Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Return Journey

　　We left the castle and headed for Freiburg. I took pictures from inside the car. The Black Forest that had been far away from Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle was coming up. The sign says "41 km left to Freiburg" in the picture. I found a cluster of motorcycle freaks on the roadside. I wished that I could have ridden a motorcycle there. We crossed the river Rhine and entered Freiburg city. The Black Forest was looming in front of us.

(Vocabulary)
come up  ぐんぐん迫ってくる
loom 《常に＋[副]/[前]》 大きく（威圧的に）現れる, そびえ立つ; 〈問題・困難などが〉 迫っている, すぐそこに待ち受けている
War was looming. 戦争が差し迫っていた．

Inside the Castle 3

　　We climbed up inside the castle and looked out from the window. The first picture shows the scenery at that time. The view from the castle was wonderful, but I guessed how hard people had worked to carry the necessities of life up there. They must have utilized horses, donkeys and/or something like that.
　　I took a picture of the wall of the castle from one of the windows. Can you imagine where we were? We ascended up to the higher level of the castle. The next picture is of us in a storage room, where old weapons were exhibited. You can see an old cannon behind us. The next picture shows the base of the castle. It was built on a big rock. The last picture is of an emblem that was attached to the wall over the entrance, which was a deer. It must have been a kind of god to the people who lived in the castle.

(Vocabulary from comments)
test  評価［判断］基準
Profits are the ultimate test of a company's success.  利益は企業の成功度を示す最も重要な判断基準だ．
intrusive  立ち入った, でしゃばりな

Inside the Castle 2

　　If you saw such a castle in a movie like the Indiana Jones series, you'd expect a scene of sorcery, such as a sorcerer praying in front of a victim. While I was thinking such a thing, I found the skull of a deer hanging from the chandelier. I was surprised and felt sick. I saw lots of deer antlers too. The deer might have been a guardian angel for the owner of the castle.

(Vocabulary)

sorcery  (悪霊の力を借りる) 魔法, 妖術(ようじゅつ)

sorcerer (悪霊の力を借りる) （男の）魔法使い, 妖術(ようじゅつ)師

chandelier  シャンデリア

antler 枝角(えだづの)

guardian angel（人と土地を守ってくれると信じられている）守り神

Inside the Castle 1

　　Inside the Castle was really fantastic. I had a strange feeling as if I had gotten lost in another time era. The Castle was for battles, the government and the king's daily life. There were some kitchens, the king's living room, a brilliant conference room, a few wells, a few water storage tanks, storage facilities for food, weapons, a panoply of armor, and so on. All of those were interesting to me. I'll show you the entrance and the backdoor of the Castle. The first four pictures are of the entrance, and the last are the backdoor. The entrance is so narrow that lots of people can't enter the castle together. A portcullis flipped up when the Castle was attacked. On the inside, a device of the same sort existed. The heavy barricade flipped down to shut the entrance door. The backdoor was likewise. I imagined that Indiana Jones passed through them at the last moment.

(Vocabulary)

get lost in another time era 別の時代に迷い込む

panoply 《常に単数形で》

(フォーマル) (多種多様な人・物の) 勢ぞろい

(儀式・式典などにおける) 見事な装い［装飾］

armor  甲冑(かっちゅう), よろいかぶと

portcullis  (城砦(じょうさい)の) 鉄製落とし格子, つるし門

flip up/down/open  パタンと上がる［下がる，開く］(自他）

of the same sort 同様の

Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle

　　Our next destination was Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle, 20 minutes north from Riquewihr. I didn't expect much from this castle because it was not so famous as Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. However, as you can see in the next entry, this castle was a really castle-like castle. It had the smell of a medieval king's life. Mr. D had visited Neuschwanstein Castle before, and he told us that Neuschwanstein Castle was nice outside, but inside there wasn't anything interesting. Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle was literally just like coming out of the medieval world. The first picture was shot in front of the castle toward Germany. You can see the Black Forest in the distance. The second one was taken just before entering the castle.

Pearl of Alsace

　　"Pearl of Alsace" is another name for Riquewihr. This village was so beautiful that it had been given this name. We used the sightseeing train-like vehicle to climb up the hill looking down on the village. I'll show you the pictures of the bus and the scenery from the hill. Riquewihr looked like it was embedded in the vineyards of Alsace when I saw it from the slope of the hill. You can also see snow on the top of the mountain in the distance in the picture. It is Schauinsland, where we had been the previous day. You know, we could see the Black Forest across the Rhine river.

 

Lunch

　　Have you seen the dish in the first picture? It was escargot. I saw it for the first time. The plate is called escargotiere in French and is specially made for cooking escargot. As for the French dishes, foie gras and escargot are famous as unique cooking ingredients. I have wanted to try them for a long time and I ate escargot in a small restaurant in Riquewihr. It was just like scallops or clams and tasted good. Escargot is called snail in English. I had thought any escargot was all right for cooking as long as it was snails, but my idea was completely wrong. Edible snails are limited to two kinds and snails that grew up in vineyards are said to be best for cooking. I was in the midst of a vineyard at that time, and it meant that I was in a desirable location.
　　The last picture is of the main dish. I felt that it was really roughly made. Various kinds of meat were just put on a fistful of Sauerkraut in an offhand manner. I like Germany, but I'm not fond of this German traditional dish. It was totally at the other end of the spectrum of Japanese traditional dishes. If German people visited Japan and had an opportunity to see our traditional food, they would be surprised about the subtle work of cooks.

(Vocabulary)

escargot〈フランス語〉エスカルゴ

escargotiere〈フランス語〉エスカルゴ皿

foie gras〈フランス語〉〔ガチョウの肝臓〕フォアグラ

cooking ingredient 食材

scallop  ホタテガイ

clam 食用二枚貝

vineyard (ワイン製造のための) ブドウ園

snail [C] カタツムリ

edible  食用になる, 食べられる

desirable (フォーマル) 望ましい, 好ましい

Sauerkraut ザウアークラウト(塩漬けキャベツ)

in an offhand manner 無造作に

offhand 《[名]の前でのみ》 うっかりした, 思いつきの; そっけない, ぶっきらぼうな

It was only an offhand remark. それは単なる失言だった．

at the other end of the spectrum その対極にある

spectrum　《[C]通例単数形で》 (変動の) 範囲, 幅

a broad/wide spectrum (of something)  （＜…＞の）広い範囲

a wide spectrum of opinion 広範囲にわたる意見

subtle 巧みな, 手の込んだ; 繊細な

 

Riquewihr

　　I arrived at Riquewihr and found a big vacant parking lot outside the wall. If today wasn't Holy Friday, there would have been many buses and cars in the parking lot. Riquewihr was a really tiny village, and the village would have been packed like sardines when the parking lot overflowed. Inside the wall was another world that was different from the real world where we live.

(Vocabulary)

be packed like sardines  すし詰め状態である

 

Alsace Wine Street

　　Alsace Province is located on the western border of France and noted as the production area for vintage wines. A road that runs north and south through the area along the Rhine river is called Alsace Wine Street. We set out for Riquewihr that lies about midway on the Alsace Street. To tell the truth, I wanted to see the scenery of the street last autumn, but I couldn't because of the last-minute cancellation of the sightseeing bus. So, the offer from Mr. D was really great. Pictures were taken through the windshield. Almost all of the things in the pictures are grape vines or terraces of vines. It was a magnificent view under the warm sunshine.
　　I almost forgot. I bought 10 bottles of jam in Colmar for my family and friends, which are shown in the last picture. I didn't know about them at that time, but Mr. D advised me to get them. This jam seemed to be famous world-wide. They were fine flavored and wonderful. I'd never eaten such tasty jam.

(Vocabulary)

vintage   (ワインが) 当たり年の, 極上の

north and south　〔日本語と語順が逆〕南北に

midway 中間点

windshield　《車》〈米〉フロントガラス

grape vine / vine ブドウの木

terraces of vines ブドウの木の段々畑

I almost forgot. 忘れるところだった。

 

 

 

Wandering in Colmar 2

　　Meandering steps took us to a bridge. It was the scene that I had remembered. I'd seen it in the travel guide last summer when I was preparing for the trip to Alsace, though I couldn't visit Colmar at that time. Mr. D took the first picture for us. Colmar is often referred to as "Petite Venice". Venice is of course one of the cities in Italy that was known as the lagoon city. I'll show you some pictures of canals.

(Vocabulary)

meander (川・道などが)曲がりくねっている, 蛇行している

meander through/along sth ＜…＞の中を［に沿って］曲がりくねって流れる

meander around/through sth ＜場所＞をぶらぶら歩き回る［歩いて通る］

Meandering steps took us to the beach.　ブラブラ歩いているうちに浜辺へ出た。

the lagoon city of Venice 水の都ベニス

lagoon  潟(かた), 礁湖(しょうこ);  (大きな湖・川へ通じる) 小さな池

海の一部が、砂洲などによって外海と遮断されてできた湖沼。多くは1カ所から数カ所の口があり外海と水が出入する。塩分は海水に近いか汽水。遠浅の海岸にできやすい。潟湖（せきこ）。

Wandering in Colmar 1

　　We enjoyed wandering in Colmar. As you can see by the pictures below, where we were was sometimes like the bottom of valleys, and I was afraid that my data logger (GPS) wouldn't be able to catch the waves from the satellites. I'm going to show you our journey later, but the data might have errors. However, what a beautiful wonderland it was! It was a kind of make-believe world. I thought that this village must have been usually crowded, but it was Holy Friday when we visited there. It might have been lucky. We could walk around freely. I didn't prepare for sightseeing in Colmar, but I realized in Japan that we took enough walks around the main tourist attractions after checking the travel guide and the pictures that I took in Colmar. We were in Alsace province in France, but what do you think of the houses in the last picture? I felt as if we were in Germany.

(Vocabulary)

error 誤差

make-believe  空想, まねごと（遊び） [形]空想の（中の）, 作り事の

a tourist attraction   観光名所

French Bread

　　Once I entered Franch territory, I was urged to try genuine French bread. Luckily, a bakery was open and we had a bite there. The taste was really nice. When I got my bread, I talked in English. Yuri and Mr. D were chatting with a young girl at the counter in German. She looked more fluent in German than in English. According to what I heard later, the French kids in Alsace province seemed to learn German and French in compulsory education. I wished that I could talk in many languages.

(Vocabulary)

genuine/ real 本場の

Colmar

　　Our car went through the deserted forest for some time and we hardly saw any oncoming cars. I recalled that today was Holy Friday. People might stay in their houses. I was afraid that all the shops and restaurants might be closed in Colmar, and my bad feeling finally turned out to be right. Lots of shops were closed and there were few people. However, one thing I could do was stop anywhere to take pictures as long as I liked. Because we seldom saw tourists, I wasn't urged to move on. Holy Friday wasn't always a bad thing for tourists. If you are Japanese, you'd know the movie, Howl's Moving Castle. The town where the main character lives in the movie is described to look like Colmar. This town was really beautiful. The last picture was of the sightseeing bus? or train? and shows the driver for want of passengers.

(Vocabulary)

car coming from the opposite direction/ oncoming car 対向車

bad feeling 悪い予感

turn out to be right 的中する

be not always a bad thing  必ずしも悪いことばかりではない

to look like Colmar  コルマールをモチーフにして

for want of occupation  手持ち無沙汰な

Neuf-Brisach

　　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

Autobahn

　　Our car headed toward the southwest for a short time on the Autobahn. It was my first time to drive on the Autobahn. The toll was free, and the vehicles around us were speeding at the speed of 160km/h or more. It really surprised me. I'll make up the map of our journey today and post it here later. It will be fun for you.

　　Mr. D told us that the autobahn originally had no speed limit, but in the area we were at that time, the speed was limited  to 120 km/h. However, most cars were speeding and it was just like in Japan. I found a Mercedes towing two motorcycles. Were they going to take the motorcycles to a certain distant place and enjoy riding around the place? I began to feel like riding a motorcycle not only in Germany, but in Europe.

　　Before long, our car exited from the autobahn and crossed the Rhine. It was France. At the French side of the bridge, there was an open space. There used to be a check point for passports. When I visited Strasbourg via Kehl last autumn, I had seen the same scene through the window of my bus.

　　The next picture is of a motorcycle shop. The main brand that the shop handled looked like Kawasaki, one of the Japanese manufacturers, judging from the signboard. I was surprised at the fact that there was a Kawasaki motorcycle shop in such a rural village in France, a few kilometers from the border.

　　I was disgusted by lots of unkind things that French people said to me last autumn and I had made up my mind not to visit France again at that time. However, contrary to my belief, I stepped into France again. Let's see how it goes.

(Vocabulary)

toll  (公共サービスの) 使用料, (道路・橋などの) 通行料

highway tolls 　高速道路の通行料

speed along/down sth 〈車などが〉 ＜道路など＞を疾走する

speed sb/sth to/toward sth  ＜…＞を＜…＞へ急いで連れて行く

pay no respect to the speed limit  制限速度を守らない

speed 《[自]通例進行形で》 スピード違反をする

before long  やがて

Rhine ライン川

disgust〈人〉に嫌悪［反感］を抱かせる, をうんざりさせる, むかつかせる

unkind  不親切な, 意地の悪い, 薄情な

contrary ＜印象など＞とは反対に

contrary to popular belief/opinion  世間一般の考えとは反対に

Audi

　　An Audi came to pick us up in front of the dormitory. The driver was Mr. D. His car was nice and sporty. As soon as he stopped his car, we got in the car and started out. The first picture is of a filling station which we dropped in at. I had felt that the prices of commodities in Freiburg were lower in general than those of Japan, but the gasoline was more expensive. According to him, the gasoline was much more expensive in France and he filled the tank in Freiburg.

　　Next, we were shown the soccer stadium. I'll post the picture of the stadium. The electiric power for the maintenance work of the stadium was provided from sunshine via the solar power panel on the roof. We got some detailed stories about the stadium and were surprised to know of how the lawn was grown. The stadium skillfully takes in fresh air and sunshine, and keeps it warm for the lawn. I was impressed with, what you call the ecological city, Freiburg.

(Vocabulary)

filling station / gas station〈米〉 ガソリンスタンド

prices of commodities 　物価

grow [他]〈植物・作物など〉を育てる, 栽培する

My mom used to grow roses. 母は昔バラを栽培していた．

Holy Friday

　　April 2nd was Holy Friday and lots of shops and restaurants were closed in Europe. I couldn't prepare anything for Yuri today, so Mr. D was kind enough to take us out for a drive to Colmar in the Alsace Province of France. He had a nice car. To tell the truth, we couldn't visit this rural town last autumn and it was a great disappointment for us. I didn't bring the guidebook of France this time, but I remembered the outline of Alsace. I asked him to also take us to Riquewihr and Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg in Alsace. He had never been there, but the navigation system of the car showed us the way to the destination.

　　The first picture is of the electric kettle which came with the room. I was surprised at how soon the water boiled and recalled that the voltage was 200 volts, double what it is in ordinary Japanese houses. I wouldn't have minded that until then, because my gadgets such as the PC, the cellular phone and electric shaver were adapted for 100 and 200 volts. Anyway, the power of 200 volts was wonderful. Yuri will get accustomed to 200 volts, and will feel it's inconvenient back in Japan.

　　The second picture is of her dormitory. It was really nice, and I a little envied her opportunity to live in Germany in her youth.

(Vocabulary)

voltage  電圧

 

Acquaintances

　　After our lunch of awful sushi, we headed for Freiburg University to see some acquaintances. They advised Yuri to stay in Freiburg for some time to learn German and showed us some language schools, Freiburg University and a comfortable dormitory, where she would live from now. If I hadn't known them, she wouldn't have come to Freiburg. We saw them for the first time in a half year, and she was introduced to a postgraduate student who could speak German and Japanese. He would be helpful for her. I thought she was really happy, surrounded by nice people in Freiburg too.
The pictures are of the lobby and the kitchen of the guest room.

Dry Sushi

　　We got back to downtown Freiburg and went to the huge shopping center that I wrote about in the former entry. Yuri didn't have a desk lamp and we looked for one, but in vain. We couldn't find what we needed, but found packs of assorted sushi there and tasted them. They were incredibly bad. The rice was dry and I could see the air space between the grains of rice. I couldn't believe it. The title has the Japanese words like Edogawa, Arakawa and Bento, and it meant that Japanese had something to do with them. German people might have thought that this was  sushi, but if so, I'm very sorry. I wish they could eat sushi in Japan or Vancouver. Sushi is really nice there.

(Vocabulary)

desk lamp / desk light  電気スタンド

grain of rice 米粒

Memorandum

　　Every time I go on a trip, I bring a small notebook for memoranda. The detailed schedule of the trip is written in it in advance. Everything, such as what I thought or noticed during the trip, prices of things, addresses and telephone numbers are noted down. Additionally, I use my digital camera as a kind of pad. This picture was taken to remember the name and spelling of the site. It's the signboard of the bus stop in front of the valley station of the ropeway.

(Vocabulary)

in advance  前もって

note sth down  ＜…＞を書き留める, メモする