Latest Posts by merpmonde - Page 5

Hohentwiel fortress

We've seen the stunning volcanic surroundings of Hohentwiel, and managed the climb - now we're at the gates of the fortress. Or the... tunnels of the fortress?

The entrance tunnels are a recent addition to the fortress, in the sense that the 18th century is more recent than the 10th, when the castle was first mentioned. For around 900 years, Hohentwiel Castle stood, seemingly and effectively invincible, receiving updates in line with the battle tactics of the times, as this entrance tunnel leading to a forward bastion, shows.

Now we are at the actual gates, exceptionally wide open to allow traffic in to set up or take away festival equipment. I thought they were setting up, but I can't find a trace of what was due early August. The largest festival the castle hosts is late July, so maybe they were taking away... but wait a minute. This place hosts festivals. It's huge.

Hohentwiel Castle is on two levels. So let's assume you and your army have made the climb, survived the open trench in the middle of the tunnels, got through the gates - and your objective is still up there. A 15% incline and the upper fortress drawbridge and gates are yet to be passed.

Perhaps unsurprisingly at this stage, one understands how the castle went undefeated. Owned by Swabian then Württemberg dukes, it stood in the crossfire of French and Austrian troops during the Thirty-Years' War between 1618 and 1648 - and survived five sieges.

It was another major conflict, nearly two centuries later, that would claim the Hohentwiel. And even then, it wasn't taken over in battle. The territories Napoleon conquered included Württemberg, and the French Emperor ordered that the castle be decommissioned and ruined in 1803.

Undefended and stripped of meaningful material, the castle was open to the public, who quickly took a liking to the astounding views of the Hegau area and the Bodensee (Lake Constance) in the distance. It became a tourist destination as early as the 1840s. And, as mentioned before, today it hosts festivals.

Hohentwiel Castle is a fantastic visit. It is an enormous complex, with a lot of structure left. The history and stunning views make the effort to get there well worthwhile. I recommend hiking from Singen city centre if you can for the fuller sense of reward!

Steep stuff: climbing the Hohentwiel

The altitude difference between Singen town centre and Hohentwiel fortress is only around 200 m... but a view of the mountain shows that it's going to be covered in a rather short distance.

To be clear, 18% is the steepest incline on the road, if you're driving a car, and even then, you'll only get to the Hohentwiel Domäne intermediate stop. The footpath starts climbing further around the mountain, and it's more of an 18% average!

The Domäne has a hotel-restaurant, at which I had lunch, providing shelter during a heavy shower! This made me hesitate to push further, and the previous post showed that there were more hovering around. I took a chance, the rain stayed away. Pick up a ticket to the castle and go through the little museum, and it's back to the climb, for pedestrians and cyclists only... still with over 20% in places!

Summer highlight reel: Hegau

Towering around 250 m above the industrial city of Singen, the Hohentwiel is one of many reminders of the geological history near the Bodensee, or Lake Constance. This whole area was once volcanic, then the softer rock was eroded by the ice age, leaving this type of steep structure, around the old volcanic tube, behind.

A mountain like this would not have been easy to climb, especially when laden with weapons and armour, so unsurprisingly, several summits have fortress ruins on them. Hohentwiel is one of them (more on that and the climb - oh, the climb! - in another post), and Hohenkrähen, that rock jutting out ahead, is another.

The views from the top of Hohentwiel are just splendid. Two more ex-volcanoes are visible here: the Hohenstoffeln to the left, and the Hohenhewen to the right - there are lots of 'hohens' in Hegau, but it just means they're higher than villages. The weather was something to admire that day too, with showers floating around, like this one over the Schaffhausen area.

A few bugs seen this summer!

The East side of Île de la Table Ronde is the noisy side, with the motorway running on the opposite side of the river. It's also the side with the widest walking track, and it was teeming with grasshoppers! I noticed a couple had landed on my shirt and were just chilling (maybe interested in eating the fabric? I'm thinking of locusts, aren't I). @teamroquette took the photos as I was unsure how much I could move without them jumping off. Turns out they were really chill.

Other critters seen this summer include some seen at Oberkirch: bees working on flowers, that's a classic, and... some less fortunate insects.

Bonus - posted here because my sister will kill me if I post this on Instagram where she can see it: a spider hanging out by Nonnenmattweiher lake.

Summer highlight reel: Île de la Table Ronde

To the South of Lyon, the "Island of the Round Table" in the middle of the Rhône offers a fantastic escape from the city. While the East side is exposed to a lot of noise from motorway traffic, the inside and West shore are gorgeous, and the southernmost end is a nature preserve.

The river flows by at a steady pace, making it a good spot for a reaction ferry similar to the ones in Basel. Fair play to the locals, they thought that too!

Bridges now do the job - though the suspension bridge from Vernaison isn't doing too well. Built in 1959, it needs replacing and until then, traffic is limited on it so as not to overload it. This hasn't been helped by the North side of the island being an industrial estate.

In the centre of the island, one finds a ruined farm, the Ferme aux Loups. One thing @teamroquette likes to do is geocaching, and so we looked for some, but the most elusive geocache of all was the namesake of the island. There are pictures of a round table associated with the island on Google Maps, but we missed it. That said, one Google review also mentions that they couldn't find it, so who knows.

We did find these interesting and somewhat imposing water level meters though. Lay on them to measure yourself... and get the wrong answer!

An alternative to Diesel: the Baureihe 563

More and more of these trains have appeared in the Offenburg area recently. Technically, I could be talking about both of the trains above because I'd never seen a Baureihe 218 locomotive (right) before, though over 400 were built in the 70s, but I am talking about the train on the left: the Baureihe 563.

5 is an unusual first digit for a German train type. Locomotives start with a 1 or a 2, for electric and Diesel power respectively, while passenger-carrying multiple units start with a 4 or a 6, again for electric and Diesel power respectively. Evidently, as seen above, these trains can run on non-electrified lines, but they are not Diesel multiple units - they are battery-electric multiple units.

Part of the Siemens Mireo family, the Mireo Plus B can run on electric power either from the overhead cable, or from the onboard batteries. The manufacturer states that the train can run between 80 and 120 km on battery power before needing a recharge from overhead cable, typically at a terminal station. This makes this train ideal for relatively short runs, such as those seen around Offenburg, the central station of the Ortenau area. As such, they are becoming more common, running local services for regional operator SWEG, indifferently on non-electrified lines like the one to Oberkirch, or electrified lines such as the picturesque Schwarzwaldbahn.

I know that Japan and the UK (link to Jago Hazzard's review of the GWR Class 230 and a quick overview of the BEMU topic) have also recently (re)introduced BEMUs. France hasn't really got on-board with this yet, as far as I know. Instead, they have built lots of bi-mode trains (mentioned at the end of the post), which have electric motors which can be powered by overhead cables or by an on-board Diesel engine.

February 2020 was weird

In my mind, visiting Oberkirch mid-February 2020 as my last outing before lockdown in Europe. Actually, that's not true - late February I went to Western France and Paris... but this was indeed my last solo excursion. I went for the carnival, which did take place, but Covid was very much on the horizon at that point. So there's something special about looking back at seeing people at the castle, enjoying the views and nature while it was still possible.

Ruine Schauenburg

My hike in July took me to the South side of Oberkirch, while on the North side sit the ruins of Schauenburg castle. It's a short, but steep, climb from town centre (or you can drive up).

The castle was built at the end of the 11th century by the Duke of Swabia. It saw action mainly in disputes between local lords, most notably after much of the land around the castle was sold to the Margrave of Baden-Baden, around 35 km to the North. It became a ruin following a French invasion in 1689.

Today, a restaurant sits beside the ruin. When I was last there, there was a camera stand to take a clean selfie - you know, the one where you set a timer instead of holding at arm's length. That's where my photo on my professional website comes from.

As is the case from the South side, the castle has a good view of the Rhine plains, and Strasbourg cathedral sticks out. It would have stuck out even more back in the day, without the modern tower blocks. The lords of Schauenburg would have seen the massive gothic cathedral and its monumental spire being built... over the course of a few centuries.

Summer highlight reel: Oberkirch

I praised this hike on a loop South of Oberkirch for its amenities, but the views were also fantastic. In chronological order, here's the first vineyard I came across on the circuit.

The first drinks hut, with schnaps, is the Köbelesberghof to the left, out of frame. The hamlet opposite, which OpenStreetMap names In der Rot, looks gorgeous among the vineyards and forest!

Just below the summit area of the Geigerskopf is the Busseck Hof vineyard, and beyond, the plains in which the Rhine flows.

Turn around at the previous photo and the path to the Geigerskopf summit will appear. A tower at the top offers some stunning, unimpeded panoramas of the Rhine plains and the Vosges on one side (Strasbourg is visible in this picture), and the Black Forest hills on the other.

Finally, climbing down, past Busseck and past the drinks hut I stopped at (Klingelberger Hütte), we reach this viewpoint overseeing the town, with the castle visible on the hills opposite. It seems that all the fruits are grown here: apples, plums, pears and grapes...

Tilting Diesels!

In June, we said さようなら to Japan's first tilting electric multiple unit (see that post also for why you'd want tilt in the first place), launched in 1973. For some reason, adding tilt to Diesel multiple units needed a bit more time - my guess is engine vibrations play a part. Nonetheless, in 1989, JR Shikoku did it, launching the 2000 series tilting DMU. The company has continued with the technology, and the latest generation, the 2700 series shown above, is 5 years old this month.

The 2000 series is still in service, but I haven't yet seen any. However I have seen and ridden two derivatives of the 2000: the JR West KiHa 187 above, which reminds me of trains in England with its yellow front, and the streamlined Chizu Kyûkô HOT7000 below.

These trains run intercity services along the picturesque San'in coast - the Super Matsukaze and Super Oki in Yamaguchi, Shimane and Tottori prefectures -, and between the San'in and San'yô coasts - the Super Hakuto and Super Inaba in Hyôgo, Okayama and Tottori prefectures, which is how the HOT7000 got its name.

With these trains, Tottori to Himeji is done in under two hours, a similar time frame to what electric tilting trains can do between Okayama and Yonago. The mountains are also quite scenic, and the HOT7000 has a feature that I don't think I've seen anywhere else: a live cab cam.

Another country worked to develop tilting DMUs: Germany. This culminated with the high-speed ICE T, which I'm yet to encounter, but in the late 1990s, at a similar time to the Japanese examples above, Adtranz built the RegioSwinger, officially Baureihe 612. These yellow and white examples work in the South-West corner of Germany, along the Rhine between the Bodensee and Basel, with a couple of incursions into Switzerland.

Riding a tilting train is peculiar. 8° of tilt doesn't sound like much, but it adds up with the camber of the tracks to produce a visually impressive experience. The tilt is really noticeable, and it does what it's supposed to do, compensating the G-forces so you don't feel the pull to the side through corners. The downside of DMUs is that they tend to be quite noisy - the engines sound like they're giving 110% all the time! On the whole, I really like them.

MiniWorld Lyon

Looking for a cool place to go with @teamroquette on the hottest day of my trip to Lyon, we opted for... Lyon. But the miniature version, housed in the MiniWorld diorama park!

MiniWorld Lyon was surprisingly impressive at every level. The sets are huge and the details are amazing. We spent hours there and didn't catch everything - there are 4 Wallies (Waldos) in the whole park and I only found two. But to show the level of dedication, see that traffic jam going into Fourvière tunnel on the left? It goes all the way in, as far as the turn...

And it's like this all the way through the park. The main exhibit is divided into four zones (each with a Wally): generic city, mountain, countryside and Lyon.

This exhibit is on a 20-minute day/night cycle, and every hour, Mini Lyon holds a replica of Lyon's Fête des Lumières held in December, which includes light shows projected on buildings, such as those on Place des Terreaux.

The current temporary exhibit is called Japan Mania, with dioramas from Japanese pop culture. A few Japanese elements have been added to the main exhibit too, including something familiar...

Koishikawa Kôrakuen in the summer

This is my favourite park in the city and I've now seen it in three of four seasons, including exactly one year ago. As August in Tokyo goes, it was very muggy and overcast, and as soon as I touched the ticket, it started raining. As I hadn't entered, the person at the ticket office offered a refund, but this was my last day in Japan so if it was going to be a wet visit, so be it.

I did shelter for a bit as the rain was rather heavy, and it proved to be a shower, so it was mostly dry during the walk through the park. Well, I say "dry", but the air was horrifically humid, I was getting just as wet when it was raining than when it wasn't! And when the Sun peeked out, wow did it burn!

Through all of this, this one heron seemed to be chilling in the middle of the main pond. Heron? Hero, more like!

After the tour, I went to the Kantoku-tei tea house for some respite, a katsu meal, some tea... and a change of shirt!

Mishima Skywalk and the zip line with a view of Mount Fuji

I jokingly suggested a zip line over the Rhine in the tags of a previous post, but here's one that does exist: two zip lines, 300 and 260 metres in length, over a valley in the slopes on Mount Hakone.

It's one of the many fun activities on offer at Mishima Skywalk, along with segway tours, tree adventures... But first, one must cross the 400-metre suspension bridge, which is already not for the faintest of hearts...

The kicker is the view of Mount Fuji. On a good day, of course, the usual terms and conditions apply, and I had been unlucky previously when it came to seeing it. This seemed a better day than most, but not quite there...

Until I embarked on the return zip line. I turned around on the way up and saw Fuji-san as clear as can be. I didn't take my camera on the zip lines for fairly obvious safety reasons (and I should mention that my friend Megumi who kindly drove me to the Skywalk that day took the top picture), so what could I do but enjoy the breathtaking sight while gliding back to the start slope!

The clouds allowed this clear enough shot after crossing the bridge back to the entrance. Again: this view from a zip line. Not just a highlight of the trip, probably a lifetime highlight!

Coot chicks in Schaffhausen and herons in flight at Konstanz. That is all for today.

For Vectron!

Produced since 2010 by Siemens, the Vectron is a modular locomotive platform with various engine options - AC electric, quad-voltage for use across Europe, "last-mile Diesel" option for parking, Diesel motors, dual mode/hybrid... It hauls both freight and passenger trains. But the main reason I've wanted to mention the Vectron is...

this Mitchell and Webb sketch!

This is from series 3 of That Mitchell and Webb Look, which was aired in 2009. The Siemens Vectron was officially launched in 2010, so it's fair to say that the name appearing in both is a coincidence. However, when I see a Vectron, it reminds me of this sketch, so it's harder for me to take this train seriously!

But it is serious business, as it is one of the most common locos in continental Europe. Only Iberia (due to using a different gauge) and France (because if it ain't Alstom, they'll oust 'em) don't see much of them. The examples shown here are from Germany, Switzerland and Slovakia, and were all pictured in the same area of Germany. The quad-voltage version in particular allows companies to carry freight all over Europe, they're virtually borderless.

Yet here I am, still snickering at the name, by Vectron's beard!

Rheinfall: a second look

The weather improved greatly throughout my day at Schaffhausen, and I'd read that the falls are lit up at night, so I decided to give it a second look. And this was the view from the scenic Neuhausen Rheinfall station when I got back:

The falls roughly face West, so the evening is actually the best time to photograph them as the sunlight hits them directly.

Also, the boats stop at 6:30 in the summer, so we get a clearer view of the pool below, and no-one standing on the rock in the middle.

The trail on the Laufen side remains open though, so people can still see the falls up close, as described in the previous post.

The bridge on the far left of the top picture and at the back of the second picture is a rail bridge carrying the line from Neuhausen (central) to Schloss Laufen. It's no doubt one of the most spectacular in Europe, and it doubles up as a footbridge, allowing people to walk alongside some Swiss Dostos.

Oh, and they do light up the falls at night.

Rheinfall: up close, personal and wet

Let's start by crunching the numbers: the Rhine falls in Switzerland are 23 m tall and 150 m wide (boat for scale). On average, in summer, 600 cubic metres of water pass through every second. That's 600 000 Litres - assuming you need 2 L of water per day and will live to 80 years old, that's easily 10 times more water than you will drink in your entire lifetime, past your eyes in one second. Every second. Of every day. They don't turn this off at night!

Obviously, this is quite the unstoppable force, and the people at Rheinfall have figured out several ways to allow visitors to witness this force up close. A trail down from Schloss Laufen to the river side includes several platforms right next to the rushing water. It's noisy, it's impressive, and definitely humbling to be almost in the path of a wall of water.

But several steps further are available: boat rides that go against the current, right into the stream of the waterfall, and, not to be outdone, a boat that goes to the jagged rock smack in the middle of the falls, and drops you off for 20 minutes. I didn't do those because I was wet enough just from the rain, but it was tempting. So was a zip line in the hills, but man, if there was a zip line crossing the Rhine in view of the falls - not over them directly because that would spoil it for everyone else, but around where one of the boat crossings is -, that would be incredible!

Speaking of that rock in the middle, I love it. It's a masterpiece of erosion, and still taking the full force of the Rhine... for now. In a few thousand years I guess we won't be sending so many people there.

Grand Geroldseck castle - only a cat of different coat

Close to impressive Haut-Barr castle, a one-hour hike from Saverne, sit two more ruins. All of these castles were built around the same time, late 10th to early 11th century, but despite being so close, they weren't owned by the same people.

While Haut-Barr was under the control of the Bishop of Strasbourg, the two Geroldseck castles, the Petit and the Grand, were built by the Geroldseck family, in charge of protecting the lands of the Abbey of Marmoutier. At the time, Alsace was part of the Holy Roman Empire and divided into many largely independent pieces, so these castles facing each other were on a border of sorts. However, the male Geroldseck line went extinct at the end of the 12th century, and the land was co-owned by so many people that no-one was maintaining the castle. The last stand came in 1471, when a group of disgruntled knights used it as their base. The Imperial bailiff laid siege, won and the castle was left as a ruin after that.

While Haut-Barr castle gets a lot of visitors, owing to the possibility of driving there, the Grand Geroldseck is worth the extra walk and brief climb from its neighbour. As well as the dungeon, lots of walls and rooms are still present, making it an interesting place to explore. The remaining walls continue to receive restoration work - there seem to be a few differences between my first visit with @teamroquette and my second this summer, for example, I don't remember seeing the little garden a few years ago.

All that's left to say is: "OI YOU!... YES, YOU! Have a good time."

Contrasted sunset on Shinji-ko

On the south side of Matsue, there is a famous sunset-viewing spot, overseeing the "great lake" mentioned by Kitty-chan on the train, which would be Shinji-ko, and a small island inhabited only by a torii, called Yomegajima.

It's so famous, that there's a sign to tell you where to stand to get the Sun over the island depending on the season!

While the sunset was gorgeous on the evening I was there (last year to the day), there was also something ominous. To the left in the top photo, one can make out some rain hiding the horizon... and to the South, a thunderstorm was active in the hills.

Still, the showers were kind enough to hold back for us to see the Sun set between the cloud layer and the mountains. But they soon caught up - as soon as I stepped off the bus at Matsue station, it chucked it down!

Before Hello Kitty, it was Evangelion

The Joyful Shinkansen made its debut between Ôsaka and Hakata in 2015, and marked two anniversaries: 40 years of the complete opening of the San'yô Shinkansen, and 20 years of the mecha anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. And it's safe to say the mash-up of a 500 Series rocketship and a giant robot was bound to work!

For two and a half years, this train ran one daily return on a Kodama service, until it became the Hello Kitty Shinkansen. When I visited Japan in 2016, I made a point to see it en-route to Hiroshima. Timetable-wise, Fukuyama was the right spot.

As a Kodama train, the 500 TYPE EVA wasn't the fastest, and would often wait for Hikari and Nozomi trains to pass before continuing. This was the case here, and here's an N700 overtaking.

Erm, that didn't look blisteringly fast, did it? Well, taking into account the size and distance it may not, but a very rough calculation (length of a 16-car N700 set: 400 m, in 6 seconds) yields a speed of 240 km/h. The speed limit on the San'yô high speed line is 300 km/h.

Back to the Evangelion train! As is the case in the Hello Kitty train, two cars received particular attention. Car 2 was a decorated seating car, and car 1, with windows covered, had a mock-up cockpit and simulator game!

With the overtake done, the 500 TYPE EVA set off. Riding it didn't fit into my schedule on that voyage, but it was great to see it. Best livery on a 500 in my opinion!

Hello Kitty Shinkansen. Yes it's real, and it's a lot of fun.

A year ago, I planned a trip between Hiroshima and Kokura on what I feel is the wackiest train concept imaginable. Take the 500 Series Shinkansen, an absolute rocketship (and IMO the best train ever) and wrap it in pink. That didn't sound too appealing to me when I first heard of the project, but I've got to say, the livery is a banger, and turned a lot of heads at every station we stopped at!

The train remains on a regularly-scheduled service, a return trip between Hakata, Fukuoka on Kyûshû, and Shin-Ôsaka as an all-stop Kodama, so it's a normal train... save for two cars. Car 1 is basically a shop, while car 2 is the Kawaii! Room, a seating car in full Kitty mode!

The front of car 2 also has a space to pose with Kitty-chan. As a collab, the Hello Kitty Shinkansen takes the opportunity to showcase the prefectures JR West serves, with Kitties on the map promoting each area's special feature, such as "the great lake" in Shimane (Shinji-ko), "we love this pear!" for Tottori (though Kitty seems to be holding an apple?), takoyaki for Ôsaka, and Hyôgo is "proud of Bread" (any thoughts on that @todayintokyo?). These 8 local characters are repeated on each of the 8 cars outside.

While I'm not a fan or particularly knowledgeable about Hello Kitty, I thoroughly enjoyed riding this train. It's over the top with Easter eggs everywhere, down to the jingles! (not my recording)

All that's left to say is...

History on the high street: Honnô-ji

Similarly to the other examples mentioned in a previous post, a temple sits at the North-East end of Teramachi shopping street, with traditional-style gate and buildings. But this is more than an ordinary temple, as it bears the name of a pivotal moment of Japanese history.

I say "bears the name", because this is not the actual location of the Honnô-ji incident. The original Honnô-ji was built a few kilometres to the South-West, nearer to Shijô (the 4th East-West street South of the castle; the current temple is North of Sanjô, or 3rd street). It was there that, in 1582, Akechi Mitsuhide, a general in the force aiming to unify feudal Japan, rebelled against his leader, Oda Nobunaga. The importance of Oda Nobunaga would be its own series if I had the material, but if you know, you know; I'll concentrate on Honnô-ji.

Akechi's forces laid siege and burned the temple down, and it is widely believed that the trapped Nobunaga committed seppuku - however, his body was never found. Akechi, meanwhile, had underestimated other generals' loyalty to Nobunaga. Toyotomi Hideyoshi swiftly brokered a peace treaty with the lord he was fighting in the West to rush back to Kyôto, and ran Akechi down just two weeks after the coup.

Hideyoshi was accepted as the new leader of central Japan, and went back to expanding westward. He also ordered that Honnô-ji be moved to its current location and rebuilt in 1591. It has, in fact, needed to be rebuilt several times since, each time after fires ravaged the capital. Beyond its function as a Buddhist worship site, the new Honnô-ji includes a mausoleum to Oda Nobunaga, as the decision was made by his successors to honour him there.

I remember passing by this temple in 2016, during my first trip to Japan, a three-week work visit in Kyôto. I had no notions on Japanese history at the time, and it was only a while later that I realised the importance of Honnô-ji. So, as an aside to Gion Matsuri in 2023, I decided I had to go back for a closer look.

Fruit, glorious fruit!

Little did I know until yesterday, the vineyards and orchards near Oberkirch, on the edge of the Black Forest, are magnificent at this time of year! Now I think of it, I didn't see any cherries, and apparently they are in season... maybe I just missed them. As for what they make with all this fruit in Germany, well...

That'll be schnaps.

Available in all good drink huts along the hiking trail! A friend and I saw a self-service drinks cabinet on another hike to the North of Oberkirch, but this circuit was on another level. I must have seen at least four drinks stops, ranging from a cabinet with a cash box to a full-fledged hut with shade and benches. It appears to be a local speciality, and I'd say this sells it quite well!

It's quite the feeling to enjoy a cold schorle (fizzy water with a dash of juice, I passed on the schnaps because I don't go for alcohol) with an incredible view on the way back down a hill on a hot day!

Temples on the high street: Kyôto Teramachi and Shinkyôgoku

A typical Japanese covered high street, right? Yes, there are lots of shops left and right, but this is Kyôto, a millennial capital and centre of cultural and religious tradition in Japan. So what happens when a modern high street encounters a centuries-old temple, bearing in mind that it would be very bad form to ask the priests to sell up?

Well you leave the temple alone and build around it. So, in between the big name drugstores, Animate, clothes shops and cafés lined with the street's signature bricks and tile floor, here's the entrance to Seishin-in, with traditional wooden doors and tile roofing. It is also just visible in the first picture - see if you can notice it.

Seigan-ji is easier to spot, further illustrating the contrast. Online maps show that this temple even has a cemetery in the middle of the next block, completely encircled by shopping streets and businesses.

It's a similar situation for Tenshô-ji, though, this far up the high street, the commercial tissue becomes less dense. These temples seem a bit larger and own more land. Still, we've gone from a towering, mineral, covered street in the top photo, to an open path with low buildings and plenty of vegetation, with no transition.

These scenes of coexistence fascinated me when I first visited Kyôto in 2016, with a hotel in this area, so it was great to see them again on my brief return to the city in 2023. More fascinating still is the fact that one of these "just off the high street" temples is not only very old, but hugely historically significant... and I'm yet to mention it!

A few pictures of Bastille Day fireworks... at least whatever got above the roofline.

Can't read my, can't read my, No you can't read my 岡 face!

Arrived here a year ago today: Nagoya station. I did little more than settle in at the guest house and wander back to the station for food before getting a good night's rest.

At each end of the station concourse, there's a distinctive clock - one called the Silver Clock, and the other the Gold Clock, which make good meeting points.

At basement level, there's a good row of restaurants, and I settled on one that serves miso katsu, pork cutlet fried with a hatchô miso sauce. It turns out I'd hit the jackpot, because that's a local dish, and because I loved it! I went back for more another evening with fellow guests, and once again when I made a stop-over at Nagoya on the way from Western Japan to Tokyo. I'm definitely eating there again if I get the chance!

A year ago, I was taking off for Japan

No such five-week adventure this year, but I have the chance to relive the smell and taste of Japan courtesy of Yuki, Kazu, Asaka and Maiko who I met in Paris last month, and who gave me a lot to eat and drink! So, to mark the anniversary, I decided it was time to have nice things...

Kitsune udon with nori, ebi and yuzu senbei

The kitsune udon floored me. The smell of the soup base was enough to transport me, I couldn't get enough of that savoury scent.

Matcha KitKat, dried nattô and konbucha

I hadn't tried nattô in Japan, but I'd read it had a bit of a reputation. So I was a little apprehensive trying the nattô morsels, but a little less so when I read that dried nattô is actually milder than the real thing. And I like it! And so do colleagues I've shared it with!

The konbucha is... interesting. First, do not confuse with kombucha. I know, I know, it's very confusing. This konbucha is kelp tea, a tea made with algae, combined with plum and extra salt. It kind of tastes like the sea, only milder... It's pleasant in its own way, though I'd probably make the next one less strong.

And if you want to run through last year's voyage, I did a travel blog here, but I'll also go through some places here at a leisurely pace (I've already reviewed Kushimoto, Hikone Sawayama and Nagahama -to name what I can remember- from that trip here).

It's been a wild couple of weeks in France, so when it got to a point when I had to go outside, I couldn't set my mind to find somewhere interesting. So I settled on nowhere special, just somewhere across the border with a train station and countryside not too far.

Lahr/Schwarzwald. Perfect.

Actually, there was a slight purpose to the trip given the time of day. I was hoping to see what was running on the Frankfurt-Milan "EuroCity Express". I'd seen an Italian train run it before, and this time it was a RABe 501 Giruno, the most recent Swiss high-speed train. I'd seen it before, but not caught a decent shot of it, so here it is!

The busy Karlsruhe-Basel main line sees a lot of traffic: higher speed like the ICE 4 at the very top and the ECE (I say higher because they can't travel at proper high speed because of everything else), regional trains, international freight... Among the inter-city trains out that morning was this Flixtrain, the same Flix who run buses across continental Europe. They have a few lines in Germany, using some old Inter-Regio carriages.

For an outing where I was just expecting to watch trains go by like a cow in a field, I dare say got more than I was banking for that morning, as a Baureihe 708.3 track inspector (Doktor Gelb?) and a brand new Mireo Smart regional set with no livery, either undergoing testing or out for delivery, made some surprise appearances.

Update: Moulin Rouge has got new sails, and celebrated with some French cancan in the street.

Article France Info

Le moulin rouge du Moulin Rouge a perdu ses pales!

Was going to take a break from posting today, but we had a bit of breaking news out of Paris: the famous cabaret Moulin Rouge's red windmill has lost its sails! They fell off at around 2 in the morning apparently, cause unknown. No injuries.

Article France Bleu Paris