First things first, travelling by train in Europe is amazingly easy.
As well as ordering tickets on Eurostar's website, you can get some amazing bargains from Deutsche Bahn, who have an allocation of seats on Eurostar services.
Look for LONDON SPEZIAL on their website, or go here.
Standard and First Class fares are offered. Note that First Class actually entitles you to Standard Premier (same seats as first class, different food.) Standard Premier is excellent as the carriages are mid-way in the train - perfect for the Brussels short cut.
So, we settled for the first class fare, and due to our dithering, it went from €109 to €129, but considering that was all the way to the border with Switzerland, a good deal!
Standard class was €10 less per person, so a no-brainer really to upgrade.
No lounge access at St. Pancras, so settled for the next best thing: breakfast in The St. Pancras Grand.
And of course, a 2-4-1 bargain - £25 for two including a glass of Champagne is better value than any lounge!
St. Pancras station was looking as gorgeous as ever, and this was the location where I first met V-Flyers - almost five years ago... so always holds a soft spot for me.
Security and boarding was quick and easy, and we settled in to our seats. That looked like these:
EuroStar is looking tired. There's no other word for it.
At 10.58hrs, breakfast was served. Included in the train fare.
The Brussels short cut.
The excellent website Seat 61 offers advice for people connecting onto German ICE trains at Brussels - don't follow the crowds to the exit, look for the escalators adjacent to Carriage 11 entitled "Correspondences" - that way you avoid queues and can get straight to the correct platform.
As it's a through ticket, your ticket is still valid should any connecting service be late.
So, on to the gleaming white Deutsche Bahn train.
Travelling at 286kph (although on some routes even higher speeds can be achieved) gives you an appetite, and in First Class, an at seat dining service is provided. The food was good.
This was about €10.00Served on crockery, with cutlery. Drinks in glasses. How civilised!
I had a wander around the train and found the quiet coach... which overlooked the drivers cab.
On our second train, it was time for coffee and cake!
However, it wasn't all plain sail... training - for some reason, our train made an unscheduled stop at a place called Duren, where a train coming in the opposite direction also stopped on the adjacent plaform. Both sides of passengers were decanted and moved on to the other train.
Our second train was diverted due to 'an issue' which meant we missed our regional connecting train. We had a forty minute wait, however, this train arrived well ahead of it's planned departure so we had somewhere nice to sit.
We had arranged a taxi to meet us for the last hop to the hotel, and, advised of the delay, was waiting for us at Hinterzarten station.
We had booked an aparthotel, so I had a massive room with a kitchen (it was never used!) and included breakfast every day. Price for five nights - €350.00
Last edited by Sealink on 18 Sep 2013, 19:23, edited 1 time in total.
