When I arrived at Cologne, I have noticed that our train came to a different platform that scheduled, so I needed to figure out which platform to go as there my train suppose to be in few minutes. Luckily, I manage to find a platform and stay in the right place, so boarding was a breeze. IT looks like not all trains all late in the Germany.
Sadly , I didn’t have time to explore station.
It was a DB Bahn ICE (ICE 14) from Cologne in Germany to Brussels in Belgium. It should take me almost 2 hours, and I should arrive at 17:35.
Train itself looks like ICE 3 one but plate states it was ICE 2 train which is weird as only ICE3 are permitted.
That’s class 406 
They wrote that this is ICE 2 but DB class 406 is a ICE 3M 
Lamp 
While i was leaving 
The first class
The first difference was that very clean for that part of the day.
My seat was in the quiet zone suite with just four seats.
The seat was the same as on the previous train, but seating in suite means better privacy and more peaceful in comparison of quiet zone seats spread over half carriage that is not separated from rest non quite zone carriage. I liked the big wooden table. It was great to put the laptop on and do some work, but I was focused on views, so I didn’t use a laptop.
After a bit of disappointment with service on ICE 650, I didn’t have too much hope for better service on this leg on the journey. It turns out service was excellent and opposite to what I experienced previously. I seat down, and a staff member came to help me with query and ask do I want to order from the bar. I was glad that the service was much better.
I wasn’t starving, so I order beer, coffee and croissant. Coffee was filtered on so no excitement there, Bitburger beer in the bottle was toothsome and croissant tastes nice.
My focus was to enjoy the views and drink beer/coffee. It was more pictures views in this part of the journey. Belgium is a very beautiful country, and Liege train station looks spectacular. I struggle to do good pictures due to dirty windows. I wish you can open this windows but actually that maybe not a good idea to open window at 250km/h.
I saw a various German and Belgian trains.
It was funny as when we cross Germany-Belgium border as train instantly speeds up to 250km/h. I felt, I left third world country and got into an advanced civilization. It turns out Berlin-Cologne is the slowest part high-speed network in Germany. I should do proper research about my trip in the future.
I like retro display that shows seat reservation.
We arrived on time to Brussels.
Overall. The experience was exactly opposite to my previous leg of the journey. The same train but departed and arrived on time. It was clean. The service was great. It was at-seat service, and the gentleman was friendly and likeable. They even gave chocolate for free at the end of the journey. How nice.
In next post I will cover my trip from Brussels to London st. Pancras on the Eurostar train. https://dominiksymonowicz.com/2019/07/04/doms-train-quest-2-2-homes-1-european-union-adventure-part-4-from-brussels-to-eurostar-es-9157/
Dominik Symonowicz 
[…] Part 3; Cologne -> Brussels […]
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