Another Train Question - TGV or ICE, seat choices
 

I thought I could navigate the bahn.de site by myself, but now I have to choose seats, and the translation of the choices has gotten me quite confused. There are two of us, and my husband would probably want an aisle seat. Is it possible to request 2 seats together, including an aisle seat? We will probably take the TGV from Karlsruhe to Paris, but I think there's an option for a similar but cheaper routing through Mannheim on an ICE train. Would the ICE train be a lot less comfortable than the TGV? Is it likely to be less or more crowded in second class?

By my last question, I meant "is it likely to be less or more crowded in second class than the TGV?" We will likely travel second class no matter which train we choose.

I find the layout and legroom in 2nd class in the ICE trains more spacious and less cramped than in the TGVs.

I see only one connection from Karlsruhe to Paris (with a change in Mannheim) that has ICEs only, leaving Karlsruhe at 5.58am!
In case this is the alternative connection you're talking about, I'd not expect big crowds. Fridays and sundays are usually the worst days for train travel here. Or car travel.

I found the ICE on another site, but now forget if it was sncf-voyages or Rail Europe. I wondered about it, as bahn.de didn't show it. I suppose I should stick to bahn.de.

Anyway, unfortunately I AM traveling on a Friday mid-day, so I guess I should be prepared for crowds, right? And from what you're saying, I suppose there will be a little less legroom and space on the TGV train that's looking good price and time wise!

On the bahn.de site, I don't understand what is meant by "greater" (English translation) in terms of a seat selection choide on the TGV. The fist choice is "any" and then there are other options listed, including one which ends with "(gear)". If I just ask for 2 seats together (if available), will it be a regular 2nd class window and aisle seat? Will it recline at all?

Just to expand on this: It's Bahn.de that has an ICE from Mannheim to Paris that looks good, so I think I'll take that one. For seat choices it asks that you specifiy: any, any greater, metropolitan area with table, or compartment. I would probably want a regular seat as opposed to one with a table, but I didn't understand what the "greater" meant. (Sorry, I don't remember the German, except that it started with gross, which I know is big).

The next choice I have is any, side by side, to (window) or against (gear if possible). Do the ICE trains have window/aisle seats on two sides, or what? My husband would likely prefer an aisle seat, the roomiest possible in 2nd class! I'd prefer a window, but only if we can sit together. What should we pick? What does the "against (gear if possible") mean?

Next it asks if you want

I can only guess from some of this but "gross" had been probably used in the context of "grossraum", which is the open-plan (no compartment, like in an airplane) section of the car.
The rest remains more or less a mystery.
Can't you switch the site to English?

Would the ICE train be a lot less comfortable than the TGV? Is it likely to be less or more crowded in second class?>

Like Cowboy i find ICE trains more comfy -more roomy than TGV trains - but i would take the cheapest quickest connection as both trains are modern and comfy enough.

Yes, but when I switch the site to English, I get weird translations! That's where the "greater" and "against (gear if possible)" selections come from. Anyway, thanks, you've helped solve a bit of the mystery!

Well, I checked it, and it get's quite self-explaining once you switch bahn.de to English/US

To get most legroom and to sit next to eachother (aisle + window), select "Open saloon" and "next to each other".

Don't go for "open saloon with table" as you then will have people sitting opposite of you, which will interfere with legroom. YOu have your personal table anyway (like in a plane, in the seat in front of you)

Seats can be reclined.

In line 3, of seat requests, the difference between opting for a "Phone zone" and a "quiet zone" is that the cars w/ phone zone have repeaters for better reception of mobile phones or data services. The "quiet zone" is a bit exaggerated as a label, it does not mean that people will only whisper there. You should leave this item to "any".

I think something got mixed up in your initial query.
Maybe you started from the German site, and switched to English somewhere in between.

When I use the regular starting page for customers from the US, I do not run into either German or funny translations:
http://www.bahn.com/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml

Maybe you should just give it another try.

Yep, you're right. I feel pretty stupid now. I was letting Google Translate just translate away for me, and it was giving me some weird translations! However, using the U.S. language option on bahn.de makes things pretty clear! I should have known that there would be an English option. Bahn.de is such a great site. Thanks very much. I'm going to select "open" and "next to each other" as you selected. The "next to each other" was translating into something very weird with google! I guess I won't worry about the quiet zone, and the table seems too restrictive,as you've stated! Thanks again, and vielen dank!

Sounds like you've pretty much made up your mind about ICE via Mannheim. I think the Karlsruhe via Strasbourg TGV is faster than ICE, though. I don't find any of these trains uncomfortable, personally.

I buy using the French sncf site. Just an FYI, there are direct TGV-Paris via Strasbourg that leave Karlsruhe at 7:31 and another at 9:30-ish, can't remember exact time. Travel time is just over 3 hours and with 3 of us we usually request a "carré", which is the with-table seats. We don't feel cramped at all and generally eat breakfast and play cards. We've never had to share our table with a 4th person yet.

We are going TGV Karlsruhe-Paris in October with prems for 87 euros total for 3 of us.
Note: I believe in September they are working on the Karlsruhe route so these aren't available in September...for September we're just driving to Strasbourg to enjoy the city first and then leave for Paris from there at a cost of 22 euros pp with Prems rather than do the Mannheim option.

Also, for those who don't know in Karlsruhe... If you use the LONGTERM train parking lot for your car (parking #1??), don't check out via machines but rather go the the booth in the hall with a real person. If you present your train tickets you get a pretty hefty parking discount that you won't get from paying the automated machine.

Thanks. I ended up booking the ICE a few days ago, mostly because, at least mid-day when cheap tickets are available, we could go from Heidelberg to Paris with only one connection. (We will have a bit of luggage, I'm afraid!) Although Strasbourg to Paris (my original plan) is great, stopping in Heidelberg makes things a bit different. Anyway, we take the S Bahn and then the ICE. It costs 78 euros for 2 people (with big restrictions on changes) and takes 3 hours and 37 minutes. I went ahead and booked second class, since the Heidelberg to Paris part isn't all that long. Once I used the English section of bahn.de, the seat choices were clear and I booked side by side. Thanks, everyone, for the tips!

Oh, I meant that the 2 tickets were 118 euros total, not 78!

To answer your earlier question..I realize it is more or less a
cademic now...I suspect that 2nd will be MORE crowded than First since it is less expensive and 2nd usually has more seats in the same amount of space and First will have fewer.

MOST importantly....unless the train is completely sold out there will undoubtedly be empty seats you can sit in; some of those will be un-reserved and some will perhaps empty as the train progresses which always happens.

People don't necessarily need seat reservations on ICE routes and people often move to unreserved seats on European trains..even on TGVs so not to worry. You may find it much more comfortable than you expected.

Thank you, Dukey. I ended up booking some ICE tickets that included a reservation in the price, so it became a moot point once I decided that I was not willing to pay a lot more for first class! I'm not sure why some ICE trains include the price of a reservation and others don't, but the train that worked the best happened to be one of the ones that did, so at least now I don't have to worry about that. I'm not picky, but my husband IS (a little bit,anyway - and sometimes has trouble with his feet), so I wanted to be sure we got seats!