a samurai who loved a pine tree

Recently, I just listen to podcasts using my ipod, such as ABC's NightLine, CNN or BBC News, while walking. In term of my everyday routines, walking means just going to and from my office. So, walking with listening to news-podcasts, my thinking is always related to topics that the podcasts are talking about. Walking under cherry trees and looking to their full blooms on a way to my office, I think about how lucky the winner of the recent huge jackpot of the lottery in US, Mega Millions, which CNN podcast talked about at the time.

That's strange.

When I took the pic of Tsuruga-castle, ipods had not yet been in showcases of any stores, including Apple stores (I just wonder if there were any Apple stores in this country at that time). So, walking in the castle, instead of an ipod, I just had a book that a famous novelist sketched his travel around here, while citing histories about this castle and samurai culture related to Aize, I mean, around this area. My thinking naturally went to the samurai who loved a pine tree. The samurai, Mr Gamou, originally came from "Oumi" area, which is near Kyoto (former capital of this country) and has the biggest lake. Before coming to Aizu area, Mr Gamou governed the city that is now pretty famous as a source of a good tasted beef, Matsuzaka-beef. So, this city's name is "Matsuzaka", and "Matsu" means "pine tree" in Japanese. So, both cities, Matsuzaka and Wakamatsu (I mean, here, let's see the previous blog) remind us about Mr Gamou's liking for a pine tree.

Here was Aizu-Wakamatsu city, Japan.

young pine tree

Looking at beautiful cherry blossoms over there, I was on parts of the remain of the main gate, "Otte-Mon", of Tusruga-castle, in Aizu-Wakamatu city. This city has been well known for the pretty conservative (in positive meaning) "samurai culture" fostered during Edo-period (from around 1600 to 1860's), partly because the ancestry of its master was a relative to the tycoon of this country, or I can say, "Shogun".

Though a solid samurai-culture had been aged for about 250 years since the tycoon's relative brought the sentiment of Edo (I mean, Tokyo's old name and Shogun's main city) in this area, the original master of the castle was not this relative, but a totally different samurai. He made city's fundamentals and name before 1600. The city's old name was "Waka-matsu", which means "young pine tree". The original master especially liked the pine tree as many people did in his era, cause it associated with an auspiciousness, maybe.

Here was Aizu-Wakamatsu city, Japan.

a movie and reality quiz show

As for movies about the city, besides "The Family Man", the movie that gave me an impressive image of NYC was "Sleepless in Seattle", which was staring Ms Ryan, and of course, Mr Thomas Jeffrey Hanks, great actress and actor, everyone knows. At its last scene, I saw the Empire State Building and its prototypical CG-version. So, when looking up the building from the street, first of all, I was just looking for the heart-shaped illumination at its side. Of course, I couldn't see it and it was day time.

Before watching the movie, I've already known this famous building. The very first moment I saw the building was when I was watching a TV reality-quiz-show in Japan almost about 20 years ago. The name of the show was "Ultra-Quiz Across the USA" in Japanese, and in the show, tons of knowledgeable Japanese competed with each other while answering many kinds of quizzes and avoiding sections' eliminations. The final two eventually did knockout 10 quiz-battles at the top of the Empire State Building. They were so greatly amazingly supremely cool that being final two or being at the top of the Empire State Building was an ultimate dream for geeks of the show.

Here was on the street where I saw the Empire State Building over there, NYC, USA

a palace

In the previous blog, I said that I once read a book related to Brooklyn Bridge. I almost forgot its title and author's name, but still remembered the impressive phrase mentioning about the bridge in the book. In my imperfect memory, the book memtioned something like that this bridge would be regarded as a palace in the city, because of the dignity coming from its inside.

So, walking on the bridge, I just felt that I was going to the heart of the palace, which is to say, the throne of the city.

At the time, it was a good evening and there was no cloud in the sky. The evening sunlight firstly brighten the entire bridge that looked like a gold, then it was gradually fading.

The solemnity I felt just came from this palace.

Here was on the Brooklyn Bridge, NYC, USA.

in a business suit

When walking around wall street for my second time, I was in a business suit. I was on the way of my business trip in the city, and at the summer morning, maybe around 7:30am, looking for a cafe or fast-food restaurant that would have a breakfast meal. Of course, I looked inside a Borders and its Dean & Deluca, but they were not opened yet.
Walking up the street to a little bit north, I found a Starbucks. My first walking was maybe two or three years ago from this second visit, and at the time I surely was in this Starbucks and ordered a tall size cafe-latte. So, I ordered a tall-latte again with a muffin.
For a while, I enjoyed a latte with reading a New york times, 'cause I would be at my business meeting an hour later.
When remembering my first visit and being in this Starbucks, I had a little bit strange feeling, 'cause in my first visit, I hardly imaged being here in a business suit again. Moreover, just being in a business suit made me look the streets or the entire city in a pretty different way.
So, again, here comes another good line of Mr Cage in "The Family Man".
The suit always makes me (Mr Cage) a different person.
(the location of this scene was at the men's wear section in a shopping mall).
He said something like that in the movie, maybe.
Here was still New York City, USA.

walking in front of boaders and dean & deluca

Walking up and down the several avenues and going to the south from 42nd street in the city, I looked around old buildings that reached the sky. My first walking in the city was almost aimless. All of what I wanted to see at the time was Brooklyn bridge, 'cause I've read the book about the story of its construction and Roebling family.
When I walked around wall street, I found a book store, Borders, which had a Dean & Deluca cafe in front of it.
By the way, whenever I find the cafes or stores of Dean & Deluca, I automatically remember the particular line that the actor, Nicolas Cage said in the movie, "The Family Man". Though my memory might not be exactly correct, Mr Cage missed the city's life, part of which for him was the coffee flavor of Dean & Deluca. It was just so good line that the movie was always in my top10 must-see-movie list.
Here was near wall street, New York City, USA.

memory of being in nyc for the first time

It was several years ago when I saw the pic's windy broadway in the Manhattan, for the first time in my life. Though it does not happen so many time for me, fortunately, I still remember my first impression that I got just when coming to the heart of the city. It's just like this.
I was on a Greyhound bus from Boston, and the bus came through a little bit long tunnel before reaching its destination, a bus terminal, which seemed to be around 42nd street, I slightly remember. I looked out of the window that shows completely the darkness, then suddenly turned to the complete white.
It was a so heavy snow day that the bus was delayed more than a hour, and I saw several cars slipped and crushed on the freeway.
In the white sight, suddenly high walls reaching the white sky appeared. The high walls were, of course, high-rise buildings in the city, but I saw only their upper parts. Maybe, the lower parts, below 10th or 15th floor, were missing in the white curtain.
Here was New York City, USA.

a house of a legendary bacteriologist

Near the lake, there were a few souvenir shops that also seemed to be cafes serving cups of green-tea or local foods around Inawashiro area. Besides, I found two sightseeing spots around here, except for the lake and mountain. One of them was the well-preserved house where a legendary bacteriologist, Hedeo Noguchi, was born. Maybe, He was well-known by his discovering the agent of syphilis diseases. He was born near this lake in 1870's, more than 130 years ago.

The other sightseeing spot was also related to Mr Noguchi. It was parts of the set and location of this man's biographical movie, which was made around 1992, so a little bit old one.

I watched the movie before, and still remember a particular scene. The scene was that the young mother of Mr Noguchi, in short, young Mrs Noguchi, was catching small shrimps near the shore of this lake for their living. So, looking at the surface of Inawashiro-lake, I knew that there might be lots of shrimps near the shore.

Here was still Inawashiro, Japan.

the mountain famed as a treasure in an old song

I was still on the shore of Inawashiro-lake. Turning back from the lake side, suddenly I faced to a beautiful mountain in the pic. The mountain came to fame as a treasure in an old song, and the song was maybe well-known especially among the elderly. I slightly remember the lyrics. In my imperfect memory, it says that the mountain is a treasure and bamboo leaves look like gold. Maybe, the last phrase of this old song is about a local man who went bankrupt because of his liking for morning drinking, bathing and sleeping. Maybe, kind of a funny song.

The song seemed to be made in the samurai-era in this country, and enjoyed among locals in a harvest festival, I guess.

The song's name is same as the mountain's, which is "aizu-bandai-san". Aizu is the place-name, so people call it "bandai-mountain".

Here was Inawashiro, Aizu, Japan.

walking on a rutted muddy way to the lake

In the old pic, I was walking on a rutted muddy way to Inawashiro-Lake. Maybe, this pic is the oldest e-pic I have in my PC. It was on March or April, 2002. As usual, I was on a business trip to the north part of this country. On Saturday, I mean, on my off-day, I just had a short-trip to a rural area, in short, around this lake, from Koriyama-city that had about 300,000 population at that time.

I walked from the train station and took almost a hour and half-, or maybe, two hours-walk to come here. It was a nicely warm, but cloudy day. I walked around here aimlessly, then, decided to go near the lake.

Both sides of the rutted way in the pic were maybe preconditioned paddle-fields. over there, I found the surface of the lake.This lake is the fourth largest one in this country.

So, the fourth largest one. Maybe, the lake isn't famous by its size. I'm not quite sure honestly whether at first the lake is well-known by people or not. But once being on its shore, I found a solemn, impressive outline of mountains surrounding the lake.

By the way, the lake has an another name, tenkyo-lake, which means "a mirror of the sky".

Here was Inawashiro, Japan

a stall had pig mascots

On the new year's eve, the last day of 1999, I saw tons of stalls that sold plenty of pig mascots especially to the locals in Wien. Of course, tourists, just like me, were looking at them and some or many would buy and fill their bags with them. At that time, many stalls on main roads had small wooden gable-roofs, which were perfectly mixed with a classic row of houses in the center of the city.
I still remember that a small, plastic pig mascot was just S5 (Austrian Schilling, not Euro at that time), so I tried to buy a couple of small pigs for my family. My guidebook told me that pigs or pig mascots for the upcoming new year symbolized "wealth" in Wien, because a pig was well known by its fertility.
After looking around several similar pig stalls, I decided to buy a small one, later, not on that eve day, but maybe on a new year or the day after it.
So, on January 2, 2000, I definitely decided to buy small plastic pigs and walked around the city to look for them, but couldn't find a stall itself anywhere. Maybe, people would buy pigs by a new year coming.
I somehow found one stall without any gables on a back street, which sold leftovers. In the stall, a small pig was for S10, costing double. I, nevertheless, bought two of them.
Here was on a back street, Wien, Austira.

riverside of donau

At 20:00, I was on the riverside of Donau, or Danube, the great and longest river in EU. Its surface was totally frozen and on it, there was about 2cm-snow-layer. It was just 2cm and the ice itself was so thin that I could break it easily by throwing only a small snow-chunk.
Inside the ice, the river looked deep and dark. In that darkness, fishes seemed to be too reluctant to move.
I came here by taking subway. When walking on the snow road to the shore of Donau, I saw several juveniles skateboarding on the dry, no-snow place under a bridge. They played skateboards without saying anything. Just a strange feeling. On one hand, I saw the frozen Donau silently running under the thin ice. On the other, I heard only sharp noises occurred sometime by juveniles' boards hitting the concretes.
Walking back to the bridge, I saw that there was a multiplex, or movie theater complex, which at that time had Luc Besson's "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc", I remember, because of its huge poster in front of the building.
The juveniles might be just waiting for the movie while playing here, or might not.
Here was near the great Donau, Wien, Austria.

on a snow day at schloss schönbrunn

On January 2, 2000, we had a heavy snow falling from the early morning in Wien. I walked from a hotel I stayed to Wien Mitte station. While walking, I was just surprised how the snow scape of the city became so different from what I looked before snowing.
I took just 25-min-walk from my hotel to the station. The huge snowplow ran regularly on city's main roads and made a little snow walls along with them.
I took a subway from Wien Mitte to go to Schloss Schönbrunn, or I can say, Schönbrunn Palace, a world heritage site. Of course, in Schönbrunn, there was snow everywhere, and moreover, it was the heaviest snow-falling moment when I arrived there. So, my impression of this palace, is firstly "a snow scape", but therefore, beautifully white-bright.
After looking around the palace, I took a subway again to go to Stadtbahn Station Karlsplatz.
I don't know why I decided to go to Karlsplatz at that time, but certainly remember that I had a pretty good croissant sandwich at the stall.
Here was Wien, Austria.

in a couchette car

In a couchette car, there are two of three-level-beds placed on both sides of the room. So, basically, a room could have six passengers maximally. I was in one of second-level-beds. Each top-level-bed was occupied by a young couple that seemed to go skiing in somewhere mountainous spot in Austria.
Ironically for me, each lowest level bed was also occupied by an another young couple that seemed to go skiing in somewhere mountainous spot in Swiss.
One of two couples said hello to sleepy me, and went outside the room. They chatted in a corridor over the night.
Unconsciously listening to the chatting from the corridor while sleeping, suddenly, I heard a crew said something about a passport directly to me. Then, I opened my eyes and saw a middle-aged man who asked me to bring my passport for passing a border. As the man told, I handed it to him. He just went outside without saying anything.
Next morning, around 6:00am, the same man brought my passport back with two slices of toasts, a strawberry-jam, batter, a glass of orange juice and small bottle of water.
At 8:00am, I stood in Wien Westbahnhof.
Here was in a train station located west side of Wien, Austria.

a bread with pickles

I got my teeth into a circle-shaped bread sandwiching nice flavor pickles, while standing at the corner of a huge department store. The stall in front of the store had a showcase that contained plenty of breads hot from oven, so, I couldn't help asking the vendor to pick a good-looking one.
The pickles between the bread tasted a little bit cold, but enough to make my body glowed after walking cool down.
At 22:00, I was in a waiting room in the first basement floor of Zurich SBB, or Schweizerische Bundesbahnen in German, or in short, the train station. The room was glassed in. So, I often looked lots of juveniles walking around in the floor aimlessly. They were scattered as soon as the policemen with berets came around.
At 22:30. I took EN 473 train going from Zurich to Wien. That was my first night train in Swiss and I kept a cheep bed, which was the middle of three-level-bed, in a couchette car. I felt a little bit hot in the couchette, so covered up only my lower half with a blanket. While getting sleepy, I was just thinking that I might pass the border between Swiss and Austria on this bed.
Here was in a night train, still Zurich, Swiss.

taking an intercity train, from geneva to lausanne

On December 30, 1999, I took an InterCity train from Geneva to Lausanne.
My seat was dark brown, just like a dead branch color.
Looking out of the window, I found Lac Léman, and over there, the top of Mont Cervin covered with white snow. Besides Mont Cervin, houses gathered on a slope, woods stood in a huge field, which looked like thin splints, were all covered with snow.
The couple sat on the opposite seat to me were loudly joking, speaking and quarreling in French. As the train was leaving from Lausanne and running on a line through a fold of hills, I said good-by to Lac Léman. The snow sheet on a road was becoming thick.
Finally, there was snow everywhere, and a couple of houses were spotted on it.
Next stop was Zurich.
Here was in a morning train, from Geneva to Lausanne, Swiss.

a field of spa

The pic shows the center of Kusatsu-spa area. The steam goes up to the cloudy sky, and beneath the sky, there are several lines of rectangles on the bare bedrock. This place is called "yubatake", which means "a field of spa". In case you don't have any images about a relationship between a field and spa, at first, you try to image a field of a corn, potato or whatever. Instead of vegetables, this place seems to grow a hot-spring. So, inside rectangles, which seem to be box connected with each other, there are plenty of hot water sprang from the rock. The steam comes from there.
The main function of this field is that it can adjust the heat of the hot spring while the hot water running through it, and moreover, it produces "yunohana", which means "a flower of hot spring". This flower is, in fact, a deposit or sediment of a spa that contains plenty of hot-spring-ingredient.
Here is Kusatsu, Japan

enjoying an outside spa

Kusatsu spa has been well known by its long history. One of its famous episodes is that the first "samurai-syougun" in this country, I mean, the ruler in 1190's, came here and took the baths for his health.

I took this pic from a path going to a huge outside spa-pool, named "saino-kawara" (real meaning of this Japanese name is "west-riverbed"). Believe or not, in this country, the rule number one is that people must be naked when enjoying in a spa, even in an outside spa, moreover, even in an outside-mixed-bathing-spa (though I never try this mixed one). Of course, high walls surround almost all spa-pool enough high to hide from outsiders' eyes.

You know, the feeling when enjoying an outside spa with being naked?

Of course, it's so good to be relaxed.

Here is Kusatsu, Japan

perfectly frozen

In February, Charles river was perfectly frozen. The pic is not the same place I was in the previous blogs, but near the mouth of the river. The ice seemed to be so thick that you could find lots of footprints on its surface.

I slightly remember that at that time, Boston Globe also had an article with its picture related to the frozen river and a man who walked on it. Of course, the paper gave a caution to readers that we should not walk on the frozen river, 'cause it's so dangerous.

When taking this pic from the bridge, I heard a patrol car's siren over there. The cops came from the car, and used a loudspeaker to caution the man walking on the ice near the shore.

Here was Boston, USA.

charles river frozen

In mid-winter, Charles river is beautifully frozen. The river itself becomes a mirror with a high purity, and catches even the smoke floating from the chimney over there.
A little stone thrown on its face can't break the ice, but slides on it to the center of the river. The ice seems to be thick.
I just stop to throw stones on the river, then, walk to the chimneys. I do not know what kinds of factory the chimney belongs to, even after passing it.
My designation is "whole foods", a supermarket. Once I and my spouse bought a nice grape in that supermarket, so even in winter, I often walk to look for the exact same bunch of grape.
Here is Cambridge, MA, USA

shore of charles river in the evening

One of my favorite places on the earth is the dry riverbed, or I can say, the shore of Charles river in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Moreover, it should be at evening, and of course, a fine day that we can see clearly the parts of tallest building from the shore.
I had always jogged along with Memorial Dr., and the river. Even in winter, there are lots of runners near here on Sunday. In summer, we can see regattas on the river. Maybe, college students go into training for a competition.
I took the pic near Larz Anderson Bridge, where I usually started to jog. Going straight from here to the bridge in the pic, we can see the river running to the same direction with us. It takes almost 20 min- or 30 min-jog to go to the spot that I preferred to see the great view of an entire Boston city. When seeing that view, I was always sure that I got a balmy day to refresh me.
Here was Cambridge, near Harvard Sq., USA.

coffee at the top of the tower

Entering Macau from Hong Kong, I had a little bit strange feeling, partly because I needed to show my passport to the customs officer afresh. It's the exact same feeling that I got, when entering Hong Kong. That is to say, it's a "comfortable bewilderment" to face the upcoming, unknown surroundings with plenty of excitements.
I took a taxi at the ferry terminal to go to Macau tower. The taxi driver couldn't understand my English, and said something in Cantonese (though I expected Portuguese).
That's what I'm talking about.
A comfortable bewilderment # 1 in Macau, no English.
I showed my guide book to him. He just recognized the tower's pic, and laughed with satisfaction.
Finally reaching the top of the tower, I had a coffee in the cafe. The coffee's flavor was so nice that I still remember not only the great view from the tower, but also taking a deep breath with feeling my adrenaline calmed down.
Here was at the top of Macau tower, SAR of China.

comedy show

I got on an express ferryboat, named "turbo jet", to go to Macau from Hong Kong. Maybe, it took only about an hour or less, and since it was so nice day and sky was so high, the ferry didn't roll so much that we were free to get seasick. In front of my seat, a French family of three, a little girl with parents, enjoyed having snacks watching a TV show.
Interestingly, the TV show was a well-known Japanese comedy program, which had last for more than 10 years and always got a high rating. Although I said it was a comedy show, it might be just like a reality-show that selected people, who won a first heat, made a brief costumed performance in front of judges to win a first prize. For example, two men jointly imitated as a cuckoo clock, while one continuously showed his face painted like a cuckoo from the other's crotch by saying "cuckoo, cuckoo". The French girl in front of me happily laughed, and the two seemed to got a high score in the show, anyway.
Here was in a turbo jet, from Hong Kong to Macau, SAR of China.

monkey entertainer

As I said in the previous blog, the tallest building in Yokohama, or in Tokyo area, is named "landmark tower" that is the left over the Ferris wheel in the pic. Interestingly, the upper parts of the tower, maybe, its 60 to 70th floor, is used as a hotel, Yokohama Royal Park Hotel. Its very top, of course, is a 360 view-observation floor named "sky garden". In order to go up to its top floor, I pay almost US$10, or 1,200 JPN. Its panorama view is so great. I can see the entire sightseeing spots of Yokohama city, including a bay bridge, Chinese town, and Yokohama ballpark. But the most impressive thing I see in the top is not the view, but a monkey that plays a brief-show for visitors with its monkey entertainer. After the show, the monkey gathers money from us with a small basket.

Here is Yokohama, Japan.

http://www.yokohama-landmark.jp/

tel booth in a mountain area

Yokohama is a relatively new city in Japan, 'cause it had a full-dress development for the first time in about 150 years ago, when Americans came across the Pacific Ocean. Until then, the city was just a small village and almost all the villagers seemed to be engaged in fishery.
Walking around the city, I hardly find any clues of its village era, but often see modern buildings represented as redeveloped business area, or huge tankers and ships anchored to piers typified one of biggest international harbors. But in case of looking for heritages related to the beginning of its post-village era, around the mountain area, I easily find several architectures called " Yo-kan", which means "western-style mansion". Yo-kans are actually heritages that originally were made for Americans or other Westerners coming to Japan as merchants, diplomats or technicians, I guess.
But I don't know whether the telephone booth in the pic is really the heritage that is the same as Yo-kan. The classic style is so nice and I guess the tel itself in the booth may be a real one.
By the way, this mountain area is just now regarded as a residential area for wealthy people.
Here is Yokohama, Japan.

classic city, modern city

In an Inter City train from Wien to Salzburg, an elderly man I met said that he used to be in Yokohama, and had a pretty good job related to harbor works. He was not a Japanese, but an Austrian born and bred. He laughed loudly and proudly said how much money he earned there.

So, this is maybe a reason why whenever walking around Yokohama city, I always recollect the elderly man, the compartment, and even Salzburg city as the designation at that time. It's quite strange 'cause, for me, I mean, in term of my personal viewpoint, both cities have few similarities with each other. Of course, In spite of its new town area near the train station, my strong impression of Salzburg city is such a beautiful and classic old town. On the other hand, Yokohama city may be represented by Minato-Mirai area, which has been redeveloped as a conglomerate of modern buildings with a huge Ferris wheel. The pic is a night view from the tallest building there that is named "landmark tower".

Here is Yokohama, Japan

beignet

When being tired by walking around the heart of the city, I found a cafe known by a good beignet, which was located along with Decatur Street. Of course, my guidebook recommended to go in order to enjoy one of specialities of the city. Since almost all tables had been occupied by locals and tourists whenever I saw, various guidebooks seemed to put this cafe as a must-go spot.

I fortunately had a table, and ordered its famous beignet with an iced coffee. The taste was really good, partly 'cause being tired made me need sweets to recharge my energy. Moreover, the taste was so good, of course. Its fried crust was nicely crisp, but inside it, the texture was so soft and white sugar powders made it less oily than I expected.

While enjoying this afternoon sweet, I looked across the street where several artists drawing tourists in shadows of trees. The breeze was so nice, and the sky was so high.

Here was New Orleans, USA

http://www.cafedumonde.com/

same smell

As going to the core of French quarter, at first I felt quite a similar smell to Hong Kong. It's a little bit strange feeling, 'cause there were so few hints that inspired me to remind Hong Kong here, except for its hot and humid weather.

Jackson square is not just like Kowloon park, and walking down Bourbon street didn't make me the same feeling as walking around Nathan road.

It is not deja vu, but still I felt the same smell here with Hong Kong.

The smell itself around streets is just like a mixture of flavors of several cuisines. In case of Hong Kong, it's among Cantonese and the other Chinese cuisines. In here, it's maybe among Cajun and Creole dishes.

Here was New Orleans, again, USA

waltz and a cup of hard cider

On the evening of the new year's eve of the Millennium year, I and my friend were in the classic city hall of Wien. In front of the main building, there were two big temporary stages for a countdown event. At the shake of the evening, these two stages were filled with people who were made up in classic costumes. As Johan Strauss II's "An der Shönen, blauen Donau" was played by the orchestra (of course, all of us could easily expect this), people in the stages began to waltz. The two huge screens set in the facade of the hall captured every single people waltzing happily in the stages. Then, I realized that the large audience around us began to waltz with their girls, husbands, wives, grandmothers, relatives, or even people standing just next to them.
The great waltz world on the last day of 1999.
In order to celebrate this, I and my friend bought cups of hard cider from a stall there, though I didn't or don't usually drink. Every stall used a special cup for the celebrated Millennium year, which I slightly remember had a logo "Millennium Wien" on its side. Unfortunately, I lost my cup without notice.
The cider was a little bit strong for me, but that taste and waltzing made me happily say hello to the year of 2000.
Here was Wien, Austria.

burritos, salsa and chips in salzburg

Walking up to a new residential area in Stadt Salzburg, which we might say a "new town" area, I and my friend hardly met anyone on streets. All shops and stores were closed because of a new year holiday. The sky was deep gray having plenty of snow, though it was still around noon. The snow would come on later, when we went across the Salzach river. Until we finally found a line of headlights of cars going to an old town area, a silent town and cold made us a little bit scary.
In an old town, there were tons of tourists that walked around not only the beautiful heritages listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but also in a few restaurants that opened in a holiday in order to get a less-competitive bonanza. That's a reason why we went in a franchise Mexican restaurant and ordered chicken burritos, salsa and chips as parts of our lunch in Salzburg.
Here was Salzburg, Austria

in a train, from wien to stadt salzburg

I was in a train from Wien to Salzburg at the very first day in the newly Millennium year, almost seven years ago. I was with my friend, and chose to get on an empty compartment, which had two long seats for four people, in an Inter-City train at Wien. I slightly remember that it was almost three hour trip, and by the first an hour passed, we were only two in the compartment.
I forgot the name of the stop, where an elderly man came in our room. He firstly gave a glimpse into the room, and then said to us in German (maybe) if he could come in. We, of course, said "no problem", So, he just came in with a huge smile.
After the man sitting on an opposite seat to me, I realized that his clothes were coated with dust, and his smell was just like a dried straw. He just laughed, and said something in German, which I and my friend couldn't understand totally. We just inclined our heads. Then, he began to speak a broken German-English, though we hardly listen to. Finally, He began to sing a song.
At that time, I didn't know the name of the song, but felt that I surely used to listen to the melody someone sang somewhere.
Later, I found it was Stevie Wonder's "Music Of My Mind".
Here was in a train, from Wien to Salzburg, Austria.