Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Ideal Life

Today's Route

     The first picture was taken on the bridge that connected the shore and the island. You can see many yachts on the lake. Though I didn't write about yachts in my blog, I like yachts and I can sail a dinghy. The next picture shows houses looking down the lake from the hill. Additionally, the third picture was of motorcycles that were parked at the parking lot.  Living alongside a lake, looking down on the lake, sailing a dinghy and riding a motorcycle, this must have been an ideal life. The next picture was of a signpost. There seemed to be a circular route of the lake for bicycles. I wondered how long the bicycle paths of this country were.

(Vocabulary)
dinghy (娯楽・競技用の) 小型ヨット

Butterfly

Today's Route

     There was a facility that was called the butterfly house. I didn't like butterflies, but Yuri wanted to go in and I was obliged to go inside the house. As there were lots of many kinds of butterflies inside, I literally felt butterflies in my stomach. By the butterfly house, there was a farm where some vegetables were planted . I wondered if those vegetables were for the owners or were to be served to us, the visitors. Anyway, we went back to our bus walking in the forest under the sunshine through the trees.

Tomb?

Today's Route

     We entered the church next to the castle and found mural tablets in the first picture, under which you can see a door or something in the second picture. What was that? We didn't know, but we couldn't ask. If you know, please tell me. I imagine that it might be the tomb of the owner's family.

(Vocabulary)
tablet  (墓などの) 銘板, 碑板
mural  壁画  [形]《[名]の前でのみ》壁面に描かれた

Lunch

Today's Route

     We had lunch at the restaurant in the picture. Inside the restaurant was decorated with flowers. I thought it wasn't easy to prepare flowers on every table every day. The day on which I visited here was Monday and wasn't any special day. Flowers would be set like this every day regardless of whether it was a weekday or the weekend. The label of the wine I had at that time said "BODENSEE", "BADEN" and "Konstanz". It was a real local wine and tasted good. I ate Brezel for the first time. You can see it on the left of the wine. I keenly realized that you shoud try anything local if you went out for a trip.

(Vocabulary)
regardless of   …に関係なく, …にかかわらず, …にはおかまいなしに
keenly realize  つくづく思う

Wandering In Mainau

Today's Route

     We took a walk on the island, Insel Mainau, according to the instructions in the pamphlet and we were overwhelmed by its magnificence and beauty. This island seemed to be privately owned. I was surprised to hear that. I wondered how many people were engaged in the maintenance of the garden. There were not only flowers, but many huge trees, bamboos, animals, butterflies, plants and old buildings. This island is also called "Flower Island on Lake Konstanz", and I agree with its other name.
     By the way, a Canadian friend advised me to try wiener schnitzel in Germany before leaving Japan. It was the first time I'd heard of this dish and I knew this was the famous Austrian cuisine. Lake Konstanz (Bodensee in German) is located between Germany, Switzerland and Austria. You know, the land I could see across the lake was Austria. I wanted to eat wiener schnitzel here. There were several restaurants here and I looked for it, but in vain. In the next article, I'll write about our lunch.

Route

Today's Route

     I took pictures of destination boards on the way to know the route that we had taken. The four pictures below were taken for that purpose, but this work was meaningless. The data logger recorded our track perfectly. I'm enjoying tracing our route on the map with this data and pictures now in Japan.
     While we were seeing the beautiful and calm southern German scenery, our bus reached the parking lot of Insel Mainau. We were allowed to spend four hours on the island and entered the park on the flower island.

(KW: steiert )

Bus Tour

Today' Route

     In this article, I'm showing our bus and what the tour was like. The driver's seat was like in the first picture. I thought that there were many switches for the size of the bus, when I had just got on the bus. Naturally, I didn't know how they worked, but there might be many functions. In the rear end, there was a small kitchen and a toilet. Some drinks might be served in some cases. The driving was careful and reliable. Our trip must have been a simple round trip to Insel Mainau, but the driver chose a different route as the return leg from the outward. I suspected that he simply drove on another way back at that time though it was wrong. I checked the record of my data logger later and I realized that the return leg was totally a detour. You can easily understand what I'm writing if you see the map linked from "Today's Route" above. He bothered to make a detour on behalf of us.
     Now, I think the driver wanted us to enjoy the scenery of the Black Forest and some small villages in the southern Baden Provinces. I took lots of pictures from the window and some of them were successfully shot. He gave us information about the place here and there, but I couldn't fully understand him. I'd learnt only to read German papers during my student days, but it was not good. I decided to learn German conversation from now.

(Vocabulary)
in the rear end  後部に
the return leg  帰り
outward and return 行きと帰り
make a detour to 回り道をして～に行く
outward  外へ向かう
an outward flight/journey  行きのフライト［旅程］
bother to do sth (bother doing sth とも) わざわざ＜…＞する
here and there  あちこちで

Hinterzarten

Today's Route

     Muggy days were continuing in Frankfurt and Freiburg, but when I got out of the train at Hinterzarten, I felt the crisp air of autumn. It was really comfortable. German houses were decorated with lots of flowers. I thought they were really beautiful and I would try it in my house. Hinterzarten is located in the east of Freiburg, and it was a 40 minute train ride. We were enticed into taking a walk in this small village by the wintry air. We came across a direction pole on the way. Such poles aren't unusual in Japan, but the green box hanging on the pole attracted me. It said, "Take a bag for your dog." The next picture was a souvenir shop, where I got some picture cards and I wrote to a few frineds in Japan. Yuri found a primary school and boldly entered into it. I was afraid that a guard or policeman would come out and question us about entering without permission, but who came out was not a guard but little children. They seemed to start playing soccer on a small field. Can you read the letters written on the wall? "Fußball ist Zukunft" meant "Soccer is your future". I realized that Germany wasn't the opponent that Japan can easily defeat in soccer. The last picture reminded me of Whistler in Canada. Hinterzarten seemed to be famous as a skiing place, but if my purpose was to ski, I would pick Whistler.

(Vocabulary)
crisp air of autumn  秋のひんやりした空気
crisp 〈日・天気・空気などが〉 澄んだ, ひんやりとした
The air was fresh and crisp. 空気は新鮮で澄んでいた．[反意] humid
entice sb to do sth  ＜人＞をそそのかして＜…＞させる
entice sb away from sth  ＜人＞を＜…＞からおびき寄せる
entice sb/sth into sth ＜…＞を＜場所＞に誘い込む
be enticed by  ～に誘われて
wintry air  ひんやりした空気
wintry  冬らしい, 寒い
a cold wintry day  寒々とした冬の日
direction pole  案内標識
boldly 大胆に

Insel Mainau

Today's Route

     Mainau is an island in Lake Constance (Bodensee in German). This lake is the biggest lake in Germany and is located on the border with Switzerland and Austria. The water derived from Switzerland is collected here and flows out to the west and finally pours into the North Sea. Needless to say, it is the river Rhine. The destination of this day was Mainau. I made the route map and am showing you it.
     We got up about 6 o'clock and finished breakfast in the hotel at 7:00. In Freiburg, we stayed at the hotel, the back of which was the platform of the Freiburg Hbf (main station). It was so convenient and time-saving. We explored the Hbf in the morning. Shortly before 8:00, our train came in on the track. We were going to visit Hinterzarten which was located in the Schwarzwald (The Black Forest) and join a bus tour. The first picture is of our train. You can see the logo of a bicycle. It meant that this coach could accommodate bicycles. I thought that this country was really accomodating for people who have bicycles. As the second picture shows, this train would run to Seebrugg. The sign also said Hinterzarten. The third and fourth picture is of the door of the train. In Japan, the doors of trains usually are opened by the train driver or conductors, but here in Germany you had to push the green button to open it. We always lined up after the others and just observed what they had did to open it, but there was no one around us yesterday, so Yuri pushed it and opened the door. When we were on the platform, the train in the next picture came in. It didn't look like a DB (Deutshe Bahn: German Railway). Was that the private company's line? The next picture was my ticket from Freiburg to Hinterzarten. There was no entrance and exit of the platform and these tickets weren't collected and I brought them back to Japan as one of my memories. Look at the next picture. I wondered about three boxes on which the schema of a bicycle were painted. I thought it might be a sort of coin locker of a bicycle for commuters. This idea sounds curious, but I think it could be in this country. The last picture is the company which ran the bus tour to Insel Mainau. It was located at Hinterzarten, so we came here this early and this short train trip was not bad. The train was comfortable. We had an hour to go, and enjoyed taking a walk around the station. I'll show you the pictures taken here, Hinterzarten in the next article.

(Vocabulary)
pour into  流れ込む
accommodating  親切な, 世話好きな
train driver  列車の運転手

(KW: Steiert)

Dinner

Today's Route

     I asked a hotel person to launder my shirt because I had an appointment to see an acquaintance two days later, but she only told us the name of the laundry shop, which opened after we left the hotel and closed before coming back to the hotel. After all, I couldn't use the laundry shop. I thought that the hotel should do the laundry on commission. I gave up on the laundry and headed for the Altstadt to have dinner on a different street from the Eisenbahn Strasse. There was something that baffled me. I didn't see cars so often in the Altstadt. Not a few people lived in this area and there were many shops. How did they bring their merchandise to their shops? By a horse-powerd coach? I hardly saw parking lots around the Altstadt. When I saw the signboard in the first picture, I got it. There must have been parking lots underground and they were big enough. The second picture shows an applicant in the election. The phrase on the board looked like "Yes, we can" by Barack Fusein Obama, and it evoked our laughter. We had dinner at a traditional restaurant near the small corridor of water. Nice beer and nice dishes. Yuri doesn't drink alcohol beverages, but my eldest daughter, Eri, likes them. If I were with Eri, we might not be stopping drinking until late.

(Vocabulary)
launder  (formal)(衣類など)を洗濯する, 洗ってアイロンをかける
sale on commission 取次販売
give up on sb/sth ＜…＞に見切りをつける
baffle (人) を当惑させる, 戸惑わせる
merchandise [U](フォーマル)  (店頭で販売される) 商品
evoke 〈感情・記憶など〉 を呼び起こす, 喚起する
corridors of water 水路

Walking in Freiburg 3

Today's Route

     We decided to have lunch at the restaurant that was located at Schlossberg Bahn station. The weather was fine and it was rather hot. I took my jacket off and put it into my daypack. My shirt got wet with perspiration and it was the only formal wear I had. As soon as I took a seat, I ordered a local beer. Next, I ordered Wuerst (German sausage), but I couldn't make myself understood. I was sorry, but it was natural because I didn't distinguish the pronunciation between W and B, with and without the umlaut. I knew that I had to learn diligently. These pronunciations are said to be the weak point of Japanese, but I'd like to manage to master them. Eventually, we asked a waitress for something domestic and local. Pictures show the dishes that were served. It was the end of September, but it was hot like in the midst of summer. The sunshade was unfolded. We enjoyed a nice lunch overlooking the beautiful scenery. After lunch, we went down to the city and wandered around there. The sixth picture was the simple sign of a multi-tenant building. There was almost no commercial sign boards in the city, and I thought it contributed to the relaxing scenery. The next picture was of the McDonalds'. We didn't try it, but is the taste the same as in Japan? I've had the McDonalds' hamburger in Squamish and Whistler in Canada and it was just the same taste as Japan's. Anyway, we were surprised that it existed everywhere. The next picture was the shop handling Japanese goods. The next two pictures show a care facility for aged people. The Altstadt created the atmosphere like a museum, but it was also the space for real life. The next two pictures show the house supporting Tibetans. I couldn't fully understand their activity, but it looked like an NGO or something. Most Japanese politicians are flattering the Chinese communists party, but on the other hand, the German Prime Minister Angela Merkel can stand up and boldly express her opinion against the tyrants of Chinese Communists. On this point, I envy the German people who have a great leader. The General Election of Germany seemed to be held on this day. I really hoped that her party, CDU, would win the victory. I'll show you some pictures in the Altstadt next and look at the vertically long picture which shows "H". Here was the tram stop where we tried to get on a tram. No one paid the fare. What's going on about the fare? We got off at the third or fourth station and got back to the Hbf. Our move was recored on the data logger and I'll show you on this blog. You can see it at "Today's Route" link above. We went back to the hotel by tram and checked in. The last picture is of our hotel (brown building) and the main station from the tram stop.

(Vocabulary)
overlook 〈部屋・窓などが〉 …を見下ろす, 見渡す
Our room overlooks the ocean.  私たちの部屋からは海が見下ろせる．
multi-tenant building  雑居ビル
relaxing scenery  落ち着いた景観
create かもしだす
real  実際の, 現実の; 実在の, (架空ではなく) 現実の, リアルな
vertically long  縦長の

Walking in Freiburg 1

Today's Route

     I'll show you lots of pictures taken in Freiburg in a few following articles. Look at the first picture. I was nearly hit by a bicycle here. It was on the bicycle path running parallel to the road. I felt that bicycles are more popular here than in Japan. Additionally, the number of sporty bicycles was high. Their speed was high and they came along without any noise. I wondered if any serious accidents happened. At any rate, bicycles are eco-friendly and good for the health. I thought I should ride in Japan.
     The main sightseeing area was the Altstadt. The street called "Eisenbahn Strasse" connected between our hotel and the Altstadt and it took only ten minutes' walk to the Altstadt. The second and third pictures were taken on Eisenbahn Strasse. Look at the fourth picture. You know there were few people on the path. It was Sunday. In Japan, many people go shopping on Sundays, but here in Freiburg Sundays seemed to be the day that people stayed in their homes. I wondered when Freiburgers went shopping. The last picture was of the City Hall.

(Vocabulary)
I thought I should do ... ～してみようかな

Walking in Freiburg 2

Today's Route

     There was a Cathedral in the center of the Altstadt. How monolithic it was! I tried to take a picture of it, but couldn't. It was too high to be taken and beyond the ability of the lense of my camera. People were entering into the Cathedral one after another, so we followed them. It was the Mass. I took a picture like a thief in the night. The second picture might be of a ruin of the old days. It looked like a wall of a typical medieval city-state. My German vocabulary is not abundant, but the word, "Arzt", came into my eyesight. This picture shows the signboard of a dentist and a lawyer. This is more modest than that of Japan. Come to think of it, the commercial aspect of medical doctors was rare in this city. Was there some regulation in this historic area? Or was it common in Germany? The fourth picture was taken at the station of Schlossberg Bahn, which connected the city level to halfway up a hill. We climbed up the hill by this means. The fifth was taken on the walkway on the hill, which was just like "Shiroyama" in Matsuyama. The next was the observation tower on the hill. We climbed up to the highest deck, but there was an additional deck over it. I didn't go up to there, but Yuri went up. (7th picture) 8th-10th pictures were taken from there. It was a magnificent view. The mountains in the 9th picture were, I thought, located at the opposite side across the river Rhine, and it meant it was French territory. The next was a ruin that we came across.

(Vocabulary)
like a thief in the night  こっそりと
city-state  都市国家
halfway up a hill 丘の中腹に
aspect [C] (状況・問題などの) 一面, 側面
the safety/business/money aspect   安全［ビジネス，金銭］面

Got To Freiburg

Today's Route

     We arrived in Freiburg. This is the sister city of Matsuyama and I knew only the name. I wondered what the city was like. The first picture was taken when we'd just gotten out of the train. Our train was to start for Interlaken at 11:01 here. The board said that the next station was Basel Bad Bf, where we would visit later. Our hotel in this city was the InterCity Hotel in the picture, which was located next to the station and was very convenient for us. There was no exit of the station and we directly headed for the hotel. We gradually got used to the German station. It was earlier than check-in time, so we asked them to keep our luggage and went out for a walk. At that time, a hotel woman handed a small business card-size certification to us. We seemed to be exempt from transportation fee with it in the city. I thought it was very lucky to be free from the complexity of paying with strange coins, but I didn't see any person pay the fee in the tram. I didn't know why people were allowed not to pay it. It might be one of the welfare policies. Anyway, we went to the tourist information at first and got a advice to see the whole city from the hill.

(Vocabulary)
exempt  [形] 免除された
[＋exempt from]
Children are exempt from dental charges. 子供は歯の治療代を免除されている．
complexity  [U] 複雑さ
[＋complexity of]
the growing complexity of HIV treatments ますます複雑になるHIVの治療法

Seat Selection

Today's Route

     Our train was going down to the south. The sky was clear and I was expecting beautiful scenery, but the window wasn't clean and was against the sun. It was so regrettable that I couldn't take pictures of the scene that I saw for the first time from the window. Next time I will reserve the seat, so I have to think about the side of the seat. There were few tunnels and bridges during about two hours' ride. I thought that the construction fee would be lower than that of the Shinkansen. A passenger who was seated on our right side got off in Offenburg and I could take picture from the right side window. I was wondering if the mountains over there might be French. As for the ride, the Shinkansen was more comfortable than the ICE.

A Trip Plan

Today's Route

     Suddenly the train started. The time was just on time. The reason that I wrote "suddenly" despite the  scheduled departure was that some announcements are usually done just before the closure of the doors in Japan. Anyway, we started for Freiburg.
Shortly after the departure, a brochure that is shown in the picture was delivered to all seats and it stated the time schedule of ICE373 and the connections at each station on the route. It was very convenient. Another thing that I was surprised at and admired was the electronic signboard above each seat. The picture was of our seats and it said that our reservation was between Frankfurt and Freiburg. It must be useful for not only the passengers but the conductors.

(Vocabulary)
electronic signboard  電光掲示板

Inside Of The ICE

Today's Route

     I had about 30 minutes to go before the departure and took pictures inside. There were no passengers except us. We took second class seats and the first picture was the second class coach. Some seats have a table and there was a space for large bags. I thought that the width of the seat was a little wider than that of the Japanese superexpress, Shinkansen. The next picture was of a compartment which accommodated six persons. The third picture was of the toilet. I felt it easier to use than that of the Shinkansen. The next picture shows the doorway, which was wider than that of the Shinkansen and I liked it. The fifth and sixth pictures show the litter boxes and coin lockers. The litter boxes were just like those of the Shinkansen, but I think that the Shinkansen has no coin lockers. When you want to sleep deep or be away from the seat, for example going to the buffet, these coin lockers are helpful. The last picture was of the buffet. A staff member was preparing it.

(Vocabulary)
be easy to use 使いやすい
doorway 出入り口

ICE (InterCityExpress)

Today's Route

     We were going to use the German superexpress to move to Freiburg that was called ICE on this day. I was afraid to be lost in the strange station and checked out of the hotel an hour earlier than needed. Our train was ICE 373 that was displayed on the 4th line on the schedule board. Though this station was really big, we could find the track easily. While I was taking pictures around us, ICE 373 came in on the track. The name of the destination was painted on the car and it was "Interlaken". I'd never been to Interlaken, but I knew where it was situated. If we couldn't get out of the train in Freiburg, we could get to Interlaken. If we didn't have the reservation of the hotel in Freiburg, we might have changed our destination. We had 30 minutes to go, but got on the train to see the inside thoroughly.
     The third and fourth pictures are of our ICE. I took them when it had just arrived in front of us. I felt uneasy to see the grime attached to the face of the ICE and this worry came true later. Additionally, I felt the difference between ICEs. The ICEs in the last picture were more modern than ours. Our ICE might not have been the most up-to-date type. Anyway, let's get into the car.

(Vocabulary)
strange 《通例[名]の前で》 見知らぬ, なじみのない
Meryl was all alone in a strange city. メリルは見知らぬ町で独りぼっちだった．
thoroughly 入念に, 丁寧に
feel uneasy 気になる
grime (-aim) すす, あか, 汚れ

Savoy Hotel

Today's Route

     We used the Savoy Hotel in Frankfurt because it was located near the station. I didn't want to choose a cheap hotel from the aspect of the security, but I also didn't want to splurge on a hotel. This hotel was ranked into the middle class, but the price was surprisingly high. The price of hotels, including other hotels, varies up to three times as high from the bottom. It seemed to be common in Frankfurt. I knew that the International Motor Show was being held in Frankfurt just before leaving Japan. That's why those high prices were set. I thought of visiting the show on the flight, but I didn't have enough time. Our L-shaped room was as below and not bad. I was complaining all the time about the high-season price due to the Motor Show, but it disappeared on seeing the breakfast. It was really good. I'll show you the first serving. Needless to say, I had another helping again and again. A sufficient breakfast after a good sleep made me happy. We checked out and went to the station.

(Vocabulary)
splurge
[自] (ふだん以上に) ぜいたくをする, 奮発する
splurge on sth ＜…＞に奮発する
[他] 〈金銭〉 を派手に使う
splurge sth on sth  ＜金銭＞を＜…＞に奮発する

Dinner

     We checked in at the Savoy Hotel near Frankfurt Hbf at first and went out for a walk. It was crowded just in front of the station, but the street from the station to the Altstadt (old city) wasn't. The street was not so clean and I felt that this street might not be good for security at night. Anyway, we wandered from our hotel to the Altstadt, the main sightseeing point. I took lots of pictures and I stuck some of them on the map. You can maginify the map. Try it. http://kumo.typepad.jp/Euro09/Osaka_Frankfurt.html
     The first picture is Frankfurt Hbf. I wondered when this station had been built. The wall clock showed 16:35. We arrived at Frankfurt airport at 15:30, so it meant it took only an hour from the airport to here. The airport was really convenient, I thought.
     While we took a walk in the Altstadt, we decided to have our first dinner in Germany in Roemer Platz. The second picture was the menu of the restaurant. The beer and dinner on this night, next. I don't remember the names of the dishes, but they were delicious. The vehicle in the following picture was driven by man-power. People in the vehicle were pedaling over a beer, though some were goofing off. I was afraid they really enjoyed beer. The moment I saw them, a tram was just coming and they were forced to pedal at maximum power. It was funny. We came across a motorcycle on the way. It was a BMW, which I wanted. It was natural. That was BMW country! The last picture was of a hotel that we just happened to see and it looked very gorgeous.

(Vocabulary)
goof off  （仕事などを）さぼる