Wednesday 14th August, Kent to Nürnberg:
The first and arguably longest day of my 7 day global interrail pass consisted of the long journey from Kent and London to Bavaria/Bayern after many failed attempts to look at an efficient way of crossing into Germany or elsewhere including looking at flights to Praha/Prague and travelling to Brussels and then down to Germany that way. I boarded one of the very first Southeastern services out of Ebbsfleet International after residing in the Kent town of Gravesend the night before after watching a football game with the service obviously consisting of a single class 395, I believe the 05:32 service. This sped up HS1 into London St Pancras International for 05:51 where I then prepared to head through the usual procedure when leaving the UK by any means. The Eurostar service I was to board consisted of a Siemens Velaro E320 class 374 with the velaro arguably being one of my favourite trains which left at 07:01 BST and ran non-stop to Paris Nord arriving there for 10:17 CET. The ride there was very comfortable and luxurious however the best was yet to come.
Siemens Velaro 374024 at Paris Nord (above)
SNCF TGV next to a DB BR407 "New ICE" 3 at Paris Est (above)
On arrival to Paris Nord, we then deboarded and did a brief 10 minute walk through Paris to Paris Est station where we were to board a DB ICE international service to Stuttgart Hbf consisting of a Siemens Velaro BR407 New ICE 3. This service ran fast only calling at Strasbourg and Karlsruhe Hbf on it's 3 hour long journey. The service was ICE 9573, the 10:55 departure which had us arrive into Stuttgart for 14:04. The ride once again was astonishingly high quality and would not have been complete without a trip to the ICE Bordrestaurant where Currywurst and a pint of Erdinger beer would not go to waste. At Stuttgart we were to transfer over to another ICE service, the 14:14 ICE 517 to München Hbf which had started it's journey at Dortmund. We had a relatively fast journey to München only calling at Ulm Hbf, Augsburg Hbf and München-Pasing in the comforting cool panorama quiet zone at the front of the set which allows you to see into the drivers cab from the comfort of your seat. We arrived into München at 16:27 and had a lovely look around, the city being more of a home from home for me due to the family ties I have to the city as well as having visited before.
After a good few hours spent at München sightseeing and photographing a few trains we were to then head to our overnight accommodation in the city of Nürnberg.
DB ICE 3 at Stuttgart Hbf (above)
DB Bwegt BR147 Traxx 3 at Stuttgart Hbf on a Regional service (above)
DB Bombardier Twindexx on a Regional service at München Hbf (above)
ÖBB RailJet Taurus at München Hbf on a EuroCity to Venezia St Lucia (above)
DB BR415 ICE-T at München Hbf (above)
We were then to head to Nürnberg on a DB BR415 ICE-T pair which was working ICE 1510/1700 to Berlin-Gesundbrunnen and Leipzig Hbf which took us non-stop to Nürnberg Hbf for 21:02 after leaving München Hbf at 19:55. This was my first time trying out the ICE-T and I have to say I was not disappointed; I thought they would stand no chance compared to ICE 3s however they are very good trains and in my opinion, the second best ICE train after the ICE 3. After an extremely long, tiring day of travelling nearly 1000 miles to our destination, I looked forward to a good nights rest at decent accommodation which happened to be looking over Nürnberg Hbf. More to follow...
The first and arguably longest day of my 7 day global interrail pass consisted of the long journey from Kent and London to Bavaria/Bayern after many failed attempts to look at an efficient way of crossing into Germany or elsewhere including looking at flights to Praha/Prague and travelling to Brussels and then down to Germany that way. I boarded one of the very first Southeastern services out of Ebbsfleet International after residing in the Kent town of Gravesend the night before after watching a football game with the service obviously consisting of a single class 395, I believe the 05:32 service. This sped up HS1 into London St Pancras International for 05:51 where I then prepared to head through the usual procedure when leaving the UK by any means. The Eurostar service I was to board consisted of a Siemens Velaro E320 class 374 with the velaro arguably being one of my favourite trains which left at 07:01 BST and ran non-stop to Paris Nord arriving there for 10:17 CET. The ride there was very comfortable and luxurious however the best was yet to come.
Siemens Velaro 374024 at Paris Nord (above)
SNCF TGV next to a DB BR407 "New ICE" 3 at Paris Est (above)
On arrival to Paris Nord, we then deboarded and did a brief 10 minute walk through Paris to Paris Est station where we were to board a DB ICE international service to Stuttgart Hbf consisting of a Siemens Velaro BR407 New ICE 3. This service ran fast only calling at Strasbourg and Karlsruhe Hbf on it's 3 hour long journey. The service was ICE 9573, the 10:55 departure which had us arrive into Stuttgart for 14:04. The ride once again was astonishingly high quality and would not have been complete without a trip to the ICE Bordrestaurant where Currywurst and a pint of Erdinger beer would not go to waste. At Stuttgart we were to transfer over to another ICE service, the 14:14 ICE 517 to München Hbf which had started it's journey at Dortmund. We had a relatively fast journey to München only calling at Ulm Hbf, Augsburg Hbf and München-Pasing in the comforting cool panorama quiet zone at the front of the set which allows you to see into the drivers cab from the comfort of your seat. We arrived into München at 16:27 and had a lovely look around, the city being more of a home from home for me due to the family ties I have to the city as well as having visited before.
After a good few hours spent at München sightseeing and photographing a few trains we were to then head to our overnight accommodation in the city of Nürnberg.
DB ICE 3 at Stuttgart Hbf (above)
DB Bwegt BR147 Traxx 3 at Stuttgart Hbf on a Regional service (above)
DB Bombardier Twindexx on a Regional service at München Hbf (above)
ÖBB RailJet Taurus at München Hbf on a EuroCity to Venezia St Lucia (above)
DB BR415 ICE-T at München Hbf (above)
We were then to head to Nürnberg on a DB BR415 ICE-T pair which was working ICE 1510/1700 to Berlin-Gesundbrunnen and Leipzig Hbf which took us non-stop to Nürnberg Hbf for 21:02 after leaving München Hbf at 19:55. This was my first time trying out the ICE-T and I have to say I was not disappointed; I thought they would stand no chance compared to ICE 3s however they are very good trains and in my opinion, the second best ICE train after the ICE 3. After an extremely long, tiring day of travelling nearly 1000 miles to our destination, I looked forward to a good nights rest at decent accommodation which happened to be looking over Nürnberg Hbf. More to follow...