December 2024 年12月
There is something about bad taste that makes me stop and wonder....("...how could you possibly.....?"). Sometimes you just walk past it unsuspectingly, like when you are coming home with the shopping......
悪趣味なものを見ると、なぜだろうと考えます。
.....or when taking a short cut through the industrial estate......
Maybe I am just dull and can't enjoy the fun (!).
I went into the new wine merchants opposite my house the other day. Now there is taste. But unfortunately they seem rather over-conscious of it. "How can I help you?" asks the comfortably installed lady at the bar....."Oh, I am just looking for a mulled wine or punch...". "Red or white?" This was all very well, but when I said I lived opposite........
先日ワインショップに行きました
.........she went into this long bla bla about "...now it's much nicer for you to have a wine shop here I'm sure, rather than some cheapo shop (I actually rather enjoyed the TEDI shop that was previously there) or a Kepab shop......". Who did she think I was? Middle-aged, British accent, can actually speak German.......investment banker from Frankfurt?...."
I've always been impressed by the simple taste of 19thc. German railway stations. Not the big bombastic jobs like Frankfurt or Leipzig, but the little local ones....like Langen.....
私はシンプルなドイツの鉄道駅の建築が好きです
Time to escape the grey skies of Europe and take some inspiration from the East. Miki-san has been to Kyoto, where the warm cedar columns of the temple gates harmonize with the fiery maple. Nature does taste well.
みきさんは京都に行ったことがある。。。。
どら焼き😋
But let's turn from our eyes to our stomachs. Ever seen the film Sweet Bean (An) from Naomi Kawase? It is the touching story about a guy who runs a Dorayaki shop, and the old woman who turns up one day to offer her experience. We see the secrets of home-made bean paste; old prejudices over leprosy rise up though the veneer of social politeness; a young man manages his independence; respect over the generational divide, and a schoolgirl finds companionship. Simply good film making. Here's a link........https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4298958/
A Dorayaki is a sweet pancake-like bun filled with a sweet bean paste. Of course you can always grab one at a Konbini (convenience store), but there is no beating that freshly made one from the stand on the corner. And here we have one! Photos from Tomoko-san in Tochigi last week.......
先週の栃木
Having been laid low by a vicious virus two weeks ago I was really glad to get out at the weekend. It was billed as a hike, but was actually a stroll from one small town to the next in deepest Hessen. We got off the train at the forlorn-looking Bad Salzschlirf station.
During the Weimarer Republic, finely dressed Damen and formal-looking men with hats would have alighted here, accompanied by clouds of steam emanating from the locomotive. They would have been heading for the Kurhaus to take the waters and whatnot 😉. Actually there is still a very fancy Kurhaus here. Today people just come by car. The railway has seen better days......"Erbaut 1898" it says. The sort of branch line which had it been in the UK would have been closed by Mr. Beeching in the 1960s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeching_cuts
病気から回復した後、またハイキングに行くことができて嬉しかったです。今回は、巨大なキャンドルライトのある有名なシュリッツの旧市街へ。
Leaving Bad (how do you spell it?) Salzschlirf we set off along the river Schlitz to the town of, yes, Schlitz. Now Schlitz is quite a place. Not only does it have a medieval Burg, but also a lovely Fachwerk town and a Schlosspark. And the Christmas market has made it into the Guiness Book of Records for the biggest (non-wax) candle in the world.
The name of the town rang a bell with me because it is the home of the Landesmusikakademie. That's one of those marvellous institutions you find scattered around Germany. A converted Schloss filled with grand pianos🎹. Rooms to play chamber music, recital Saals, venue for the prestigious youth music competition programme Jugend musiziert🎻.
However, the only music 🎵 we heard today was from a gaggle of school children on the stage of the Weihnachtsmarkt singing O Tannenbaum. Nice accompaniment for a hot orange punch or a carrot soup laced with ginger....
生姜入りにんじんスープ
Climbing up steep alleyways.....
急な路地
you reach the Weihnachtsmarkt......
クリスマスマーケット
...and further up you catch a view of the famous candle......
有名なろうそく
But it's freezing cold,🥶 and Phe is the only one of us determined to wait in the queue to go up the tower (candle). Papul and myself head for somewhere which might be warm. The old medieval church. Thank heavens it is open. And warm. And mostly lit by candles. Very atmospheric. I liked the way the organ was not stuffed behind a pillar but had a prominent position in the aisle. Evangelisch.
教会は暖かかった。あちこちにろうそくが灯っていた。
This monument caught my eye. It looked like Buddha (and my Nepalese companion agreed) but it cannot have been - it's 18thc. rural Germany. Very strange.
とても奇妙な記念碑。まるで仏像のようです。ネパール人の同行者も同意してくれました。
You could see the famous candle through a church window......
Outside again, and the cold hit us with a vengeance.....
Time for another warm drink......
🕯️That's all for this week.
🕯️今週はこれで終わりです
🕯️The View from the Towers wishes all its readers a Happy Christmas, and if you are with family in Japan, ハッピーニューイヤー (I've put it in Katakana because it's not New Year yet)
Bye "..matane.." 🙋♂️
Nigel.
The End おわる
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