Lavandula - yes, anywhere in the Schengen area police has the right to check ID of anyone anytime at any major transport hub or artery. Same in Spain or Poland or in Greece or Sweden. There has to be no other "reasonable cause" for a cop to ask for your passport or ID card. Which had been different in the pre Schengen days.

cowboy is right - In Orleans a town well away from any border the Douaniers (Customs cops) routinely stop cars on the N-20 road looking for drugs with dogs - I've seen especially vans with NL or Netherlands) license plates so stopped.

. I don't think I wrote it in one day. I made a hand gesture for the conductor to stamp it & that's what he did. No angry DB employee cursing at me. Maybe b/c he had seen I had written in my other dates.>

Yes that should be the case as conductors realize that folks just forgot to put the date in - and not believing they were trying to cheat the system - yet as in anuy country you can get the oddball jerk...who is a stickler for the rules - most are not and IME are understanding.

HI all: Thanks to all on this site, I use Byron at
BETS every year for my train travel. He even makes
reservations for me on days that I am sure that I will
travel. Currently, he is trying to get me a night train reservation from Amsterdam to Dresden. On one
occasion, I forgot to put the date in that I was traveling,
and the conductor wasn't too happy...I acted very
sorrowful and it was ok but I did see 2 young men
put off the train. On several occasions, I have been asked
for my passport, but most times no. This is the first
year that I am traveling primarily in Germany (Frankfort,
Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Dresden, Neuburg &
Frankfort with many side trips)so it will be interesting. I
prefer the eurail pass because I can get on and off the train as many times as I like and can go to more than one city on my day trips. Have fun...perhaps we will all be on
one of the same trains.

ttt