When Walking Germany remember to look at everything and investigate interesting shops for some fascinating things for sale. But things to do are to watch and talk to people. You will meet some very interesting people wherever you go in Germany and they might be tourists or migrants.
Bill Maher talks about “Insel” a lot. Well I found this advertising for the Dino versionsThis is a very nice wheat beerThe volunteer Heidelberg wandering chorus groupHere they are cheering on some local business.Nice old signA beautiful church insideAn unusual cross displayHeidelberg castle from the plazaDressed like an ancient CeltOld bridgeRelaxing walking areaOld city entrancewaySingers having a beerA river cruiseThis is what kids call a toilet. My favorite cheeseThis could be very scary for a little child going to churchNot quite as scary from the frontAn interesting modern stained glass window Different districts represented with their ancient crestSChurch art unfolding Model of the cathedralThis is everything I gave away after pulling it out out of storage.Another wonderful spaghetti with pepper and oil with pine nutsThese are produced by the Vespaa very tasty pizza in downtown Landshut
I recommend to try Trier Germany for several reasons. You will love some of the old architecture, the location next to the border with Luxembourg and the surrounding beauty. A one or 2 day visit would be sufficient.
What is interesting about Exploring Hsinchu or for Taiwan for that matter? I find food will always by first on my list. The people outside the giant city of Taipei are all living a little slower life and so can spend time being more courteous and polite. The city of Hsinchu was reported by some as a “food desert”. I didn’t find that at all. It is a smaller city than Tainan or Kaohsiung or even Taichung but it has some very good restaurants and plenty of them.
I need to look harder to find the Moto Guzzi here.Duck, slghtly undercooked with rice.Starbucks in the old library, a 1923 designed Japanese colonial building with Frank Lloyd Wright hints. I am thinking they took some design hints from FLW’s Imperial Hotel designed 2 years earlier in TokyoAdapting to local tastes…..but Coffee flavor?The big department store. On the left you see the escalator taking people up to the food court on the 4th floor .Young people gathered outside dancing to an eventA game for parents and kidsDim Sum for kids with cartoon characters inside other charactersNot expensive, about $6.50What I found he 7th floor hadThe city scenery in the backgroundQuake makes a ginseng health drink?Tasty noodlesAnother Japanese colonial style buildingThe train station also left from the occupation
Any Luxembourg Adventure starts with the main city which has free public transport (countrywide) and is also very walkable.
A memorial for the Jewish citizens who lived and perished in this country during the second world war .An interesting statueBeautiful building. This is a government building Statue of the Grand Duchess CharlotteFrom the brdge. Lots of greneryBy the river bank lots of space for people to exercise inWar dead memorialMore views from a bridgeBeggars in Phuket got dogs when they saw how many people crowded around me when I had a cute puppy. Now it is a worldwide thing. Beggars need dogs.Some hotel and archives related to Joan of ArcBeautiful churchChurches bury famous people in the floorsAncient church artworkChurch historyMoving on to Nancy in FranceMain city gateA very interesting cheeseI thought Vienna Coffee was a Japanese invention but that is not the case.One of the Grand Duke’s palacesBeautiful countrysideNice design for a public toilet
On my last jaunt through Thailand I stopped in Prachuap Kirikan to visit my good friends Alain and Sunan. They now have full solar power in the main house. The guest bungaloo is not yet a priority for solar adaptation. They have a new dog, a stray that stays due to the abundance of food from her generous hosts.
The new dog.Stopped for a few days in Vientiane, Laos to visit with Pasan. I love the store sinage.Good thing it doesn’t start smoking.A pretty good pizzaGood marketing.Food stalls where you can also find sushi sitting out in the hot sunKids waiting to get a good photo of the arriving trainSunan getting ready to conquer the lunch menuThe garden Sunan created out of a vacant piece of landEven palm treesAnimals laying eggsAt the Bangkok hotel looking at aquaman prepared to put out an underwater fireIn Vientiane, proof the Emerald Buddha at Wat Phra Keow was stolen from the main temple in Laos. Thai people are fed a false truth about this Buddhist figure.
Hokkaido Enjoyment includes food, walking around and traveling the countryside by car. You should be aware that in 5 years, as I was told, many of the local trains will be discontinued. This means car and bus will be the new major modes of rural transport. But the rental car companies seem to have things prepared in English pretty well so renting a car is pretty easy. My experience renting a car in Japan is very consistent. The rental companies are pretty honest and so are not trying to make extra money by charging for things that aren’t your fault. However, taking photos of the car before driving it as well as the gauge cluster showing milage and gas amount is still advisable.
Korean food (Japanese style) is very popular and becoming more and more Korean style while even Korean food in Korea is changing style. This is Korean noodles with Kimchi and grilled, marbled beef.This was actually in Kashiwa, near tokyo, at the White Gyoza restaurant. This order of Yaki Gyoza was very tasty and the meal including Kimchi was only US$6.
While the Shinkansen (fast trains) go under the channel to Hokkaido now there is still the ferry system which is cheaper. This one goes from Hakodate to Aomori. This ferry was US$26.Many Restaurants have a photo of this salmon sashimi with salmon roe on rice in the tourists areas. Many rural trains are called *One Man* which means there is one person engineering the train and no second person to issue tickets. So the silver and blue machine is to pay for tickets which the engineer manages at each stop. The fare is displayed above on the screen and calculated by distnce.I stayed at this small fishing town, Toyo-Ura, which I don’t recommend unless you have a car. There is only one resort here and in my estimation overpriced. Everywhere you see the floats for fishing nets. This drinkery has very good quality food and I highly recommend it. However, a reservation would be a good idea since it is pretty popular.
I never buy hotel breakfasts separately or pay extra for them since I only want a cup of coffee and something small to prepare the stomach for a late lunch, my only real meal of the day. Here I am at Dunkin’ Donuts. While I am “dunking” the rest of Japan knows nothing of this great American tradition.Proof I was in Otaru, a must visit city with many local craft shops especially glassware.Kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi) restaurant but the only thing on the conveyor belt was advertising for specific items. You order as you do in a regular (modernized) sushi restaurant, from an iPad.This is the only UNI (sea urchin) specialty shop I can recall.
Relaxing Landshut is close to Munich and a less expensive community to park youself. Enjoy some of the very nice Italian and German restaurants here especially Ristorante Rossini at the foot of the castle. The make the best Olive Oil/Peperoncino spaghetti I have ever had. The recipe includes pine nuts and next to you on the veranda outside is some fresh basil growing you can use to garnish the flavors.
Enjoying a cigar in the PlazaThe European hit, the campari spritz with a new cigar offering by Toscano, the Robusto.Law enforcement officers (one here I met) formed a motorcycle touring group called the Punishers. It was a very nice and interesting discussion.Of course a cappuccino in the morning River viewBeautiful walking townMy Obama hat on it’s Last trip. The brim disintegrated after 16 yearsGetting ready for a holiday eventA side dish
I happened to arrive in Japan just at the right time. A group of Cornell students were in Japan for a study course, one month, and a lot of beautiful cherry blossoms were coming out. Cornell graduates in Japan were about 10 in 1976 and now more than 76.
With a friend’s, and Cornell graduate’s, company employees. Two people from me is Ryoichi (Joe) Shiratsuchi, the boss, and Bob Nellis’s son Scott next to me.In Osaka with Sang Hong (Seoul) Lee, my former roommate, John Hamada ’65, and Mano Pak, a former student, a close friend, and the one who encouraged his Nephew, Sang Il, to attend Cornell.Betty Shibata passed away the year before so I visited her grave. Her father on the left received an honorary doctorate the year Betty graduated. He was the first and so far the only Japanese President of Rotary International, a very influential person in US-Japan relations as was Betty.At Yukko’s entertainment establishment in Golden Gai Shinjuku with the Dates to the left, good friends, and Scott Nellis, rapidly learning Japanese and working here.The Kobe reception for the Cornell students in Japan for a month on interdisciplinary studies.Kawasaki-san talking about his enjoyments at Cornell and welcoming students. He is a well known potterHappy students with Hiroko and her husband in the back. Hiroko was the first blind Japanese student to attend a regular curriculum (not specialized for the blind) in the US. With Akira Kasano, the Cornell soccer goalie, on the left and his friend Inoue-san at a night club in Wakayama.
Yesterday I had a nice cold ramen in Kashiwa for $6.80. That seems to be close to the low end of the price range but it was pretty good. Japan Food Varieties will amaze you. You can go from raw to deep fried food in the same restaurant or in speciality restaurants. You can get everything from vegan to almost every kind of meat, even bear. By now you probably know Japan is famous for whale and horse meat. And some of their world famous Italian restaurants are here as well. Every part of Japan has it’s own special foods you should try. Go from Hokkaido for excellent ocean foods to fatty pork in Okinawa to baby bees in Matsumoto. And, heads up, there is no tradition of tipping in Japan so the price you see on the menu is the total you pay except for places that have table charges (OTOSHI) with a small snack or those that don’t include the sales tax in the menu price.
This is a very delicious and unusual gin produced in Okinawa and maybe not available elsewhereIce cream is everywhere and somewhat tasty though not as flavorful as most western countriesDelicious noodles belowUMI NO BUDO Ocean grapes prevalent in OkinawaExpect some TRAD “American food”Okinawa style noodlesThe most flavorful rum I have ever had. It is available only on Ishigaki IslandA Okinawa meal. Fatty pork with rice, noodles, cured seaweed and NIGAORI (goya)Special Japan Food Varieties.; grilled fish in a semi sweet sauce with sashimi including HOTARU IKA (squid from the north.TONKATSU, one of my favorites with sesame above with the stick for grinding it.; Strange Indian and Thai restaurant. You see the lunch menu varies in price from US$7.50 to US$9.50Strange combinationThai food in a Karaoke bar in KashiwaMy neighborhood Sushi/Izakaya. Mr. Kamiya on the left is the same age as me and looks like my Danish adopted sister’s fatherI have many favorite foods in Japan. One is TEMPURA.A good UNAGI restaurant on the Tokaido lineThis is their UNAGI (eel)Country noodleskorean style grillSpecial variety. Above is something on a cured root. Curry style tonkatsuSomewhat spicy noodles with veggies and porkOn Monday you can get noodles for as low as US$3.40Student discounted foodkorean style grilled food for as low as US$6More student discountsWow! To the Unagi in Noboribetsuit was deliciousSapporo fish restaurant. It was very tastyA Sapporo KAITENZUSHIYA (conveyor belt sushi restaurant )Delicious grilled fishIn UENO this ramen restaurant has the best pork ramen I have ever had for US$9.30. These are very tasty big pieces of pork which you never see.A typical IZAKAYA (drinkery) with grilled SHSHAMO fish (eat head frst), stingray fin, grilled chicken skin and liverDelicious gyoza in a Shinjuku chinese restaurant I want to return toWith my former neighbors at our neighborhood sushiyaGriled BURI jowl with sashimiSide dishes of MENMA and ZASAIa live hot dogEDAMAME tofu. First timeYou can see the prices of food at drinkeries in Ishigaki
The key to Japan enjoyment is to just relax, take your time and don`t be pressured. There are so many little things to enjoy while bopping around the country. Take the opportunity to look at the smallest of things to understand how things work. You will love the places you visit if you take your time.
A Village version of the Batmobile?Lotus blooms at Ueno ParkThe Okinawa music festival in Shinjuku
Friends playing at Golden EggGood Fiends I used to participate with sometimesAfter the concertLots of fun. The guy sitting next to me is Bob Nellis` sonKashiwa festivalToto adversing their restroom products at the airportLake ShikotsuHills around the lakeA beautiful waterfall