Weekly musings in Vienna

Perfumes this week were mostly decants and testers because of travel. Mandarine Basilic ( did not like it), 5th Avenue NYC, Rose Flash, Lovely Sheer and Orangers en Fleurs. When i came home i wore Meet me on the Corner, later Silances and Cabotine for sunday

Secession building, Yoshitomo Nara and Klimt plus Dobostorte

I went out eating ecery day in Vienna, so i ate a Donburi at Doburi restaurant, a big pizza napoletana, Hunan pork belly and later a but sushi for dinner. Just sandwiches for my two days of traveling, pasta and tomato sauce, asparagus salat with trout and tirtilla and later soy sauce chicken on sunday

Tube entrance, the famous Frankfurt kitchen, pork belly and artwork

I visited the Klimt exhibition at the Belvedere, which was really good. So much great art to see and also the picture frames were exquisite! I went to the Albertina Modern. They showed Yoshitomo Nara, an unknown artist to me, but i really liked his works a lot. My last day at Vienna i visited the Naschmarkt in pouring rain and cold, so mot much fun. Later i went to the Museum for Angewandte Kunst. They exhibited the famous Frankfurter Küche, which was the first modern kitchen, designed in the late 20s and built nearly 10000 times for workers quarters in Frankfurt city.

Went back to germany on thursday with a stopover in munich to visit my mother and drive her at an assisted living facility, that she wanted was maybe interested in. Every few weeks she changes her mind about what she wants, can’t decide, this is really stressful….

I was glad to get home late on friday, spent my saturday cleaning and sunday to work out and do some knitting. Do you have elderly parents that cant get around on their own but refuse to get help??? What did you do?

Weekly musings

perfumes this week were Azurée, Womanity, Dryad ( perfekt for a coolish spring), Sens & Bois, Chanel No19, Memoir Woman and a Elisabeth Ardens 5th Avenue from a small tester.

vienna impressions, Prater, Schnitzel, Hundertwasser house, vintage body scale

On my plate i mostly had frozen leftovers, but also smothered fennel with fried salsicchia, wine and appetizers from the opening evening at the congress. As i am in Vienna i also ate a big Wiener Schnitzel with potato salad and sunday evening i went to a traditional Gasthaus and had a huge plate of Schweinsbraten ( roast porc) with a dumpling and sauerkraut. And a beer of course!

Sadly i overate a bit and woke up at night with heart palpitations and fast pulse. this happens sometimes to me, but it took over an hour to get better, before i could try sleeping again. So i am feeling a bit meh this morning and had to skip the first lectures. Hopefully they will be online later.

I found a nice AirBnB near Prater with an operatic singer, she is really a lovely person, and it feels a bit Bohème in her flat. Also her dresses are a bit dramatic. I like that! I also spent the last two evenings windowshopping and eating oit with a nice collegue from one of my last jobs, so i had nice company too. On my list for this week: Klimt exhibition, maybe perfume shopping, visit the Prater, because i only saw it from outside…..

Holidays in Narbonne

Our three weeks in Narbonne, France have passed, so i just wanted to show a few views of our holidays.

Perfumewise there was not a lot to choose, i took two bottles and two decants with me, but wore mostly Roma and Aromatics Elixir.

A visit to Carcassonne and a bike tour alone the Canal de Robine near Narbonne

We did a bit of sightseeing, visited the historic city of Carcassonne, which was still full of tourists and reminded me more of a film set than an actual living city. Still some impressive views to be seen. We also went to the Abbey of Fontfroide and visited a Saline and also bought some nice local salt. And because the Eurovelo bikeway Calais – Istanbul was nearby, we cycled 30km along and enjoyed the views on a nice bikepath near the sea.

View of the town of Lagrasse and the abbey of Fontfroide plus a look at one of the many Etangs and salines

A visit to the Saline de Gruissan and a walk in the morning at sunrise

Holiday bike tour – Five Rivers – FünfFlüsseRadweg

Perfumes for this week were mostly the same, i just took a decant of Eau de Rochas on tour. But when i got home, i wore Fiore dell Onda, Givenchy III and Fan di Fendi Eau Fraiche

nice historic renaissance houses, the Ludwig-Donau-Main-Channel

the old railway track was made a bike lane, view of the „Steinerne Brücke“ in Regensburg, cooling our feet and river views

drinkable water fountains on the way, the cells in the Fronfeste, typical views. from Frankonia

This week we went on our first longer bike tour, beginning on sunday. We drove to Wendelstein near Nürnberg , parked the car and started our adventure. The first day was a shorter ride to Schwaig, but we visited a bit of Nurnberg city and had some cake and coffee.

Monday was the longest and hilliest part of the tour, 75km in the scorching heat with 36C. Gladly there was a lake, where i took a short swim to cool off. The river we followed was the Pegnitz, which was a lovely meandering river and luckily there was also a bit of shadow. In the afternoon we reached our destination Amberg, where we booked a room in the Fronfeste, a former historic jail. We got the jail directors suite, which was nice and roomy and thankfully also cool! After a beer. and some Schweinebraten with dumplings we were soon fast asleep….

Next day we biked along the Vils river, some part of the tour was an old railway track and it was mostly flat, so the 80km were not to exhausting. After a stop in Kallmünz with some Leberkäs in a bun we finally reached Regensburg, where we had a room in the historic part of the town near the Danube river. We did a bit of sightseeing and had a nice vietnamese dinner.

The next day was a shorter ride, about 55km to Riedenburg along the Danube, the Altmühl and the Donau-Main-channel. Lots of views and old castles to see. Nice meal with Schnitzel and potato salad in a historic town center.

Thursday we went to Neumarkt along the historic old Ludwig-Donau-Main-Channel, built in the late 1800 by the first King Ludwig of Bavaria. In just 10 years they finished over 170km of this channel, its unbelievable! The path mostly went along the channel, so it. was an easy ride. We had a room in the St. Josef cloister, which was simple, but clean. Dinner was indian food.

Friday we rode back to our car, had another Schnitzel in the town where we had parked, bought some lokal sausage (Nürnberger Stadtwurst) and drove home again.

This was really a great tour, that i can recommend. Its not too difficult, mostly flat, no great inclines, great bikelanes and wonderful nature and rivers to see! There are enough beergardens and restaurants on the way, so you cannot starve, although we mostly. bought some buns from the bakery or the butchers for lunch…

Last week of the holidays

Perfumes were not very interesting, although I finally thunked my decant of Ninfeo Mio, bought a bottle of Fior Dell Onda and was happy to be reunited with my collection, so I wore Chypre Siam on Sunday.

Hot chicken with bellpeppers and a nice apero on the patio

We had more nice meals with salad of borlotti beans, hot chicken with peppers, fish from the oven and frizzante, fegatelli and zucchini, Salsiccia al ragu with pasta. Sunday was Parmigiana di melanzane.

Views of Maremma

We had a long walk at the pine beaches of Feniglia and spent some time lazing around, reading, cooking and drinking wine. We had another visit of a young fox, which was quite fearless and kept only 1meter distance. Later we found out, that he stole one of my boyfriends new sandals, that were drying on the porch. We never found it again, so we had to throw away a totally new shoe!

Saturday we spent nearly all day driving home, but at least we had a nice dinner in a garden restaurant near Bolzano with tirolean dumplings, mushrooms and icecream with coffee for dessert.

Sunday was all getting housework done, cleaning and preparing for the next workweek. But I am glad we had some weeks of summer in Italy before the bad weather hits us.

Second week in Maremma

Perfumes this week were Untitled L’Eau, Ninfeo Mio, Bronze Goddess Azur and Aromatics Elixir. I had not much choice, so some were worn twice. I still would like to find a nice and more cheapish fig perfume, because I love the scent of this tree. Sadly they turn very woody on me, which I dislike.

A huge tortello and a nice fish dinner for four

As my best friend and I love to cook and eat we made some nice dishes like pork ribs with lots of herbs and Cole slaw, cauliflower soup, panzanella, the fish with tortilla and artichokes and penne with Cavolo Nero, chickpeas and sausage. We went to dinner three times and had tortellomi with fish filling, risotto mare at a restaurant in a camping ground. We went to the local trattoria for tortello Maremmano, zuppa di Ricotta and later some wild boar Ragout and dessert.

But the nicest and cheapest dinner was in a trattoria in the next town. The served a fixed menu, all the tables were outside in the small street and we ate and ate. So we had bruschetta first, then prosciutto and salame. Then two different pasta dishes, one with ragu and one with truffles plus gnocchi with mushrooms and tomato. Then some lemon sorbet. Then two main courses with suckling pig and potatoes and some wild boar with tomato sauce. And after all this there was vin Santo with cantucchini. We were totally stuffed! And not only the menu was fixed, it was also a fixed price which included all drinks.

The restaurant with tables on the street and an Etruscan necropolis

We visited the ruins of Roselle near Grosseto and went to the Etruscan necropolis of Sovana today, with a stopover in Pitigliano on our way back. Friday was the last evening with our friends and after dinner we danced on the terrace under the stars and had a great time. I hope we can meet next year again, because my friend is ill and time may be short. So it was good to see her in good shape and enjoying life. They went back to Germany on Saturday, so it’s just my boyfriend and I for the last week.

Maremma holidays week one

Perfumes are worn, but I just took some decants, so I wore Scherrer and Ninfeo Mio twice, plus Untitled L’Eau, Tea Rose and Aromatics Elixir

We did lots of eating and cooking. We had chicken in milk with polenta, spaghetti with tomato sauce and again with ragu di salsicchia. Minestrone with lots of veggies from the market, Ratatouille with porchetta, homemade Focacchia, eggs Benedict for breakfast, torta di Riso and biscotto and we went of for some nice gnocchi and roast chicken.

We lazed around on our porch with a beautiful view over the sea and hills, read and played board games and went to Saturnia Terme to bathe in the sulfuric springs. Sadly I overdid the bathing and had a tachycardia and cold sweat, so we had to drive one hour to the next hospital. Luckily nothing serious, but I have to get checked when I return home. I gave my friends a good scare, that’s for sure.

Giardino di Spoerri

We went to the Spoerri gardens, where the Swiss artist bought a big terrain and filled it with lots of sculptures from his and his friends works. There are over 100 works in the big gardens and we visited for at least 4 hours.

Weekly diary plus a trip to France

Perfumes worn this week were Memoire D Une Odeur, LADDM, Mitsouko, Meet Me On The Corner, Batucada, Paradoxe and Camelia Chinois topped up with some EA Green Tea

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View of Soufflenheim from the car and lots of food

On my plate there were loads of veggies, because of the garden harvest. So I made buttered beans with salsicchia, chicken leg on zucchini and potatoes, rice with smoked salmon, fried zucchini with a bulgur Feta filling and baked potato wedged and herbed quark and a big pizza in Soufflenheim at the restaurant

I finished reading The Left Hand of Darkness by LeGuins and am still listening to the ginormous audiobouk The Stand by Stephen King. Still 18h to go!

We finally went shopping at the supermarket in France again, now that we are both completely vaccinated and can cross the border without problems. We loaded up on cheese, oil, terrines, mustard and vinegar and other nice things and had a big pizza at the supermarket restaurant, which is actually quite good and cheap. We also bought flour for baking at the local mill, so I hope my boyfriend will make some nice baguettes in the future

I fell into the rabbit hole of fountain pens and inks and ordered a new pen plus some pretty ink bottles from Diamine and Waterman and a bullet journal. I hope this will work out okay, otherwise I always work with my trusty moleskine diary again.

I also hope to get more use of my old Montblanc Meisterstück, that I bought in the late 90ies. But I won’t take this to work, because it’s too expensive. At the moment I am using my trusted Lamy Safari pen, but hopefully some new inks will be more fun at work.

Weekly diary

Perfume this week was Dryad, Tea Rose, Elephant, Untitled L Eau, Camelia Chinois (still try to thunk this bottle) and Fils de Dieu. The NST community project was backup bottles, so I wore Covet a d Aromatics Elixir. I could have worn L Air de Rien or Theo Fennel, but it was too warm for them.

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On my plate I had a lot of different foods. A salad with borlotti beans, bulgur and bell peppers. Greek avgolemono soup with rice. Sausage salad with kimchi, green bean salad with Miso and roast sesame. I made pasta with zucchini sauce, zucchini fritters and chickpea cutlets (from post punk kitchen blog). We ate out in a Greek beer garden on the Neckar River and have gyros and salad. Sunday was korean pork belly with rice and kimchi plus a Asian cucumber salad.

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Pork belly with kimchi

We did another bike tour on the Neckar bike route, but this time we rode home another route, which was a bit hilly. I managed most of the inclines, but had to walk my bike on two steeper hills. Still not totally fit, my heartrate goes up too fast.

Sunday was sent on finally making the taxes, which I hate. Although I always get a good amount of money back, so I dont know why I procrastinate. Well, it’s done now and I have time until next summer.

I also bought some new sewing patterns, because I want to try making a swimsuit. This will be interesting.

Weekly diary and along the river Enz

Perfumes this week were Beachy, Agent Provocateur, L Air de Rien, Chypre Mousse, which my colleague liked a lot. Cardin Choc, Doe In the snow, Ninfeo Mio, which survived a whole day of cycling and Camelia Chinois after shower.

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On my plate I had Borscht from the freezer, gyros with cream sauce and fries, boiled potatoes and herbed quark, sausage and kimchi salad, pasta with zucchini sauce and fried bread crumbs plus tinned sardines. We had a big icecream while cycling and later baked eggplant slices with mozzarella on top.

This weekend we went cycling along the Enz River, went to Mühlacker by train and cycled along the river to Besigheim, where the Enz disappears in the Neckar River. Nice sunny weather and some beautiful scenery. I am quite content with my brompton bike, it’s easy to transport and rides like a bigger bike. It’s not great at hills, but I think this problem would be the same with a regular bike. It’s my legs, that are not in great shape, because I never was much of a biker. But there is always room for improvement, I think. And I still tire more early after my covid infection, so I try not to strain myself too much.

Weekly diary Neckar River cycling

Perfumes I wore were One Love, Covet, Aromatics Elixir, Miss Dior, which sadly wears me and not the other way round, again my mix of Tea Rose and Coriandre, What I did on my holidays and Batucada.

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First day along the Neckar

On my plate I had fried zucchini and goat cheese, a red beet quiche, red beet hoummous, burrata with cucumber, lamb brats with potato salad, Krautwickel with potatoes, a big falafel and pasta with zucchini. Yes, it’s zucchini season. We have five!!! plants in the garden.

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Second cycling day

We did our first two day cycling tour along the Neckar River from Besigheim to Heidelberg. First day with sunny weather. Had a lunch break in Bad Wimpfen, which has a beautiful medieval center and slept in a small hotel in Hassmersheim after a big dinner at a rustic restaurant. 50 km the first day.

Second day started grey, but thankfully not wet. We had a break for a cone of icecream in Ebersbach and then went along to Neckargemünd, where we had a big falafel wrap. It got sunnier around midday and we reached Heidelberg in sunny weather. The way home we went by train. 66km that day, and I managed all on my Brompton bike. This was really fun, and we are just planning the next weekend tour.

Weekly diary plus staycation

We had a week of holidays plus a big heatwave, so my perfumes were summery ones.

I wore a mix of Camelia Chinois and Fan di Fendi Eau Fraiche twice, What I did on my holidays, Doe In the snow, Fico D Amalfi, a mix of Tea Rose and Coriandre, which I quite like. I wore Granville, but although I find it interesting it reminds me a lot of a clay ointment for sore throat my mother put ony neck as a kid. Hmmm, strange

Neckar River bike tour

Thankfully we did our bike tour along the Neckar River on Monday, because the next days it would have been too hot. We cycled from Kornwestheim to Zuffenhausen and then down the river to Besigheim. We had a drink outside and then took the train back home. It was the first longer ride on my Brompton and I coped well. At the end of the day we had cycled nearly 50km.

Tuesday we visited a friend in Ulm, ate Pizza outside and had some icecream later.

The next day we drove to Messkirch to visit Campus Galli. There they are building a medieval abbey from the 9th century with historical technology. It was a nice site to explore and maybe we will come again some years later to watch the progress.

Campus Galli

The next days it was really hot, so we had to stay inside and I had time to finish some sewing projects. I made another teahouse dress from embroidered chambray and a Tessuti apron for the boyfriend, because he wanted his own kitchen apron.

Very manly camouflage embroidered denim

I also made a Peppermint pocket shirt from the fabric above, but it was too stiff and a complete fail….

We had more time to cook so we had Risotto with chicken liver, mushroom tortilla and cucumber salad, sausage salad with kimchi, bulgur salad with Feta and peppers, bun noodle salad with minced meat and peanut sauce and homemade Focacchia.

In all, it was a nice week and we got some things done, so I am quite content with our staycation.

Weekly statistics – Burgund edition

Perfume: Memoire d´une Odeur 2x, Avon Eve Elegance (used up), Ajmal Evoke, Narciso for Her, Green Tea, Batucada

Auf dem Teller: Linseneintopf mit Merguez, Niere in Senfsahne, Ravioli mit gebackenem Blumenkohl, Boeuf Bourginon, Pasta mit selbstgemachter Tomatensauce, Moros y Christianos. Cooked: Lentil pot with Merguez, Kidneys in mustard and cream sauce, Ravioli with baked cauliflower, Boeuf Bourgignon, Pasta with homemade tomato sauce, Moros y Cristianos

Sightseeing :

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Avallon (nein, nicht Artus Avalon…), mit schönem mittelalterlichem Stadtkern, Stadtmauer und einem hochinteressanten Kostümmuseum. Lauter Originalgewänder von ca 1700 bis zur Neuzeit. Sehenswert. Avallon is a nicely situated medieval city with murals, old buildings and an interesting museum for historic fashion. They have lots of original clothes, dating from 1700 to now. Worth a visit!

Guédelon, ein archäologisches Projekt, das den Bau einer Burg des 13. Jahrhunderts mit den Mitteln der selben Zeit durchführt. Inzwischen sind 20 Jahre verstrichen, es ist immer noch nicht fertig. Es gibt viele Werkstätten zu bestaunen, vom Steinmetz bis zum Schmid und Seiler ist alles vertreten, was der Bauherr so brauchte. Auch toll für Kinder… In Guédelon you can see an archeologic project, as they are building a medieval castle with mediaval techniques. Until now they worked on it for 20years and its not finished. You can visit lots of craftsmen shops like smiths, ropers and others.

Abtei von Fontenay, ein wunderbar erhaltenes Klosterensemble aus dem Mittelalter, vom Heiligen Bernhard gegründet. Wunderschöne romanische Kirche, Kapitelsaal, Schlafsaal, alte Schmiede etc. Dazu noch ein sehr schöner Garten. Zu Recht ein Weltkulturerbe! Fontenay Abbey is a mediaval complex containing a church, a sleeping room for the monks, a room for work, a big house for the blacksmiths and much more. Surrounded by beautiful gardens in a lovely valley. A World heritage site for sure!

Vézelay war einst ein wichtiger Ort am Jakobsweg und hat seine mittelalterliche Struktur gut erhalten. Kaum Autos im Stadtzentrum zugelassen. Geschmackvolle Souvenirshops. Wunderbare Aussicht ins umgebende Gelände. Die romanische Kirche ist ebenfalls sehenswert. Vézelay once was an important stop at the route to Compostela and still has a mediaval structure. The dome is romanic and really beautiful. 

 

 

 

 

Kyoto 6

Der letzte Tag in Kyoto ging zum Ryoan-ji, mit dem berühmten Steingarten. Leider war er ein bisschen ausserhalb, so dass wir erst zu einem anderen buddistischen Tempel fuhren, und von dort einen Fussmarsch dorthin machten. Im Vergleich zum nahegelegenen Kinkaku-ji, war es dort relativ leer. Leider war das Wetter eher trüb, so dass die Fotos nicht besonders toll geworden sind. Auf dem Rückweg im Bus sahen wir einen (Shinto?)-Priester im traditionellen Gewand inclusive Geta an den Füssen, ein seltener Anblick. Am Nachmittag waren wir dann noch im Kaiserpalast, der erstaunlicherweise sogar kostenfrei besichtigt werden konnte. Die weitläufigen Anlagen sind wirklich beeindruckend, auch die Gärten sind sehr schön angelegt und vermitteln das Gefühl von Weite. Definitiv besichtigenswert. Abends ging es nochmal in das Udon-Lokal Yamabi, wo wir wieder lecker gegessen haben. Danach früh ins Bett, denn um 4:55 wurden wir abgeholt.

In the morning, we went to visit Ryoan-ji with its famous stone garden. It was less crowded than the Kinkaku-ji, but sadly the weather was cloudy, so my photos were not as good as i hoped for. On our way back, we encountered a (shinto?) priest in full kimono and geta sandals in the bus, a rare view. The afternoon we visited the Emperors palace, with free entrance. It is a big and impressive court area with many buildings and some beautiful gardens, definitively worth a visit. The evening we went to our Udon-Noodle restaurant for a nice meal. Went to bed early, because our driver picked us up at 4:55 am…

Kyoto 5

Auf dem Weg zum To-ji Tempel mit seiner fünfstöckigen Holzpagode gab es vorher noch einen kleinen Shopping-Mall Zwischenstop in der Aeon Mall in der Nähe des Bahnhofs. Hier durften dann ein hübsches Häkelheft für meine Freundin mit, sowie auch ein japanisches Sonnenhütchen. Ganz oben gibt es einen grossen Daiso, in dem man für 100Yen alles mögliche erstehen kann, zum Beispiel japanische Ohrlöffelchen (Mimikaki). Den Tempelbezirk besichtigten wir allerdings nur von aussen. Danach ging es zu Fuss in Richtung der Zwillingstempel Nishihongwang-ji und Hongan-ji, zwei grossen Tempelkomplexen einer buddhistischen Glaubensrichtung. Zum Besichtigen von innen hatten wir irgendwie keine Lust, und sind daher nur so ein bisschen durchpariert. Abends gab es dann Sushi satt bei Kikyo-Sushi. Diesmal hatten wir sinnigerweise einen Platz reserviert, sonst wären wir tatsächlich ohne ein einziges Sushi-Essen aus Japan abgereist….

On our way to the To-ji temple we visited the Aeon Mall near Kyoto station for some shopping. I found a crochet book for a friend and a nice sun-hat. There is a big Daiso on the upper floor, where you can get lots of things for 100 yen. And they have great waiting areas for the men…. The To-ji pagoda is the highest wooden pagoda in Japan. Then we went to the Buddhist twin temples Nishihongwang-ji and Hongan-ji, but only visited from outside. For dinner we went to Kikyo Sushi and ate as much sushi as we could manage. This time we had a reservation, otherwise we would have left Japan without a sushi meal…

Kyoto 3

Am Vormittag erstmal ein  Ausflug zum Ginkaku-ji, dem silbernen Pavillion – allerdings ist er nicht versilbert, sondern aus Holz. Der Pavillon ist zwar schön, aber eigentlich sind die Gärten das eigentliche Highlight. Unten gibt es einen Steingarten mit einem abstrakten Meer sowie einem noch abstrakteren Fuji, danach geht es nach oben mit weiteren schönen Gartenanlagen und schönen Aussichten. Mir hat das eigentlich besser gefallen als der Goldene Pavillon. Danach ging es über den “Philosophers Path” an einem kleinen Kanal entlang, der beidseits von Kirschbäumen gesäumt wird. Ein wirklich empfehlenswerter Spaziergang.  Und weil es zu unserem Hotel nicht allzu weit zu Fuss war, sind wir einfach gelaufen. Der Magen knurrte, und wir kehrten noch ein einem schlichten Curry-Lokal ein. Japanisches Curry besteht weitgehend aus Curry-Bechamel, Reis und einer kleinen Fleisch- oder Fischbeilage und ist sozusagen Standard-Kantinenfutter. Trotzdem war es lecker. Am Abend gingen wir zum Essen ins Yamabi, ein Izakaya in der Nähe unseres Hotels. Viele leckere kleine Gerichte, darunter auch ein Donburi mit rohem Thunfisch und rohem Ei. Dazu ein Sapporo Bier und dann ins Bett.

First we went to the Ginkaku-ji, the Silver Temple, which is not silver-plated at all. It has a big stone garden representing the sea and mount Fuji, which was quite impressive. Also a beautiful garden with some views over the city. I liked this more than the Golden Pavillion. Then we took a stroll along the Philosophers Path with its cherry trees on each side. A bit drizzly, but still nice. You get some views of the city, too. As our hotel was not that far away we decided to walk. Had some Japanese curry at a curry fast-food restaurant on the way home. Japanese curry consists of a very saucy curry béchamel with rice and some fish oder meat. Still delicious. In the evening we went to a  Izakaya near the hotel, which serves diverse small plates and drinks. We had a rice bowl with raw tuna and raw egg and different other plate including tempura and fried sweet rice balls with anko filling. Sapporo beer tasted great , too.

Kyoto 2

Am zweiten Tag ging es vormittags erstmal zum Fushimi Inari Schrein, den berühmten Schrein mit den tausend Torii. Auch hier wieder einmal sehr voll. Wer Fotos ohne viele Menschen machen will, muss wohl schon bis sieben Uhr da sein. Leider hatten wir nicht genug Zeit mit unserem Guide, um komplett bis auf den Berg zu steigen, oben wäre es sicher weniger voll gewesen. Trotzdem eindrucksvoll. Die Torii werden gespendet, auf jeder Rückseite ist auch der Name des Spenders geschrieben. Nachdem das Holz in dem feuchten Wetter schnell verrottet, halten sie nur einige Jahre und werden dann ersetzt. Der nächste Besichtungspunkt war eine alte Sakebrauerei in Fushimi mit einem kleinen Museum über die Sakeherstellung. Unten ein Blick auf den alten Fabrikhof. Es gab auch drei Sake-Sorten zum testen und anschliessend kaufen. Auf dem Rückweg noch ein kleiner Spaziergang an einem Kanal mit blühenden Kirschbäumen entlang. Am Bahnhof ein Stop beim Kaufhaus Isetan, dort gibt es auch einen Sky Garden mit fantastischem Ausblick über Kyoto. Abends dann leckeres Ramen im Takakura. Nachdem wir mal wieder etwas ratlos vor dem nur japanisch beschrifteten Verkaufsautomaten im Laden standen, wurde uns zum Glück von der englischsprachigen Köchin geholfen, so dass wir die richtigen Knöpfe für die Ramen fanden. Hier ist die Brühe eine interessante Variante von Tonkotsu (Schweinebrühe), nämlich zusätzlich mit etwas Fisch angereichert, was das Umami noch deutlich verstärkt.

We started our tour at the Fushimi Inari Shrine with the well-known thousand torii. At ten am it was already very crowded, so if you want less people, i suggest to get up early. Sadly we had no time to walk all the torii to the top of the hill. After that we visited an old Sake brewery with museum in Fushimi. There was a sake tasting included. After a stroll on a small channel with more sakura we got to Kyoto station. We visited the Isetan sky garden, where you get a gorgeous view over Kyoto and can get some rest. After some shopping at Isetan we went back to the hotel to relax. Dinner was at a small Ramen bar called Takakura. Luckily we got some help with the english speaking cook in our struggle with the vending machine, which had no pictures and only japanese descriptions. They serve a special tonkotsu (pig bone) broth with addition of some fish. Great umami flavor. 

Kyoto 1

Nach einem leider furchtbaren Frühstück in unserem ansonsten schönen Hotel ging es mit der Führerin zunächst per Taxi zum Kinkaku-ji, dem Goldenen Pavillion. Der Pavillion ist nicht das Original, da er in den 50er Jahren angezündet und danach neu erbaut wurde. Aus der Ferne ist er allerdings eindrucksvoller als aus der Nähe, dafür ist der Landschaftsgarten sehr schön. Anschliessend besichtigten wir Nijo-jo, einen Palast des Shogun mit wirklich weitläufigen Räumen und gemalten Wandpaneelen. Danach ging es noch in den Nishiki-Food Market, eine ewig lange überdachte Marktstrasse, in der es wirklich alles Vorstellbare an Essen gibt (gebratene Spatzen am Spiesschen gefällig?). Danach bummelten wir langsam zu unserem Hotel zurück, unterbrochen von einem kurzen Shopping-Abstecher zu den berühmten Hakuhodo-Pinseln, natürlich durften drei Pinselchen mit zu mir nach Hause. Ein kurzer Ausflug in den Park um den Kaiserpalast, dabei mehr kimonogekleidete Touristen, die Fotos unter den Kirschblüten machen und ein Blick entlang der endlos langen Mauer des Palastareals. Danach ging es zum Abendessen – ohne gebratene Spatzen, statt dessen Curry-Udon.

 

First a visit to the Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Temple, which looked more impressive from afar. It was burnt down in the 50ies and re-erected. The gardens were beautiful too. Then off to Nijo-jo castle of the Tokugawa shoguns. An impressive castle with big rooms and beautiful wall paintings. Then we went to Nishiki Food Market, a very long narrow shopping street with lots of food (roasted sparrows on a stick, anyone?). After than we strolled to our hotel to rest a bit, but i had to hop in the Hakuhodo brush shop…. I was quite restrained and only bought 3 brushes. Then we explored the park around the Emperors Palace and watched kimono-clad people taking photos under the cherry trees. At sunset we looked along the long walls of the castle and afterwards found a place to eat (no sparrows….) some Curry Udon.

Tokyo – Takayama

Nach dem Frühstück wurden wir vom Guide mit dem Taxi abgeholt, einer Luxuslimousine mit Bar. Zum Glück hatten wir Hilfe am Bahnhof, denn das System ist etwas kompliziert mit vielen Schranken. Nach der Fahrt in Shinkansen ging es mit der Diesellok in die Berge. Sogar einige Skilifts waren noch in Betrieb. Unser Ryokan war früher ein Antiquitätengeschäft mit Pfandleihe und wirklich urig. Allerdings auch etwas kühl, denn die Heizung besteht aus Klimaanlage oder Benzinbrennern… Nach einen kurze Spaziergang durch die Altstadt gab es ein fantastisches Kaiseki-Essen, dann ein heißes Bad und danach waren schon die Futons hergerichtet…

After breakfast we were driven to Tokyo station in a big limousine. We changed from the Shinkansen to a small train, then finally reached our Ryokan. After a quick stroll through the historic quarters we had a great kaiseki meal, a hot onsen bath and went asleep on our futons.

Tokyo 3

Heute ging es erstmal mach Harajuku, um verrückt angezogene Jugendliche zu bestaunen, alle möglichen Animekram und quietschbunte Süßigkeiten. Nach einem Abstecher nach Omonotesando dann weiter nach Ueno, Dort ist ein beliebter Markt zu finden. Nach einer Einkehr im einem Takoyaki Imbiss gestärkt gingen wir noch im ein kleines Museum am Park, in dem es um das Leben der kleineren Leute um 1900 bis 1950 ging. Nach einer kurzen Rast dann noch auf eine Schüssel Ramen, diesmal in Schweinebrühe. Dazu ein Asahi mit rosa Sakura am Etikett, zur Feier der Saison

To Harajuku to see the Anime youth culture, lots of crazy costumes and unicorn sweets. Then to Ueno to a busy market street. A short stop for takoyaki and a beer, then went to a museum about the life of the people around 1900 to 50. Some more cherry blossoms and lanterns at the park. Dinner at another ramen bar, this time pork bone broth based and some LE Sakura beer to go with it.

Tokyo 1

Unser erster Tag in Tokyo. Frühstücksbuffet mit japanischen Leckereien, Matcha im Teehaus, Kirschblüten am Asakusa Schrein und die Ehebäume am Meijischrein. Dazu etwas Shopping in Form einer Tamagoyakipfanne und ein bisschen Kosmetik… Jetzt noch eine Schüssel Ramen, und die platten Füsse ausruhen

Our first day in Tokyo began with a Japanese breakfast, then we visited a teahouse for some matcha, the Asakusa shrine, shops at the kitchenware Street and Meiji shrine with its husband and wife camphor trees. I bought a pan for making tamagoyaki and some skin lotion and cleansing oil. Now out for a bowl of ramen and resting our feet