The View from the Towers 塔からの眺め A web log by Nigel Ruddock of life in Germany as an expat, with excursions to Japan and the UK.

Tag: expatgermany

  • 🍺 Ur Deutsch オリジナルのドイツ

    6th June 2026年6月6日

    If you are reading this in an email don’t. Choose the option in the top right of your email which says “read in blog”. The formatting is better here.

    🍺 Kerb

    祭り

    🍺 It’s a funny word : Kerb. It’s nothing to do with the English word kerb (as in pavement), but comes from Kirchweifest, the festival for the dedication of a church. Like the one in our neighbouring village, Dreieichenhain. And a summer festival in Germany means….

    🍺 Well first we get on our bikes…….

    私たちは、ランゲン近郊の町ドライアイヒェンハインまで自転車で向かいます。

    …..up and over a hill and 20 mins later we are in the pretty town of Dreieichenhain. Many moons ago friends of mine got married in the old church here. And this is where it all started, about 300 years ago. In fact 2026 is the 308th festival!

    🍺 The church was dedicated in 1718, and every year since then the festival has been held here in the town. Today it was garlanded not for a wedding, but for the Haaner Kerb …….

    …a real Kirchenweihfest.….

    この祭りは、300年前の教会の献堂を記念するものです。

    🍺 It’s like a parish festival, but now grown out of its original form with the whole Altstadt taking part. ….with the church and castle providing much needed shade in times of climate change….

    Inside it is quiet……

    中は静かだ。

    🍺 ….but on leaving the church we are met with a blaze of sound….a band is playing; an ancient merry-go-round is pumping out tunes; beer and Apfelwein is being downed by the litre; friends hail each other……families meet up……what could be more gloriously German than this? It is the epitomy of zusammensitzen….gemütlichkeit.…all those words which are so difficult to translate into English…..Without further ado I will plunge you into the scene……Dreieichenhain, 12am……..A hot day at the end of May 2026…..

    いくつかの感想

    🍺 And even though it’s early, there is no getting past a Bratwurst and Gespritzte Apfelwein (You rarely drink applewine pure, but mix it with sparkling or still water)

    🍺 This is Germany 100%.

    ドイツ 100%

    🟢 Scene change: It has not all been Beer and Wurst these last weeks. Following a hint from Kimono designer Emikoさん we drove down to Weinheim to see the Hermannshof.

    This is a flower garden only open at certain times of the year. Unfortunately the Wisteria had vanished by the time we got there, but there was still plenty to see. What about a little slide show? I can’t name all the plants anyway!

    私たちはヴァインハイムの花園に行きます。

    Swipe the photos……..

    🟢 I really only know Weinheim as a starting point for hikes. There is a Schlossgarten and lake, with an appropriately named Katzenlauf ／cat alley……

    bordering on a quaint Altstadt……

    …..with the necessary ice-café……

    It’s a bit of a strenuous slog up to the Burg…….

    But the view is worth it……down over the town….

    Weinheim

    ….or over to the next castle..

    🟢……and on the way down you can say hello to characters from Julia Donaldson’s famous children’s book – The Gruffalo……

    お城からの下り道で、「グラファロ」に出会うことができます。

    What a tickly tummy he must have 🤣 !

    🟢 Well, dear readers, I think that is quite enough excitement for today…but you never know what may be around the next corner…….

    🟢 Monet’s Küste? Monet’s coast?

    This great exhibition in the Städel gallery, Frankfurt, is not actually primarily about Monet, but about Étrétat, the little coastal fishing village on the Normandy coast.

    フランクフルトのシュテーデルギャラリーでの展覧会

    🟢 …..and all the artists and writers it attracted in the 19thc. onwards. Victor Hugo, Guy de Maupassant, Jean Corot, and of course Monet himself. I may have already mentioned this exhibition in Instagram, but here are some impressions nonetheless….Why haven’t I been there?………


    A 19thc. miniature by Giovanni Boldini

    🟢The Städel Museum itself has some intriguing exhibits in its permanent collection…An automatically produced piece of disgust….

    This is one for bass makers (hello Edinburgh?)……

    The banal is depicted in brutally realistic style. The girl holds a smartphone in her hand which blabbers at her…..

    …big brother eye?

    ………………….

    …….you think you are entering a library..📖..no. You are entering a horrific commentary on the worker of today in a call centre…..

    perspectives….

    🟢 This was created by Tony Cragg (Liverpool) in 1979……long before the alarm was raised concerning the plastic in our oceans…..

    ……….woof! woof! Don’t ask me what this is about….😐

    🦴!

    As always, thank you for your interest, and if you know anyone who might be interested in this blog then do forward it on.

    Wie immer vielen Dank für euer Interesse. Wenn ihr jemanden kennt, der an diesem Blog interessiert sein könnte, schickt ihn gerne weiter.

    読んでくれてありがとう

    See you…….. matane!

    Nigel 🌭

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com.

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    Screenshot

    THE END

    終わり🎠

  • 🐣 Hessen ヘッセン

    🐣 Hessen ヘッセン

    * The UK has counties, Japan has prefectures, and Germany has Bundesländer

    9th April 2026年4月9日

    ✍🏼 In reponse to the seemingly unstoppable diarrhoea of whatsapp hiking messages invading my phone of late, I decided on radical action. I would do the unthinkable. I would put on my walking boots and take a day out just for me. A solo hike .

    I choose my favourite railway line – the VIAS, a private company that offers a service from Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof……

    WhatsAppグループにイライラしたので、一人でハイキングに行くことにしました

    ….directly into the hills and valleys of the Odenwald.

    ✍🏼 We slide out of Frankfurt to the sound of Easter bells from the Dom, and under the gaze of banks and insurance companies..

    フランクフルトからオーデンヴァルト行きの電車に乗る

    ✍🏼 I feel good. At peace. I settle down in my seat and watch as the urban landscape of the Rhein-Main-Gebiet gradually gives way to fresher, rural colours……

    ✍🏼 A short stop at Darmstadt Nord, with its ugly graffitti and morose buildings. I am reminded that we still have a way to go…..but soon afterwards we are sailing through the green fields which border the Odenwald…..

    ダルムシュタット北駅に停車した後、列車は田園電車は田舎を通って

    ✍🏼 I love train travel. You can talk or text to friends at ease whilst letting someone else do the driving. At some point I received an (evening) message from a friend in Tokyo …“…It looks like a very European landscape….somehow different from the scenery I always see from the train windows in Japan….”.

    ✍🏼 I alight at Hoechst in Odenwald, consulted my map, and walk through the town and over the Mümling river to reach a gorge famous for its fairy-tale path. The Obrunnschlucht. What a marvellous word that: Schlucht. (Gorge/Ravine).

    私はオーデンヴァルトのヘーヒスト駅で電車を降りました。ここはまるで童話の世界のような道です。

    ✍🏼 The gorge has always been a favourite beauty spot for the locals, but it was only in the early part of the 20thc. that the idea came about to revive fairy tales by building little miniatures of castles, houses and churches in the woods. Here is the Maüseturm from the river Rhein – in a scale of 1:20

    …here a bear..or is it a wild boar?

    Even nature seems to add some magical charm……

    ✍🏼 A storm, and subsequent vandalism in the 1960s threatened to consign this innocent project to oblivion. But in 2011, in a heartening show of local solidarity and initiative, local construction companies……like this one…

    地元企業が遊歩道の維持管理を支援している

    …..banded together to help rebuild…not only the little models….

    …but also the footpaths and bridges……

    As I walked up the gorge I noticed groups of excited little children chattering and enjoying the scene. Makes you happy to be alive.

    The Schwanenburg castle…

    …a more contemporary addition…..

    ✍🏼 Time for a rest on one of the many picnic benches provided for precisely that purpose. Out came my hard-boiled egg (an idea from a fellow hiker) and a phial of salt (a very practical present from yet another hiker!)

    私の最初のおやつ

    I never thought I would be publishing a photograph of an egg, but believe me, in the circumstances, it was absolutely delicious.

    You could get poetic about it. Well, let’s move on before I get too carried away.

    Reaching the top of the gorge…..

    I plunge into a tall, windswept woodland…..

    峡谷の上を、私は高い木々の森の中を歩く。

    … pines sway in the breeze..

    …and at ground level inumerable wild anemones push up through last years’ leaves…..

    野生のanemones (日本語名？)

    ✍🏼 Will I reach my next etappe before devouring my sandwiches? The way beckons invitingly…..

    道は快適です…………

    ….and eventually, I reach the outskirts of the village of Breuberg. Here I catch my first sight of the eponymous castle…..

    歩いて 数時間後（すうじかん ご）城につきました。どうやってあそこに登ればいいのだろう？ 🙄

    ✍🏼 It looks so high, up there on the hill……Maybe the memory of these little Easter eggs will keep me going…..

    Frohes Ostern…..🐣…….イースター、おめでとう!!

    After a breather at the bridge…..

    少し休憩……….😪

    I start the steep climb to the castle. Frohes Ostern, yes, …..

    サンドイッチのことを考えながら階段を上る………🤔

    but I am thinking of my sandwiches…..

    However, blessed with excellent walking boots, the climb is not that bad…….

    But I must admit it is a relief to finally reach the main gateway…

    ついに！城に着いた！…….🥵

    ✍🏼 Berg Breuberg. Continuously inhabited since the 12th century, it has served at various times as a bailiff’s castle, a residence for noble families, a district administration office, a camp for forced labourers during World War II, and the site of a toy factory. Each era has left its mark. 

    A token cannon is all that is left of its firepower….

    Whilst the interior has been converted into a youth hostel….for locking up unruly youth maybe?

    城の一部はユースホステルになっている。

    ✍🏼 It’s now only 5 km walk back to the railway station.. a pleasant route through the typically Hessen countryside…..

    wth its half-timbered Fachwerkhäuser……

    Only 1km to go…

    私は駅まで歩いて戻ります ……………….. 🚶🏼‍➡️

    ✍🏼 As there is only one train an hour back to Frankfurt I can fit in a Spaghetti-Eis in the one remaining open café….and Komoot says that I have walked 16km.

    Not bad, Nigel 💪🏼.

    (私は16km歩きました)

    As always, thank you for your interest, and if you know anyone who might be interested in this blog then do forward it on.

    Wie immer vielen Dank für euer Interesse. Wenn ihr jemanden kennt, der an diesem Blog interessiert sein könnte, schickt ihn gerne weiter.

    読んでくれてありがとう

    See you……. matane!

    Nigel 🥾

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com.

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    THE END

    終わり🍨