Flying on Lufthansa's A380 with Shane Chapman of Ovation Travel Group

Everything I preach about enjoying the journey as well as the destination should not be undone when I tell you that on a recent trip to Frankfurt, I flew Lufthansa business class. Yes indeed, that’s a significantly different experience than flying coach.

“Sure,” you’re saying, “who doesn’t enjoy the journey when you’re traveling premium class?”  But that’s not what I’m going to write about here, not now and probably never. There are plenty of other travel websites that cover that experience, In fact, I did write a story about this for The New York Times a few weeks ago, which you can read here.

Suffice to say, when the seats are large and comfy, when you and your travel companion are offered drinks from a cart with an extensive selection, when the flight attendants can’t do enough to make you feel “willkommen”, a seven hour flight seems to pass pretty darn quick.

And while I loved flying this way, what I really want to write is about Frankfurt itself, because this is a city where it is possible to make the most out of changing planes, which is what the majority of people do at the large and busy Frankfurt am Main. Well, change planes anyway. There’s no telling if they are enjoying themselves, but I sure did.  Martin Riecken, a spokesman for Lufthansa, Germany’s flag carrier, says 70% of the airport’s passengers are in transit.

I’ve been through a number of big hub airports and few make it easier for travelers to  get the most out of their layover by going into the city center for a look-see.

The S-Bahn train leaves from Terminal 1, costs about $5 and in 11 minutes you are at the Hauptbahnhof – Frankfurt’s main station. But wait, this is a train that travels above ground much of the way, so my tour of Frankfurt began when the train pulled out of the airport station. With a window seat I enjoyed nice views of the woods and walking trails along the way into town.

Getting off at the Hauptbahnhof, I noticed the train station itself is quite adorable, packed with shops and a farmer’s market – no kidding. But worried I’d miss something better, I rushed up the steps to emerge into a pedestrian mall packed with Frankfurters.

Since all this air travel had me at an exercise deficit, I decided to do a full walking tour, through adorable old Frankfurt and across the Eiseiner Steg bridge.

I tarried just a bit to listen to the street musicians, then continued across to the riverfront avenue lined with museums, called Museumsufer,  (for surfing museums, get it? German is not so hard!).  If my rapid fire excursion from airport to the heart of Frankfurt wasn’t lucky enough, I also happened to be in town on a Saturday when admission to most museums is free.

Love this chair. Want it in my home!

I selected the Museum für Angewandte Kunst – what I’d call a museum of decorative arts – to see the special exhibition of Japanese crafts, which was marvelous. I was also wowed by the  permanent collection of chairs, razors, coffeepots, television sets and on and on, arranged in a whimsical and imaginative way to demonstrate how style evolves in even the most mundane household items.

Last stop was the Palmgarten, just a half block walk down Siesmayerstraße from Bockenheimer Warte U-Bahn station.

From the moment the door opened ahead of me and a cloud of warm hyacinth-scented air billowed out I knew that spring had sprung at the botanical garden.  The Palmenhaus was in full extravaganza mode — purple hyacinths, orange daffodils, yellow forsythia and pink cherry blossoms. A rustic bridge arched over a river of tulips and I was in a living spectacle of blossoms.

Spring flowers at the Palmgarten

It was still too early for there to be buds on the rose bushes at the 50 acre Haus Rosenbrunn but the visitors were aiming their cameras at the rhododendron in the grove, the orchids in the hothouse and the tropical plants in the tropicarium as if they were auditioning  for paparazzi jobs at the Oscars.

I made like a local and had a delicious and reasonably priced late afternoon coffee at the garden’s Siesmayer Café while enjoying the view of the grounds from the large windows lining the dining room before making my way back to the airport, and that business class seat waiting to take me home.

Christine Negroni

Author of The New York Times bestseller, The Crash Detectives, I am also a journalist, public speaker and broadcaster specializing in aviation and travel.