in descent and this was the biggest concentration of buildings and lights near the airport, I'm making an educated guess here. It had some thin fog hovering over it at the time, so even though the condensation made things blurry, it also set everything pleasantly aglow.



This is a picture of a far-off factory. No idea what it is, but the under-lit plume was really pretty, even if one tries not to think too hard about what the plume contains!



Yay, we're finally in the Frankfurt Airport! That's what the blue lettering in the upper right corner says. As you can see, everything's pretty snow/iced over. The local time was around 6 am.

The Lufthansa lounge in Frankfurt is yet another adventure, so I will save that for Part 3!

Getting There ... (part 1)

Misquoting Tolkien there, I am hoping that the second part of the title will also work out. Thus far, considering the horrendous weather that's hit both sides of the Atlantic, getting to the "back again" part is seriously in question! In fact, just the "getting there" part was already arduous enough, though thankfully, mostly only in terms of planning rather than actual travel. I had the immense privilege of flying first class all the way between Louis' caution over potential delays due to the weather and a really, really superb travel agent who got us unbelievable upgrades as a "gift", so I certainly didn't suffer in comfort. The only problems I had after that was the rough start I had on the timezone hopping.

What I have found is that it is possible to travel off the continent to a country one has never been to with only two days of planning, but is probably not something one wishes to do unless you are being seriously pursued. Thankfully, I was not. However, I did have to worry about packing for an essentially one month trip in environments which ranged from 60 - 80 degrees down to below freezing and weddings and banquets to all-day hiking. Thus, I was up till 6 am the morning I was to fly to Las Vegas and had already literally loaded the car when I got the word that Louis had managed to change our flights out of NY from Friday to Saturday.

This was not as frustrating as it might seem. It gave me a few more hours to make sure I had finished what I needed to in-country, repack a bit, and most essentially, arrange for some lens rentals from BorrowLenses.com. As you'll see later from the photos, these lens have more than paid for themselves within the first one to two days, and the people at BorrowLenses were absolutely superb. They put out last minute shipments for priority next-day morning deliveries to ensure that I received the lenses before my flight, and even during a busy pre-Christmas week, they took the time to help test lenses for me and get me what I needed.

I spent one evening in Las Vegas before joining Louis on a non-stop flight from Las Vegas to NYC on Virgin. As it turned out, we actually had the entire first class cabin to ourselves as no one else had been booked for it, which allowed us to pretty much go hog wild with the cameras on either side of the plane as we headed east. It's just too bad that the sunset was behind us, so we couldn't catch anything beyond the lightest blushes of colors along the edges.



The photographs above and below were taken with a Nikon 16mm fisheye lens - one which had actually been sent to me by "mistake"! For the last two years, I've been absolutely enamored with fisheye lenses, but up till now, I've specifically selected those which produce the full circle effect (most, if not all my 2009-2010 galleries display these, shot for the Refractive Thinker book covers). When I tried to rent my usual fisheye lens, BorrowLenses was out of stock and so they suggested the Nikon 16mm. I was told at the time that this produced the same effect, but apparently, the guy had misunderstood what I had meant, and instead, this type of fisheye "cropped" to the center - eliminating that full-circle effect. I had originally shied away from these lenses because I felt that I didn't get as much of the "fisheye effect" when it was centered like this, but I am really beginning to fall in love with this lens. It's certainly easier to deal with when one wishes to print out photos for framing, so I think I may finally begin to retire my fascination with the full-circle fisheyes.



I love the above photo because it looks like we're in space! The fisheye really emphasizes the curve of the horizon, and I suppose the feeling would be enhanced even more if the engine and wingtip wasn't in view, but it tickled me to actually see a glimpse of those.



The above is one of many many landscape photos I got before we flew into the evening timezones. This was taken with another borrowed lens - a Nikon 24-70mm which I have also fallen in love with. These two lenses really cover the ideal range of photography which I was expecting to cover - indoors and landscapes. I may very well make these my primary arsenal in the future, and only add a telephoto when I'm expecting to do some wildlife shots.

We landed in NY with little incident, and spent the night in Louis' usual hotel. The rest of the trip I'll save for later posts.

Breakfast @ Mount Zion Hotel

I'm going to go backwards and start from the present before catching up with the flights that got me to Israel. (Yes, there is going to be a whole post on it - after all, it took 3 whole days of travel. I've spent more time in airports and on airplanes than I have anywhere else thus far!)

The Mount Zion Hotel is apparently pretty famous. In spite of what snafus there may have been (more on that later), I enjoyed my stay there and liked its more traditional/rustic charm far and above the modern hotels we visited/stayed at later. I probably should have taken a few pictures of the rooms themselves, but honestly, by the time we moved in, I was barely conscious. Anyway, it was the breakfast spread which really captured my attention - and, honestly, I probably spent more of my conscious time in the dining room than in the hotel room.

So, I promised to explain the oranges, and here it is:





I probably looked like their equivalent of the country bumpkin - I was absolutely agog over the orange press, and have to admit somewhat guiltily that I operated it the second morning more out of fascination for the gadget than out of any real desire for the orange juice (though, of course, the juice was very very good). These things are pretty popular around here - I haven't, by any means, done much shopping yet, but I've noticed that these seem to be a pretty common staple in kitchenware retail.

Now for the REALLY fun stuff:

Doesn't that look yummy? I love the centerpiece - those are all flower buds at the top. I can only imagine how it would look if all of them were in full bloom.

The fresh food selection was very Mediterranean (I kept forgetting I wasn't in Greece), and varied a little on the second day. A short summary of what could be found on either side of the centerpiece:

- two different types of pickled herring and mackeral
- half a dozen types of semi-hard and soft cheeses
- olives and various veggies (peppers, tomatoes, onions, beets, greenery, etc.) in vinegar and olive oil and other dressings
- half a dozen varieties of hummus and sauces
- cut fruit (two varieties of grapefruit, oranges, pineapple, cantaloupe, etc.)

There were hot/prepared foods as well, usually 6 varieties or so, on the back table. But honestly, compared to these fresh foods and the baked goods, I pretty much ignored them (even if there were such notably intriguing items as "hot cheese cake" - which, oddly enough, really DID taste exactly like it was cheese cake which happened to be served hot instead of cold ... something which I'm still not sure how I feel about).



Unlike the prepared foods, the baked goods stood out on their own even when compared to the fresh stuff. The variety was pretty similar both days, but there was certainly enough present that I could sample different items each day.

I have to make a special mention of this particular cake/wedge item:



It's made from sesame, but what really makes it SPECIAL is that it tastes/feels just like one of my favorite Chinese candies that I used to hoard like crazy as a kid. The one I grew up with was made from peanuts thought, and it came as little individually wrapped squares. Whenever I bit into the stuff, it would initially crumble, but then melt and congeal into a teeth-sticking mass. I could only imagine my expression when I realized that there was an entire WEDGE of the stuff available for the taking! (Louis said it was VERY amusing.)

A last mention is their omelets; they had a station set up in a little cubby area where you could order what you wanted. Here's the omelet chef, waiting to see if there was anyone else who wanted to make a last order before they cleaned up breakfast for the day.



And here was the main dining area itself:



As you can see, the entire place was extremely photogenic. Louis made some mention about how the light in that space was very good, the warm colors of the walls and floor coloring it blah blah blah, but the end result is that I think I only managed to take one so-so picture in that space.

First post

Well, after a 3 day marathon of airport crashing (important to note that it is not airPLANE crashing), I'm finally in Jerusalem! I already have plenty of pictures, which I will try to put here tonight. In the meantime, have some oranges.

There was an absolutely AMAZING breakfast spread which was a feast for both the eyes and the stomach. I will explain more about these oranges later, but I found it pretty funny that I almost couldn't take a bad picture in the dining room.