Just completed a Europe trip. here goes:
Flew LH J from IAD - FRA on the new 747-8. We checked in at the Lufthansa Senators lounge, they hav separate lounges for first and business. My Turkish airlines gold card got us into the FC lounge even though we were flying biz.
We sat upstairs. Very comfortable new seats in LH new business class, great storage space by the window seats. Downside is that the leg rest space is tiny. IFE was great with plenty of selections for a 7 hour flight. KSML meals (Borensteins) were awful. Service was pretty good though, other then the fact that there are 94 ppl in business class which makes you kind of feel "unspecial." In general I prefer delta's new business elite or US Airways's new Envoy to LH J.
Connected to our intra Europe flight FRA to Venice. Although business class seats are a joke, service was actually pretty good for a domestic flight.
VeniceStayed 3 nights at the Westin, was upgraded to a canal view suite as a SPG plat. Had an awesome time in Venice. A couple tips for visiting in July: It's HOT, so the best time to explore Venice itself is in the early morning hours before it gets hot. Or the late afternoon. We preferred morning as it is a lot less crowded. If you go past the tourist sites like to the Rialto market you'll catch the locals waking up for work and setting up shop. A great midday trip would be marano and barano which is a lot less crowded and quite an experience.
For public transportation you can buy a 3 day unlimited pass for 19 euro if you're under 29 (they didn't check our ID though.) Easiest way to GamGam from the westin is to take the no. 2 waterbus from San Marco to the Train Sation and from there its a 5 min walk.
Also if you're not planning on staying for Shabbos, the Hilton is a good option as it's even closer to Jewish Ghetto via water bus then the Westin and it's a nice retreat after a long hot day in the crowded streets of Venice.
MilanNot much in terms of sights but food was great. Checkout MyKafe for their homemade ice cream and plenty of other goodies and Carmel for their Pizza. We didn't check out Denzel but we heard good things. We stayed at the RadissonBlu.
Zurich2 nights at the PH corner suite. Zurich is awesome (and expensive.) Weather was perfect and hanging out in the old city was priceless. After a day of walking, boat rides, sightseeing, there is a park near the lake which is a great place to hang out and ppl watch. For Kosher food check out Olive Garden (8 minute walk from PH) Books and Bagels and LeShuk are a good place to pick up sandwiches etc. Fein & Schein was really nothing special. Only buy a Zurich Card if you plan to take the boat ride
AND visit a couple of museums. Otherwise just buy an unlimited day pass. We bought Zurich cards for a Sunday and it was raining and all the museums were closed. #Mistake
For the return we were scheduled from ZRH to IAD on UA 763 in J. Flight was canceled and for the fear we would be rebooked in Y (as reservations booked with miles are treated like the bottom of the barrel) we accepted a flight via LHR on United's 777 horrible 2-4-2 configuration in J without Kosher meals. Kosher meals from London are actually good. To make matters worse we were put in the two middle seats facing backwards.
total cost: 200k UA miles. 36k SPG points. 2 Hyatt suite certs.
thanks everyone!
