.

Train etiquette
There are the quick and the dead. Or those with seats and those without. We have a Eurail pass for Germany and the Benelux countries (Belgium, Luxemburg, and the Netherlands) but such travel can be confusing when you know neither the rules nor the language. Seats can be reserved at an additional cost on intercity express (ICE) services but not on ordinary intercity or regional trains. This results in an absolute scramble as most don’t reserve on ICE trains and it becomes sheer luck whether or not you can secure a seat. Last night, on an ICE service from Brussels to Cologne, none of the seats in the carriage were marked as reserved when we got on (there are little digital displays), then they were all marked as reserved, and then all marked as reserved from Brussels to Cologne (Koln), only for the displays to then change again to show all seats reserved from Cologne to Frankfurt. When we got off at Cologne, there was no sign of new passengers for Frankfurt.
In the rush for seats there is no respect for age or infirmity, and while most seem to try and push through the middle doors at once and then spread out through the train, Kaelene has encouraged me to take a more rugby-like approach. Instead of trying to dominate through the middle, I should go wide like a speeding winger and board at the front or rear, leaving her to follow. This results in us getting good seats while others are left to stand for the nearly-three-hour journey. It shows that age and cunning can still occasionally prevail over youth.
On the regional services in Belgium, kids remain seated while elderly stand or sit on the steps (between two-story carriages), others straddle several seats at once, apparently not noticing or caring that others stand.
Having said that, the ticketing office people are very patient and helpful as we figure out how the system works- and, more particularly, how to find the right train when our intended station is not the primary destination of the service.