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Fun ‘n’ Frolics in Frankfurt at the MacLaurin Christmas Party

Dec 23, 2010

Most companies take their staff to pubs, restaurants and clubs for their Christmas bash, but nothing so mundane for the MacLaurin team - this year we headed off for the once in a lifetime trip to Frankfurt for the Christmas Fayre and markets and of course some glühwein action.

Admiring the view: Will and Rob admire the Dickensian 600 year old Frankfurt Christmas market

The day kicked off with a 5:30am arrival at Heathrow for the 7:15am red-eye – never an easy thing to embrace unless you’re going on honeymoon or a mammoth summer holiday. So, you can imagine what it was like in the depths of winter, waiting bleary-eyed for the airport bus to take us to Terminal 5. For the boss, however, this early hour gave him a wee lie-in for once.   

Barring MacLaurin, jnr. momentarily losing his boarding pass at Heathrow, we took off without a hitch and landed in the snow and perpetual rain of Germany’s financial capital. 

The gun shops and strip clubs that adorned the streets near the station were soon replaced by investment banks and high-end jewellers as we waded our way to a nice taverna-style restaurant. Here we took outdoor shelter for some fruit of the vine and a lesson on winemaking from der Kaiser. 

We then made our way to another restaurant for a wonderfully slow, civilized lunch, where we indulged in high-brow conversations about the phallic sausages on the table….and merkins. Time for some culture, we embarked on a walk through the Christmas merkins….I mean markets. Snow decorated the many-steepled Frankfurt sky. We really could have been characters in a Dickens novel.

The girlies all peeled off for some shopping while the chaps tried to do the same. Not content with the slow, continental pace of life, Matt upped the ante by challenging a human statue – and his colleague - to a brawl. A four strong team dragged the young pugilist away for one more stein for the road and a final look at Frankfurt social life.

Bottoms up: Katie and Rachel enjoy a spot of glühwein

Matt caught forty winks while the rest of us hellraisers tasted yet more German wine in a local hostelry while reflecting on everything from JFK’s back problems to the heated toilet seats in the restrooms. Vorsprung durch technik!

So far, wunderbar. The day had passed without incident and so the signs were that everything would go swimmingly on the return journey. Nothing could possibly go wrong. Could it?

We should have known better when Jamie Mac pointed out, before we got into taxis for the airport that the sleet had since turned into heavy snow and that “planes don’t take off in this weather”. How right he was. By the time we boarded the aircraft, we were face-to-face with a blizzard and ice on the wings. The result? Seven hours sitting on tarmac not knowing if we were going to take off or spend the night (or two) in a hotel. “We could have been to New York in that time,” the boss pointed out.

Wunderbar: Jamie is in high spirits as he enjoys a wild ride on the carousel

Still, we made it back at stupid o’clock on the Thursday morning and Matt, still with his blood up from his German encounter, trudged warrior-like to the station for the two hour trip back to Bedford.
All in all, a fantastic time was had by all, even if most of it was spent on the plane…..on tarmac.

The boss phrased it best when he said: “It was lovely, but it was always risky going abroad at this time of year. Maybe something closer to home next year!”

Well, I did say it was once in a lifetime…….

Merry Christmas and a very happy, prosperous New Year from all at MacLaurin Media!

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