The road veered to the right fifteen minutes after our entry into France. At that time, Mr. D told us to look to the right side and a town surrounded by historic ramparts jumped to my eyes. This town was called Neuf-Brisach and is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. He continued to tell us that the street was not so special so let's go straight to Colmar. I felt like stepping onto the walls, but followed his advice. After coming back to Japan, I was surprised to examine this town and its history. This town used to be a fortified town built by a French king, Louis XIV. The shape of it really resembles a Japanese historic fort, Goryokaku. I'll show you pictures of both sites from Japanese and French Wikipedias. Additionally, I didn't know that the designer of Goryokaku was born in Ehime prefecture. It's the same as me! I was also born and grew up in Ehime prefecture. He learned the western art of warfare and built the first western style ramparts in Japan. I was excited to find the similarity of both sites. What do you think of it?
(Vocabulary)
veer (急に) 向きを変える, 曲がる
rampart 《[C]通例複数形で》城壁, 塁壁
jump to the eye 目に飛び込んでくる
UNESCO's World Heritage ユネスコの世界遺産
fortified 〈都市などが〉要塞(ようさい)化された, 防備を固めた
Historic Fortified Town 歴史的要塞都市
fort 砦(とりで), 要塞
the art of warfare/ war 兵法
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