2021.12 Germany and christmas markets
When you need to keep a loyalty program account active to not let points expire, what do you do? We did what any person would, book a short flight during our trip, and squeeze in a day trip, to Paris…
background and rationale
If you’ve read our prior posts, you’d know that we flew KLM in both 2018 and 2019 and I didn’t want her points to expire due to inactivity. Originally, the plan was that it would have been a short flight from either Frankfurt or Dusseldorf to Amsterdam (Oh right! Originally this whole trip started with the idea of flying into Amsterdam to be able to have Dim Sum, but travel restrictions had me change the flight to be into Germany instead.), so instead we pivoted and booked a Paris to Frankfurt flight. There were a couple places we could dine at during our short stay, something that Little Miss wouldn’t turn down. So everything was set, a DB ICE train to Paris, and early evening flight back to Frankfurt.
DB Rail
Having checked into a hotel that was two escalators away from the train platform allowed us to minimize having to get up extra early for the 6:52am train. We’d have one connection to make in Mannheim.
My initial introduction to DB rail when I was younger was awe-inspiring. Frequent, fast, and on-time train service. However, my brother had warned me that the halo of on-time travel is not an attribute DB rail currently holds, and had nothing to do with the pandemic. Supposedly the halo had fallen off years ago.
We arrived at the train platform 5-10 minutes early to find that our train to Mannheim was delayed 50 minutes. It wasn’t even 7am! Worse, was that delay would prevent us making our connecting train. After a moment of searching I found out that the ICE train to Paris started at nearby Frankfurt main station. Even better for us was that next train not only would get us to the main station, but also allow us time at Frankfurt Main Station to get to our train to Paris. Upon arrival at Frankfurt Hbf and a quick walk to our ICE train, we then found out the train to Paris was delayed too, having not even begun its journey. Fortunately, it was not nearly as great a delay as our first scheduled train ride, and we had made the proper decision to not accept a 50 minute delay to start our day.
frankfurt to Paris
After we settled in, and the trip was underway, we got out our breakfast that we had purchased the night before from Rewe located in The Squaire. This was handy as we didn’t have to worry what food or snacks would be available on board the train.
The route ended followed along the Rhine river, and then crossed into France south of Karlsruhe making its final stop in Strasbourg, France. Here was when the train had the most passengers, however if we started the train journey at 7am with all the seats filled I’d be more surprised.
Clear skies near Strasbourg
Blurry scenery at 300 km/h
The train regularly travelled up to 300km/h during the trip, all the while we were comfortable in our seats watching the scenery go by, and eventually the sun broke through the clouds near Strasbourg.
Our train was not significantly delayed, probably less than 30 minutes as we arrived into Paris Gare de l’Est just around 11am. Great timing for us to have lunch!
The train arrived at Gare de l’Est and next door is Gare du Nord train station where the RER would take us to a Metro line. That line, running along the Av. des Champs-Elyees deposited us in front of the Arc D’Triomphe. (It always cool to exit the Metro station and be pointed right at it.) After a few pictures we started the walk downhill towards our lunch location. Artwork, decorations and displays for Christmas were everywhere:
Decorations on buildings
Artwork along the Champs
Artwork along the Champs
Food in Paris
Our lunch stop was Cafe di Roma. Her stomach typically doesn’t agree with most places that offer pasta, however this location has great pasta and doesn’t upset her stomach. I had a pizza, and she enjoyed her lunch of Spaghetti Bolognese:
Parma ham Pizza
Spaghetti Bolognese
Before we returned to the airport we stopped and had tea and treats at Angelina, the same location we visited in 2019.
Yes, the éclair is so good, that after two-and-a-half years it’s time to have another one!
Now, in between lunch and our snack, we walked around including visiting the small Christmas market that was almost across from Angelina in Jardin des Tuileries, but it had significantly more amusement rides than kiosks from the German variety.
Being on the move since 6:30am finally caught up to us, so we took the Metro & RER to Paris airport. We lucked out as the RER that we boarded was an express train to Charles de Gaulle, skipping many stations after Gare du Nord.
Charles de Gaulle Airport
From the walkway towards the terminal
CDG Airport
A “local” store at the airport.
So much glass at terminal 2
Upon arrival to the airport we were able to print out our boarding passes at a kiosk. Security was not busy, and quickly we were sitting by our gate for our short flight back to Frankfurt.
Shortly before boarding our gate was changed to a nearby gate. As we arrived at the new gate boarding began at 5:20pm.
Flight, HOP! by Air France, Paris to Frankfurt
Embraer 170
Scheduled Departure: 17:55
Scheduled Arrival: 19:15
Seats (can’t remember)
Once on board, it was a simple 2-2 seating layout. Shortly after boarding the captain gave his welcome message that the flight should be 55 minutes long. At 17:46 the door was closed and six minutes later we were being pushed back from the gate, as the manual safety demonstration was being performed by the flight attendant. The plane was maybe half full.
Taxi to the runway was relatively short for CDG airport, and at 18:02 we were in the air with a speedy take-off and rapid climb. The plane leveled off about 12 minutes later in which we offered a drink and sandwich. As quickly as the plane got to cruising altitude, just 15 minutes later the plane started its descent for Frankfurt. The captain provided an update stating expected arrival at 18:55. Sure enough the plane touched down at 18:55, and within 5 minutes we were at a remote gate and less than 10 minutes later, we were all off the plane with the bus heading to the terminal.
Once inside, we found the exit, and took the shuttle bus to terminal 1, where we returned to the Squaire and the Hilton Garden Inn for our final night in Europe.
Explore other parts of this trip:
Part 1 – Introduction, Maple Leaf Lounge Toronto and Flight to Toronto
Part 2 – Hampton Inn by Hilton Frankfurt
Part 3 – Frankfurt and area Christmas Markets
Part 6 – Dusseldorf Christmas Markets
Part 7 – Cologne Christmas Markets
Part 8 – Frankfurt Airport Hilton Garden Inn
Part 9 – Day trip to Paris (this post!)
Part 10 – Frankfurt Maple Leaf Lounge and Air Canada Frankfurt to Toronto