@meka I’m hoping for time to explore on my next visit. Belgium has so much to offer when it comes to food and drink. When even train station fries are better than the best you’ve had elsewhere for quite some time…

@mattgrayyes in the west?

@olafurw Judging by what they’ve done to soft drinks in the UK it’s probably 50% artificial sweeteners.

Didn’t get the next #TrainCation train either, but it’s a Chunnel edition Eurostar of the older type. Here’s our lunch instead. It was delicious.

Bruxelles Midi station on the other hand…

Absolute lowlight of the #TrainCation so far. Messy, noisy and no time to go explore Bruxelles proper this time. Very central station, only a tad more.

We’re safely tucked in to the EuroStar Channel Tunnel waiting dungeon now. I assume the reconstruction going on is to replace the medieval torture devices with something more current.

#TrainCation day two, train one. The 8:44 EuroStar (ex-Thalys) from Köln to Bruxelles. Very smooth and comfortable ride.

47 minutes late in the end. Now out for a somewhat later than planned dinner. Thinking about it afterwards, the train crew were depressingly good at handling delays and rerouting. #TrainCation

@dvl I should have scrolled further right on my phone.

It’s the interestingly labeled “Percentage Used Endurance Indicator”. It’s at 15% so close to 1/6.

@dvl Looks reasonable. You might get the estimate Samsung has using smartctl -x.

Seems to be due to a stranded train between Münster and Recklinghausen. We’re rerouting via Hamm/Dortmund, which will take a while. It’s so nice to have my decision to not attempt to get further than Köln in one day validated. #TrainCation

That’s more like it. We’re being rerouted, skipping Recklinghausen, and will be at least 20 minutes late. Feels a lot more like DB now :flan_laugh: #TrainCation

Also, possibly jinxing it, we don’t seem to be hitting delays or cancellations today. #TrainCation

@lproven The last five sentences are yet another reason I prefer the BSDs. Unfortunately the move fast and break things approach in Linux reduces the availability of software on BSD. First mandatory systemd baked in to so many projects, soon also mandatory Wayland. Thank $deity I happen to quite like openbox and XFCE.

#TrainCation day one, train three: ICE1021 from Hamburg to Köln. No picture and no idea exactly what kind of ICE this is as the platform was far too crowded. It’s clean, spacious, and full. Even first class has no empty seats, which makes me happy to have made reservations in exceedingly good time.

@mercy Blurry is the new sharp, just embrace it. Less stressful that way 😂

@mercy your picture is better than the one I snapped half an hour ago.