Prague to UK

Wednesday 30th October 2019

I woke early and didn't really get back to sleep. Another poor night. The hotel was fine though. When I booked it, I said that I would be leaving early, so they offered me a packed breakfast. When I checked out, the same receptionist gave me the package. I walked back to the station. It was chilly. I was at the station with plenty of time in hand and so was able to take a look at the impressive, old part of the station at platform level.

06:45 Praha hl.n. to Cheb 09:26

Another duff photo. There was plenty of space on this early departure. It was daylight as we headed into the countryside and I was able to spread out and enjoy my packed breakfast on a table. I had noticed that when we passed through some of the smaller stations, the man that I assumed to be the station master would stand in a doorway with his peaked hat on, but not necessarily dressed formally below the head. At one such station, we made an unscheduled stop and the station master rushed across the lines towards us. I didn't find out why we stopped, but it made us about 12 minutes late as we approached Cheb. I showed the guard my ticket that displayed my departure as being only 10 minutes after arrival. He seemed to think that wouldn't be a problem. So I wasn't too worried as I disembarked and walked towards a DB train waiting nearby. However, I was overtaken by several people running.

09:36 Cheb to Nurnberg Hbf 11:22

There were quite a few out-of-breath passengers on the train as we left. It was busy and several minutes late leaving. The scenery was pleasant as we wound our way through the hills into Germany. We had made up the time when we pulled into Nuremberg.

 

This time I had a large cheese pretzel from one of the many fast-food outlets.

12:00 Nurnberg Hbf to Frankfurt Flughafen 14:23

This train was busy and I had to sit facing backwards.

We went past the Wurzburg vineyards. I was booked to change at Frankfurt airport this time, so at least that was a different station. We were a few minutes late.

14:37 Frankfurt Flughafen to Bruxelles-Midi 17:35

Another busy ICE train, particularly after Cologne.

 

 
I hadn't managed to sleep on any trains during this trip, so I thought I would try now as I was getting off where the service terminated. No luck. We were a bit late as we pulled into Midi.

18:56 Brussels-Midi to St Pancras 19:57

I joined the check-in queue less than an hour before departure. That part of the process was fine, but it felt like we were being herded into the departure lounge again. The train itself was busy and this time it felt cramped. We were about 10 minutes late leaving. I headed for the buffet car. There wasn't much food available. I picked three of the items in the 'meal deal' advertised in the onboard magazine. The cashier charged me full price as he said that they weren't doing those deals on this trip. He then gave me a handful of serviettes, some plastic cutlery and put them in a large bag. Very eco. There was a large queue by the time I left. We were about 15 minutes late into St Pancras. Just time for one more duff photo.