Latest Posts by merpmonde - Page 8

After that news post, back to Thann, for this view of the Thur valley and the Vosges mountains. On the day of my visit, I climbed here first, before continuing along a ridge to the Grumbach summit and down to the Grumbach pass, before circling back down to Engelbourg Castle which I posted about first. A nice hike, not too difficult - most of the climbing is done when you've reached the Roche Albert viewpoint. There's something to be said about why it's called "Albert's Rock", but I'll save that for another time.

Kanazawa-Tsuruga Shinkansen extension open!

Since yesterday, these beauties (seen at Takasaki on the same trip I had that "race" into Omiya) have another 120 km of track to play on, as the Hokuriku Shinkansen extends further West along the coast of the Sea of Japan into Fukui Prefecture.

Of course, the best news here is that travel times between Kanazawa and Tsuruga are slashed - let me rephrase: halved - compared to the previous fastest express services. The dream of completing the route to Kyoto and Osaka is in reach, and if you add the Maglev line, there could, in the long-term future, be three full high-speed Tokyo-Osaka lines: the historic South coast route, the scenic North coast route and the ultra-fast route straight through the middle.

But there are other consequences. As has become the standard along the Hokuriku route, the old line has immediately been sold off to a "third sector" company - largely run and subsidised by local authorities for as long as they're happy to keep the line open. Only all-stop trains are operated by these third sector companies, so there are only two options: very slow local trains, or very fast, but all the more expensive, high-speed trains. No rapids, no expresses.

The express trains which used to go to Kanazawa now all terminate early at Tsuruga, including the Thunderbirds - of course, technologically advanced Japan has more than the five Thunderbirds Gerry Anderson could muster! This display board seen in 2016 is not likely to be seen again. And if the route to Kyoto is completed, will the name disappear altogether, or continue as an omnibus Shinkansen service to Toyama? Maybe resurrect the original name Raichô (yes, similar to the Pokémon)?

Train geek notes aside, the future's hopefully bright for the region this new stretch of line serves, which was hit hard by the New Year Earthquake.

北陸新幹線おめでとうございます!

The "Witch's Eye" - Engelbourg Castle ruins, Thann

For what it's worth, Prince Albert II of Monaco is visiting Thann in the South of Alsace this weekend, as he is also Count of Ferrette. Held by the Austrian Habsburgs for a while, the title was bestowed upon Cardinal Mazarin, a prime minister to King Louis XIV, following the French conquest of Alsace in the 1640s. A member of House Mazarin married the Prince of Monaco in 1777 and that's how the title ended up where it is today. I don't plan to explain the origin of the other bazillion oddball titles the Prince of Monaco holds...

It's just a pretext to mention Engelbourg Castle, built by the Counts of Ferrette in the 13th century on a hill above Thann. The French Counts wouldn't benefit from it for too long: as it lay too far from the German border to be of strategic value, the same Louis XIV ordered its demolition in 1673. But, as you can probably tell from the photo, something weird happened during the process. The cylindrical dungeon came apart in segments, and one of these landed on its side. For whatever reason, it was left there, creating a unique landmark known as the "Witch's Eye", as an echo to the "Witch's Tower" in the town of Thann, but all it reminds me of is Polo mints.

A short hike uphill from Thann, it also offers nice views of the valley and the vineyards on the neighbouring hills.

Some amusing art in Matsumoto

In my previous post, I mentioned I was taking the train from Nagano to Tokyo, but my destination for the day was actually Matsumoto. There's quite a lot to see there, mainly the castle, but I'll get to that another time. For now, I'd just like to share some lighter, more amusing details.

This awesome statue depicts two samurai frogs riding on toadback - the poor thing seems to be overwhelmed! That would be because the street by this river has adopted the frog as a mascot. According to local history, the river used to have loads of frogs, making it a rather noisy place (I bet, if my memories of Futami, Mie, are anything to go by!). But after a typhoon caused a flood, the frogs left for higher ground and didn't go back to the river, so loads of frog statues were erected instead.

On the bridge near the entrance to this street and near the castle, other creatures could be found: "Y-cats", created by Yamazaki Takashi. I think this was a temporary exhibit.

Oh alright, I'll tease the castle...

Heading towards Tokyo, two high-speed Shinkansen lines join up roughly 8 km North of Ômiya. I am riding an E7 train from Nagano, and at the junction, a red E6 coming down from Akita on the other line appears, coupled to a bright green E5 which has come all the way from the Northern island of Hokkaido. Another E5 shoots in the other direction, having just left Ômiya.

My train is overtaking, and I exchange amused waves with the passengers who have just seen an E7 appear out of nowhere in their window, but the long nose of the E5 just gives it the win at Ômiya station.

There could be clearer pictures of these impressive trains in the future, but for now, that's the story behind the blog's banner picture!

Location of the first photo (link to OpenStreetMap)

Sounds like a train, but isn't: the Saig to Titisee Rodelbahn

In fact, it's just a footpath. OpenStreetMap puts it at 1.2 km in length, and it's all downhill from Saig. A 165 m drop to be precise, which means an average gradient of nearly 14% - that is steeeep with four Es. In the winter, it should be covered in snow, and, with its four turns, you'd figure it would be a really cool route for tobogganing...

Well, that's what a Rodelbahn is, it's a sled/luge/toboggan track! If you look up the term, you'll come across summer Rodelbahns which are rides on rails (little roller coasters, I've seen one next to the Arzviller boat lift that I'll probably talk about one day, and the Bobbahn is a cracking bobsleigh-style ride at Europa-Park), but this is a natural Rodelbahn. Which runs on a hiking trail, so a few rules need to be laid out, such as pedestrians should hug the inside of the corners.

Most of the trail is in the forest, but once (if!) you reach the final stretch, the ride into Titisee with this view of the lake must feel incredible.

Notice on the left that the base of a pole has got some padding around it... That's not (just) for visibility in the snow! If you can zoom in that far, you might notice that the walls of the bridge at the bottom are padded too.

You'll probably be thinking "again!" once you've reached Titisee, but, as we joked with my sister, that "again!" won't come soon - you've got a long, steep climb back up to Saig first! Those numbers, 1.2 km and 14% gradient, aren't so amusing when starting from the bottom... And the train from Titisee to Schluchsee mentioned yesterday doesn't stop at Saig! XD

A last, albeit light, taste of winter for this season in the hills of Southern Schwarzwald. There should have been a lot more snow in this area in February, but still saw some, both on-site at Titisee, and in the distance, on the Alps visible from the village of Saig. With my sister, we walked through a snow shower on the way back down!

Not the first time we've been to this area. A train goes from one lake at Titisee to another at Schluchsee, with this cheeky station on the way:

"Taaaaaaake the train!"