Trainride with Children | My Adventure in the Mother-and-Child Compartment

Our days spent in Frankfurt were eventful and we visited family and countless friends. I had left my son and husband at home to spend some quality time with my daughter. But now it was time to travel back to Berlin.

6.15 a.m. Frankfurt am Main - city center

I load my stroller up to its max with suitcases and diaper bags in the main compartment, the squeeze my daughter and a maxi cosi in the basket above it. My purse is dangling down from the grasps and banging against my shins with every step I take. Since the shoes I had to buy at the super sale on Frankfurt's shopping boulevard, the "Zeil", don't fit into my back pack, they're hanging down from the sides. By the time we've reached Frankfurt's central station, they're entirely soaked. It's raining buckets. 

8.13 a.m. Frankfurt am Main, central station

You wouldn't believe it, but both the ICE and myself reach platform Nr. 9 on time. I made reservations for a mother-and-child compartment, a compartment I had never noticed before that's supposed to lie between first class and the train bistro. I'm not sure why the mother-and-child compartment is called that, since I can't really tell the difference from a normal six-seat compartment. I had expected a much more spacious compartment with enough space for a stroller and lots of colorful picture-drawing. But since that's not the case, I park my stroller in first class, and take over three seats and the entire table.

9.11 a.m. Fulda

My daughter, probably the train's youngest passenger, is whining restlessly in my arms. The only remedy is to get up, walk around and sing - fortunately, the ICE does a lot of rocking already. I try to sing her to sleep with the chorus of "Heal the World" by Michael Jackson until we reach Kassel-Wilmhelmshöhe. My back is aching. Maybe I don't even need a seat? 

10.03 a.m. Göttingen

The little one's asleep. Finally! But now my bladder is causing problems. I hold it in for ten minutes, then anxiously leave the compartment, hoping to reach the bathroom "on your left down the hall" in time before she wakes up. It's occupied.  After what seems like at least a half-hour wait, I ask if maybe the toilet with the baby changing table has to be unlocked first. "Nope, it's just occupied!" I make sure the baby's still sleeping and head back down the hall. Still occupied. I wonder if I still even want to use the toilet after someone has spent their entire morning in there. The DB-employees are my knights in shining armor: "Go ahead and use the first class bathroom while we watch your child!" 

10.34 a.m. Hildesheim Hbf

There's a new DB team on board and a new announcement through crackling speakers about the upcoming stops.  A pale young woman rolls a child in a buggy into our compartment. Her red-haired offspring, maybe another one of Boris Becker's kids, is not happy about being tied into a buggy. I am told (without asking) that the two of them started on their journey at 6 a.m. in Munich. "Lena hasn't slept since then" says her mother with an apologetic tone. Well, she must be right, since Lena is screaming non-stop, eventually waking up my daughter who joins in enthusiastically.

11.00 a.m. Braunschweig Hbf

I breastfeed my daughter while eleven and a half year-old Lena sets her teeth into the edge of the table. "Her teeth are about to come out, she's a little late..." explains her contrite mother while trying to pry her away from the wooden plate. The two of them finally leave to head to the on-board bistro. I glance out the window and my thoughts begin to trail off...ten years ago, I took an adventurous Interrail trip through southern Europe. Back then, Antonio, canned beer and bond fires made me a happy camper. How time flies by!  When my fellow travelers come back, an unpleasant odor pulls me back to reality. Lena's mother is  munching on a meatball sandwich with ketchup and filtered coffee. Unfortunately, you can't open the windows in an ICE train.  

12.07 a.m. Berlin Spandau

Almost at our destination, I start gathering our luggage together, The mother-and-child comparment is now entirely covered in drool-covered toys and shreds from the train magazine "mobil". Lena has been very busy since Hildesheim. How might a train ride on a booked-out mother-and-child compartment look like? Do I even want to find out?

12.26 p.m. Berlin Hbf

We've made it. With just a five minute delay and a friendly: „Zänk ju foa träwälling wiß Deutsche Bahn!“, the train pulls into the station.

(sjb)