I'm very happy to tell you about our trip to Germany from July 9th until 17th, 1994.
Taking about travel , I recall "Oku no hosomichi" 奥の細道 written by Matsuo Basyou 松尾芭蕉。
"The months and the days are the passenger from generation to generation and the years coming and going are also travellers."
月日は百代の過客にて、行き交う年もまた旅人なり。
This story is reckend to be the greatest of all his works.
We can find this story in text book Junior high school in Japan.
Of course my report can't be compared to this, but I will try to write this German report as well as I can.
Meeting people is a very splended thing.
After leaving Germany, I couldn't concentrate on my business thinking about the impressive memories of meeting my friend and his family.
"I'm dizzy the head."
I've so many things to do that I don't know where to bigin.
Now, let's begin my report.
as November 3rd was the holiday of Culture Day.
I went to Horyuji temple as usual. The weather was fine. I work for the information office at Horyuji temple every holiday as a good will guide for foreigners. I met two foreigners.
"Hi, Hello. Where are you from?"
"I came from Germany."
"Your friend?"
"No, my Father."
I was mistaken, because he looked a little old. They were father and his son.
" Oh, I'm sorry. You have an air of dignity about you."
"I'm a volunteer guide. Free of charge, of course. You don't pay anything. May I help you?"
They were very pleased to talk to me and I started to show them around Horyuji temple. I had met 20 tourists there since last June.
I began to work for the information center
in order to speak English fluently, and to be helpful to strangers from foreign countries.
"While I am eating a persimmon,
there goes the temple bell in Horyuji."
（柿食えば、鐘が鳴るなり 法隆寺。）
Masaoka Shiki （正岡子規）
After passing through the Great South Gate, we came to the Great Central Gate. There are two Gardian Kings there.
The right Gardian Kings has an open mouth and the left has a closed mouth.
When we are born, we first cry, "Ogya." our mouths are open, and when we pass away, our mouths are shut. This means the begining and the end, inspiratin and expiration.
God exsists from the first until the last in this world and God blesses you with grace and peace.
The Bible said,
"I am Alpha and Omega, the begining and ending saith the saith the Lord, which is, which was and which is to come."
Reveration 1-8.
The Nios are symbols of divine power conquring evils and human lusts. They are always represened as ferocious divinities.
We saw the story pagoda first. Long ago when people died, only a simple mass board was set on the tomb. After, it was changed to a stone five story pagoda. And at last, the great wooden five story pagoda was built. Therefore, the ashes of the dead were buried under this tower.
The ashes of Shaka Muni or Gautama Buddha are in this pagoda.
The five stories represent the five elements : air, wind, fire, water and earth or land.
The Nine rings on the top of five story pagoda are very interesting and his son drew a picture of them while looking at the picture in my guide book. His name is Wolfgang. At first I thought that his name was very pecular, but it's very easy to remember.
His father was sketching the five story pagoda. They might have been artists.
There are four sickels on the nine rings. It's very strange.
"Were they lightning lods?"
Were they some kind of symbol that people prayed for a good harvest."
Next is the lecture hall. We can see Yakushi-Sanson, national treasure and there are various kinds of Buddha image in this hall. So I explained by using the one thumb and four fingers theory that is my opinion.
It's very easy for foreigners to understand many Buddha statues and of cource, for Japanese.
I'll tell you about them.
There are five kinds of Buddha images in the temple.
The first is Nyorai.
The second is Bosatu.
The third is Myo-o.
The fourth is Tembu and last is Nioo.
Nyorai are persons who have attained Buddhahood.
Bosatsu are trainee monks under the practice aceticism.
Myo-o are the messenger of Nyorais.
Tembu are mythology in ancient India and Nio-os are a gardians Kings.
There are very difficult to remember. So I think that it's better to remember only the five Nyorais. You will see some of them in the temple you will visit now.
I'll tell you a very interestig way to remember these Nyorais.
Please look at your left hand. You can see one thum and four finger in your hand as you are a human being! These don't exist only to grasp things.
I'll teach you the reason for their existence.
Now, the middle finger is matched with Shaka Nyorai. He lived in India about five hundred years before Jesus Christ was born.
The Thum is Miroku-Bosatsu. In Chaina it was called Mirefu. In India it was called Maitrea and in Heblew it was called Messiah. It means Savior and Christ in Christianity.
And next, the fore finger is matched with Amida-Nyorai.
In Sanskrit Language, Amitaba means the light for ever and the life forever is Amitayus. So Amida-Nyorai is the God of light and life forever.
I found a very interesting parallel sentence in the Bible.
Jesus spoke to the Pharises again, "I'm the light of the world ,"
He said,"Whoever follow me will have the light of life and neverwalk in the darkness." Johan : 8-12.
In Japan almost all Japanese houses have this Buddha in their miniture Shrine, and they pray to \amida Nyorai. Also it's called the God of Western Paradise.
And next, the medicine or ring finger matched with Yakushi Nyorai.
It means God of medicine and is called the God of Eastern Paradise.
Because about four thousan years ago, there was a great country in Asia. It's China and it was a medically advanced country.
And last, the little finger is matched with the Great Buddha in Todaiji temple in Nara, Japan.
Now please think again about the five Buddhas and imagine the world map in your mind.
The middle finger is in India.
The medicine or ring finger is in China.
The little finger is in Japan and last, thumb and fore finger are in Israsel which is Jesus Christ country.
The Bible said, "After this, Jesus himself sent out through his disciples from east to west the sacred and ever living message of eternal salvation. Mark 16-19
Whenever you visit temples, never forget to go with your lefthand.
Finally, whenever you get depressed, please remember these fingers with me and pray to these finger gods.
After visiting Kodo, we came to Kondo, the Main hall. The bronze Shaka triad was cast by Kuratsukuri-no-tori in 623.
The central figure of this traiad is Shaka which is flanked by two Bosatsu.
Empress Anahobe-no-hashihito went into labor near stable and bore a son. He was named the Stable Prince, Umayado-no-Ooji.
"Haven't you ever heard this interesting story somewhere?"
We visited the Soul hall of Prince Shotoku, the Treasure hall and the vision hall, or Yumedono ( the dream hall).
He used to confine himself in deep meditation in this hall.
Chuguji temple is very close to Horyuji temple. There, there is a statue called Miroku Bosatsu. It's famous for itself.
This is one of the "Three smiling masterpieces" in the world.
Sometimes I ask visiters from foreign countries.
" Do you know what the other two smiling masterpieces in the world are?"
"???"
" They are the Sphinks and the Mona Liza. in 1884 Mr. Ernest Francisco came to Japan. He saw this statue and said, "This is superior to The Annunciation which was drawn by Mr. El Greco in Spain."
This is the end of my walking tour around Horyuji temple.
The German people, Johannes and Wolfgang were a little tired and said to me.
"Shall we have a quick drink?.
We went to a restaurant called Yamatoji and drank beer, because we were very thirsty and I thought they would enjoy it coming from famous beer drinking country.
During my tour of Horyuji temple,I had gotten along with them so well that I didn't want say "Good-bye". But we were too late to take a taxy to their hotel. so I phoned their hotel and the master said to me, " Thank you very much for your kindness, but they can not have dinner in my hotel tonight so please relax at the restaurant."
I made it a joke, for I wanted to talk to them so much more.
We ordered some foods and I said to them after this, come to my home for a little while, because they wanted to see my family.
Wolfgang began to draw a picture by water color. It was a picture of a beautiful castle. He said that he was living near this castle and working there.
My wife came by car to take us home.
Wolfgang gave the picture to my wife. She was very pleased to have received it.
I hadn't ever dreamed of being able to visit that beautiful castle at that time.
We got home at 7:30. As soon as they entered my house, Johannes said, "Wunderbar! Wunderbar!"
They had never seen a Japanese house before. They were fond of drinking Japanese green tea and sitting on the Tatami.
Dr. Schwahnn' s father was a church Paster, so he named his eldest son Johannes from the bible. They are very pious Christians. I told them that my wife and younger son had been baptised. They were very pleased to hear that.
We were talking about Christianity for a little while. After, they looked at my younger son's oil pictures and we song that famous song, "Amazing Grace" accompanied by me on the piano. We had a very good time that evening.
Every time I meet foreigners, I ask them.
"Are you a Christian?" It's very easy to understand Buddhism, comparing Buddhism and Christianity.
Many Western cultures reached Japan, especially to Nara via the Silk Road. In ancient terms Shaka Buddhism was called the small boat Buddhism.
In that age there were very few believers and no Buddha images. One day a Buddha statue was made, after that the member of believers increased. So they made a lot of Buddha images just like the Greek Gods and Middle eastern Gods.
And then the small boat Buddhism changed to big boat Buddhism. It spread frm India to China through Korea and south east Asia and finally to Japan.
Many students from Japan went to China to study Buddhism. It bacame a great reliegion in the world. We can see a lot of Buddhist culture in Horyuji temple.
We took them to Kita pension, east of Yakushiji temple. The master was very pleased to see me because it was the first time for him to put foreigners at his pension and he can't speak English so well, so I was very helpful to him.
Johanned came back his room and gave me a big book which was about Johann Sebastian Bachs. He was born in Germany and composed a lot of church music.
Because I felt anxious about the difficulties they might encounter travelling in Japan with no guide, the next morning I visited them with my wife. My wife gave them a Japanese Bible. They were very pleased to receive our small present.
**On the first day of our German trip ***
( Saturday)
On July 9th my wife, my son and I flew to Frankfurt from Osaka air port by Korean Airlines via Seol.
We flew for twelve hours from Seol to Frankfult. The flight was very fine but sometimes we had to fasten our seat belt, because of the turbulence. I drank some beer to relax and kill time. My wife slept almost the whole flight because she had very busy preparing for this trip as well as preparing for our older son and daughter who were staying at home. My son read the Bible and drew some pictures.
We arrived at Frankfult Airport at 7':00 pm. We had some souveniors for my friends. The customs officer pointed to a big one and asked me.
"Was ist das?" in German.
" What is this?" I answered "This is a Japanese doll." But he didn't understand.My wife said instantly only one word, "Kimono" "OK,Go ahead,"
She hardly speaks any English, but she managed to comunicate. Two graceful dolls, an Emperor and an Empress for Doll's festival in Japan.
Our curious and strange journy had started.
Wolfgang came to meet us to the airport. He met us after eight nonths of separation. We flew into his arms and choked with tears! ( This is fiction.)
My dream had finally come true. We were in Germany.
After two and a half hour's travelling by German National Railroad D.B., we arrived at Dr.Schwahnn's house in Gettingen.
We were warmly welcomed by his family. His house is on a hill in the forest. It's just like Karuizawa in Japan. We can look out over the city.
We met Johannes, his wife, Elizabeth and one beautiful lady. They were very pleased to see us. But I couldn't meet Wolfgang's family. Because his wife and daughter were in Vienna in Austria. He took up a post in Coburg without his family. Coburg is about 200km south from his father's house in Gottingen.
I'll talk about the pretty women, She came to Gottingen from Munchen. After three hours and a half travelling by D.B. Deutche Shinkansen. She came to Gottingen to see us. She comes from England and is now living in Munchen. She is a Doctor of Engineering and is teaching at the TUM Geodatisches Institute.
Her name is Jane Westrope and she is 28? years old. On January 15th, this year
I met her at Horyuji temple and showed her around. Her brother is now working at a jounior high school in Shikoku and so she came to Japan to see him. She told me that the weather was very lovely, Horyuji temple was very lovely as well. So I call her "Lovely-san."
Lovely-san looked much younger than when I last met her in Horyuji temple. At first I guessed she was the daughter of Elizabeth.
What a keen sense of duty she had!
What an attractive gentleman I am!
Woop! It'a joke!
We had a wonderful welcome dinner at Shwahnn's home.
It began with Johannes's prayer first, then we talked and chattered for a long time.
German beer was very delicious and I got a little tipsy. The candle light was wonderful as well as everybody's bright face. Thje conversation grew lively. We talked about our families and our countries. My wife can't speak English so good but she always talks with exaggerated gesture in Japanese.
Most foreighners are able to understand her Japanese. And she has a good linguistic sense, so they know almost by intuition.
Japanese eat many noodles, so Elizabeth cooked noodle soup for us. It was very nice and tasted good. The ham and sausage were very delicious. Deuche brewad is very hard. We ate it for the first time. It's good. We ate a lot of food and had a wonderful time.
Danke schon! Elizabeth, Johannes and Wolfgang!
We went 24 hours without sleep because of the time difference between Japan and Germany.
When we got to our rooms we fell into deep sleep.
******* On the second day (Sunday)
in Gottingen. ***********
The morning comes very early in Germany. The sun rose at 4:30 am.
The song of birds woke me up and then Wolfgang came to my room at 6:00. We took a morning walk with my son. Passing through the forest, we had a look the very wonderful hillock country. We could see only one red roof house in the green and two universities over the hill. That scenery reminded me of the famous movie, "The Great Escape", staring Steve McQueen. It game me the impulse at that moment of driving a motorcycle across the country just like Steve McQueen.
He is far away now,
May he rest in peace!
Jane feeling refreshed, appeared from her room onto the verandah on the second floor. She breathed deeply and stretched herself and extended both of her arms. She must have slept well.
We ate a German breakfast in the garden.
Birds were singing and many flowers were blooming.
Elizabeth, Johannes, Wolfgang, Jane. Michiko, Kimihito and I were in good cheer.
The tiny strawberry which Deuche Papa and Mama had picked in the garden early that morning, were very delicious with milk and sugar.
Papa taught me how to cut the hard German bread and boiled eggs. He was a very skillful cook, because he is a famoussurgeon. The breakfast finished with coffee.
We went to church for Sunday worship in two cars. They were a white Mersedes Benz and a Mitsubishi. At the divine service, we observed a baptism that the Paster and his brother performed. When the Paster was preaching the sermon, I heard, "Ikegami familie aus Nara Japan." I was very surprised, because it was impossible by any means for the Paster to know about my family. I couldn't understand the meaning in German.
We sung a few Hyms. All of us were purified.
After church, we visited one old chapel and a monastery in the countryside. It was built in 10th century and had two tall towers. We could see the rural district and in the church we saw a lot of beautiful murals.
Suddenly, Jane said, "Here is just like our native village."
So I asked her," Did you feel home-sick?"
She answered, "No, I don't." I thought that she was trying to hide her weakness.
Maybe she remembered her parents in England looking at Deuthe Papa and Mama and Japanese Papa and Mama.
As the monks have to support themselves, they have a cowshed. There were more than fifity cows in the shed. The smell was not so good, but I recalled the memories of the famers house in my native village in my childhood about fifty years ago.
I've heard an interesting story from my English teacher's wife.
Sometimes Edward comes to the Sake shop near my house on purpose, because he likes the smell of the cows. It reminds him of his youth. Really many cows eat grass a lot in my neighbourhood.
Surely, our homes are dear in our hearts.
We found a small hotel and had lunch in the restaurant. We ate German food. I ordered trout dish. It was seasoned with vinegar, however, it was not as delisious as that I had eaten in Japan.
We drove less than one hour passing alone gently sloping mountain roads. We arrived at a small air field on the hill.
A light plane was about to pull a glider. Dr. Schwahnn's elder son was controlling the plane and glider. He is an instructer. His hadling was inch perfect. The glider was in the sky for two or three hours. If I could control them. I would jump for joy. By the way, his major was Engineering and Urban Planning.
On the way home, we stopped at cafe for a coffee break. After this, We had to say "Good-bye" to Jane,
With what a fleetness our meeting was!
We had only three days. Three days were too short to talk about, so I think that we weren't able to enjoy our meeting wiyh her to our heart's content. I had mixed feelings about whether we would ever meet again.
Good-bye, Jane! Aufwiedersehen, Jane!!
****On the third day in Gottingen ******
( Monday)
We left Gottingen with Johannes and Wolfgang in the white Mercedes.
First, we visited Dr. Schwahnn's clinic. A pretty secretary works there. She used to work for a hospital. Dr. Schwahnn retired, so he's not so busy now. The separate dispensing of medical prescriptions works perfectly in Germany, but it would be very difficult to impliment this in Japan. It would take about a century.
I couldn't see a pharmacistｓ in a clinic. The patient can get medicine in the city in an Apotake. Doctor never give medicines directly to patients.
We travelled to Gosler, 70km north from Gottingen. On the way we entered the Auto-bahn and drove at a high speed of 150km per hour. Many Porche, Mercedes and BMW's sports cars went by faster at 220-250km an hour. We were amazed driving at such a high speed for so long.
After one hour of our driving, we arrived at Gosler. The town is old and very beautiful. We visited very old house. It's called the Emperor House and it has two bronze knights on horses in front of it.
We could see from the big oil pictures that German people had believed in Christianity for a long time.
As Germany is the place and origin of the Protestant sect of Christianity, there were many wonderful churches and monastries with many beautiful stained glass windows in which the Bible story was shown.
There were also admirable statues of Jesus Christ.
The mountainous Halz district in the center of Germany and is one of the most beautiful health resorts in the area.
Because of divine of Germany, the eastern part is late in being developed.
Now various kinds of houses been built.
We could see an artifical lake, many medieval buildings, accomodations and a sanatrium for old people, rest homes and beautiful mountaines with cable cars.
So I think that the Halz district is superior to the romantic Road in West Germany.
We heard a very interesting story in Halz.
There is a tradition which has been handed over the ages.
On the eve of May 1st, many witches riding on brooms get together at Mt. Blocken to have a party with the devils.
Some of you remember this scene in the old drama "Faust" written by Goethe.
My wife bought a witch doll riding a broom for our daughter.
We droped in at a church in this town and encounted a bus tour of tourists from East Germany.
They welcomed us with great kindness.
The Paster and many Christuans were very pleased to see us. We prayed to God and sang hyms.
We had a wondeful day today.
***** On the fouth day in Gottingen ****
The sky was clear and blue. A fresh summer day was about to bigin.
We had already been there for four days.
Staying in Schwahann's house was very lovely and comfortable.
We appreciate it so much.
Tommorow we are going to move to Wolfgang's home in Coburg.
I'll tell you a little about Gottingen before we leave.
The town is the center of the southern part of Nieder Sacksen state. Gottingen developed as a commercial city under the Hanza Alliance in the 14th century. This city is on the 'Marchen' road and Mr. Grimm and his brothers worked for Gattingen University, while there they wrote the famous "Grimm's tales" and complied the German dictionary.
We saw Ganseliesel Brunnen and geese keeper Liesel.
Some newly graduated doctors of medicine from Gottingen University came and kissed the daughter Liesel. I understand it was a tradition.
I think that she has been kissed by most of the students in the world. To kiss her is a long-cherished desire.
As soon as the first student dived into the water. Liesel was veiled in a white mist. It was so fantastic. He dived into the water with dry ice. It was just like a Japanese wedding ceremony.
We were watching this wonderful show from the cafe restaurant in front of city hall.
Princess Liesel was going to get married to a Prince from a far a way country.
On the way there, Liesel was tricked into becoming a goose keeper by her servant.
Many lovers come here in the fall to chat and talk about love.
About six hundred years ago this old city hall was builｔ and many wooden framed houses were buil around square.
They have kept their middle ages architecture in spite of the damages inflicted in the second war.
I think German people are great.
On the next day my family had to leave this city, so my wife planned to cook Japanese food for a Sayonara party at Scwahnn's home.
My wife bought some food from a fish shop and a Chinese shop.
Elizabeth already had many materials for making Japanese food. She didn't talk much, but she was very kind and kept their house perfect.
Maybe she is a classical German wife.
My wife cooked some Japanese dishes.
We had miso soup, tempura, (Shrimps, Eggballs, Green pepper and Potatos), Sushi ( Inari, Norimaki) and fried chikin.
In the town, many artist were playing.
One young lady was playing the accordeon.
When I mde a video of her, she began to sing a Russian folk song loudly.
I recalled my young age to hear that.
Because it was very popular on that time.
She worked hard for me, so that I could make a good video.
I paid her five DM.
We ate Japanese food for the first time in four days. Dr. Shwahnn's family was very pleased to eat it.
All of them used chopstics very well. It tasted very nice but I felt that it was seasoned to a German-Japanese taste.
Because my wife cooked it using German cooking utensils and an electric range.
She couldn't use a Gas range.
After dinner Johannes showed us an old Bible. It was a little broken. But it had been repaired and restored to its former condation. This book was done by Wolfgang. He had a work shop in Coburg Castle and works for the Department of Arts and Science.
My son Kimihito painted a picture of the statue of Jesus Christ using oils. It has the same feel as the painting, "THe portrait of the knight putting his hand on his breast " painted by EL Gleco in Spanish.
My son gave it to Johannes. This was the best he could do to thank the Shwahnn family.
****** On the fifth day ( Wednesday) from Gottingen to Coburg *********
We didn't want to leave Gottingen. I wanted to thank them a lot for their great kindness, but I coudn't express it in words.
I had the words on the tip of my tongue, but they didn't come out.
I tore myself from Dr. Schwahnn and his wife with a pain in my heart. I felt as if I had left my heart behind.
After breakfast we left for Coburg with Wolfgang by car. We had to cross the border of west Germany into a dangerous area of East Germany.
After half an hour we crossed the border at high speed.
Wolfgang made a joke about getting our rifles ready and leaning forward.
After a while we came to a small new restaurant in a field. We took a coffee and beer break. This was Creuzburg.
We could see the yellow, brown and white houses at the skirts of the mountains far away.
A beautiful church with two towers on the top of hill, a long stone bridge over the river, and an old tiny church.
It was the world of the Marchen, fairy tale.
A young lady was working alone here.
The old man with white hair was smoking his pipe and sent up a curl of
tobaccosmoke.
The blue smoke veiled the air.
He was lost in deep thought. He was yearning for the old days and the many memories in his life.
The blue smoke, the sweet smell of tobacco, and the scenery led me to think of my childfood.
I thought that it would be nice to wonder about with this blue smoke together in such a sunny village, thinking absent-mindedly as a contradiction to my busy life in Japan.
This was the first impression of East Germany.
I felt that time had stopped in this world.
We took a walk to the small church, across the stone bridge and wondered around there for a while. Wolfgand and my wife were walking together, pleasantly.
For a moment, these sceneries reminded me of the popular novels,
"The bridge of Madison county" written by Robert James Waller.
Franchesca and Robert were there.
We got to Isenach at noon.
While we were walking we came to Martin Luther's house.
It was very close to Johan Sebastian Bach's house.
Martin Luther who was the hero of the Reformatin of the Religion lived here from 1498 until 1501.
Bach was born in 1685 and lived in Isenach, his house was rebuilt as a Museum and we could see his kitchen, dining room and bed room.
There was a fine concert room in the musium and instruments from the 18th century were displayed.
One stuff member played old piano mlodies for us.
we were enraptured with the tone quality.
we had a wonderful time.
Germany is truly great for music.
We visited Wartburg castle it's on the top of a slightly higher mountain in the surburbs. It was built in the 11th century and is a typical castle in the Tulingen district.
It's a majestic and imposing castle.
We could see over the forest of Tulingen from the tower.
We could see the grand hall for concert, the hall for dinner and the hall for banquests.
They are well known as the stage of that famous opera "Tanheizer" composed by Wagner.
When Martin Luther was punished with banishment, he stayed in this castle and translated the New Testment of the Bible into German for the first time.
In former time the Bible was too difficult to understand, because it was written in Hebrew and Latin.
After that many people could read it and the Bible became very popular.
We passed the Tulingen forest and hurried to Coburg.
We crossed the border again.
Wolfgang said to us, "Hold your gun at the ready,"
In East Germanｙ the towns are grey.
We couldn't see many flowers in the window boxes and the roads were made at cobble stones, so our car was rolling every where.
There were a lot of constractions going on and many factories were closed. In several years they will build new ones.
At eight o'clock p.m. we got to Coburg without a break.
We are still Large?
We dashed into an Italian restaurant.
"Prosit! Kampai! to our friendship."
The Pilsner beer and beefsteak were very delicious.
We fell to sleep as soon as we arrived at Wolfgang's house.
I dreamed that a few armored motorcars chased us.
******On the sixth day in Coburg (Thursday) ************
Coburg castle which is called a fortress, is on the top of the mountain, we could see over all of Coburg city.
There was alittle fairyland hotel and a house, close to the castle in the big forest.
Wifgang lived in this house.
I got up early in the morning and took a wak for a while in the forest.
There was a nice path andand I could take many photographs of the castle from every where on the path and took look at the beaytiful old castle coloured brown among the trees.
The scenery was as it were in another world.
The sounds of the shutter of my camera,
"Jie pasha, jie pasha." were swallowed up by the vally in the forest.
After ten minutes walk I reached the castle.
Concerning Japanese castle, they are black and white. The Japanese old castle is in the world of "Suiboku-ga" so called black and white painting.
But the old German castles are just like an oil painting.
There is something of the strength in them. This is a grand fortress which was won through violent and keen civil wars in the Middle Ages.
This is not a object of art.
I think it is in the differece of phisique of German and Japanese.
The foundation stones were too high to lift my eyes up to.
I came here so early that I couldn't enter the castle.
I walked around it and made a movie with my video camera.
Wolfgang and my family got up and made a Japanese breakfast.
He is interested in Japanese food.
So my wife made "Onigiri" with sea weed, Miso soup and so on.
Wolfgang took something out of the refgerater, it was a jar of seaweed, "Gohan desuyo" I was very surprised that he had prepared such a thing for us.
I deeply appreciate his kindness.
After eating I looked at the label. It was made about two years ago.
But we didn't get a stomach ache.
How splended ! made in Japan is.
We got on the German train, DB, to go to Numburg from Coburg with qwolfgang.
We entered the compartment room in the train. This type of room is not so common in Japan.
The room was for six people and was very comfortable and we could get acquainted with the atrangers.
The conductor came to chek our tickets. He was lovely so my wife gave him a post card from Japan.
He said,"Danke shon"
I couldn't see a ticket barrier in any station in Germany.
After one hour and a half, we got to Numburg.
Numburg is the next largest city to Munchen in population in Bayern.
The city had a golden age in the Runaissance as a city of the arts in 14th - 15th century.
We visited Kaiserburg castle where many kings lived. The old town was surrounded by the castle wall and well known for its atomosphere of the Medieval period.
The famous printmaker, Duda lived here.
We visited St. Lorenz church, it was the largest Protestant church in the city. It had two big spires and the architecture was gothic. It took 200 years to build from 1252 to 1452.
A wood carving " The Annunciation" hug from the cannopy over the alter, Engelsgrusse' and the stained glass, fitted in the round window was called ' Fensterrose'. Thy were very marvelous.
In the central squar, there was a fountain the jet of water which went 20 meters high, is called 'Shoner Brunnen' beautiful fountain, and was decorated by forty sculptures.
The clock of Liebfrauen church let us known noon with moving dolls.
We went to a souvenior shop and bought some famous gifts like the Nutcracker Suite, Henkels knife in Solingen and so on.
We enjoyed shooping in Germany very much.
After getting off the train, we went to Bamberg.
The town was on a Sand bank and was surrounded by two rivers.
The Regnitz river fed into the Main river.
As this town was not war-torn, its old buildings are intact and it's called little Venice
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