Actually, the first-class lounge car was facing backwards (towards Brussels) on the day that I was on it.

We didn't end up sitting in the lounge car, unfortunately - my girlfriend has a thing about always sitting in assigned seats and I didn't want to create possible domestic strife by moving! But it would certainly be a nice place to sit next time.

First class was perhaps 50-60% full in our car, on the 10:25 service from Brussels.

Next time I'll skip purchasing seat reservations online and instead buy them separately at a station. Can you select a specific seat when purchasing a reservation from the DB ticket machines?