INTRODUCTION
Goethe’s Faust is undoubtedly one of the greatest plays ever written but is also one of the most difficult ones to stage; therefore, it can hardly be seen outside Germany. Many years ago I noticed that the Deutsche National Theater in Weimar, Germany, Goethe’s hometown, was staging it but did not see it at that time, believing that they probably stage it every year. I was wrong. It turned out that even they stage it only once in several years. Because of this, I had told myself that the next time DNT stages it, I would go all the way to Germany to see it no matter what.
I have also been trying to see a Moliere play at the Comedie-Francaise in Paris for a while.
I was not sure if I was going to Europe this year, but finding out back in June 2013 that both DNT and CF were staging them in the season 2013-2014 was the decisive moment for me to plan another trip to Europe this year.
So I created my itinerary around these two plays.
When I finished overviewing Europe, the first thing I wanted to do was to go on a ski resort tour of Europe. I did this tour in 2007, 2008 and 2009. The second thing I wanted to do was to go on a hiking track tour of Europe. What I mean is to hike on some of the most famous hiking tracks in Europe. And I decided to begin the first part of this tour during this trip by hiking on the most famous hiking track in Switzerland.
During this 4-week trip from mid-October to mid-November, which was my shortest trip ever to Europe, I visited 6 countries, UK, Germany, Switzerland, France, Romania and Ukraine. I stayed at 15 cities, visiting 34 cities, of which I visited 23 cities for the first time.
Goethe’s Faust is undoubtedly one of the greatest plays ever written but is also one of the most difficult ones to stage; therefore, it can hardly be seen outside Germany. Many years ago I noticed that the Deutsche National Theater in Weimar, Germany, Goethe’s hometown, was staging it but did not see it at that time, believing that they probably stage it every year. I was wrong. It turned out that even they stage it only once in several years. Because of this, I had told myself that the next time DNT stages it, I would go all the way to Germany to see it no matter what.
I have also been trying to see a Moliere play at the Comedie-Francaise in Paris for a while.
I was not sure if I was going to Europe this year, but finding out back in June 2013 that both DNT and CF were staging them in the season 2013-2014 was the decisive moment for me to plan another trip to Europe this year.
So I created my itinerary around these two plays.
When I finished overviewing Europe, the first thing I wanted to do was to go on a ski resort tour of Europe. I did this tour in 2007, 2008 and 2009. The second thing I wanted to do was to go on a hiking track tour of Europe. What I mean is to hike on some of the most famous hiking tracks in Europe. And I decided to begin the first part of this tour during this trip by hiking on the most famous hiking track in Switzerland.
During this 4-week trip from mid-October to mid-November, which was my shortest trip ever to Europe, I visited 6 countries, UK, Germany, Switzerland, France, Romania and Ukraine. I stayed at 15 cities, visiting 34 cities, of which I visited 23 cities for the first time.
UK
LONDONDERRY
LONDONDERRY
I flew from London to and stayed in Londonderry in order to visit the Giant’s Causeway
on the coast of Northern Ireland.
Londonderry surprised me by its medieval wall, which completely
surrounds the old town and on which you can even walk. It is the only
such city in the UK that I know. A wall surrounds Conwy
in Wales, too, but not nearly as completely as it does here.
THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY
 |
| The wall in the foreground. |
THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY
The Giant’s Causeway, where thousands of basalt rock columns are sticking out on the coast, is the only World Heritage site among the many sites with basalt rock columns around the world.
 |
| The Giant's Causeway |
In the US the most famous site with basalt rock columns is probably the Devil’s Tower National Monument in Wyoming and the less famous one is the Devil’s Postpile National Monument in California. I don’t know why basalt rock columns are associated with the Giant in the UK and the Devil in the US.
GERMANY
I am going to write the following report on Germany in English.
VÖLKLINGEN
There are officially two kinds of World Heritage sites as designated by Unesco: "natural" and "cultural." But among the World Cultural Heritage sites there are some sites that I would like to call "industrial." I used not to pay much attention to these industrial sites, but lately I have been.
Völklingen is such a site. This site was absolutely amazing. It is a former smeltering factory built during the Industrial Revolution in 19th century in Germany, but the size of it was enormous beyond imagination; I had never seen anything like it.
BADEN-BADEN
I visited Baden-Baden, the most famous spa town in Germany, for the first time.
The town had a similar feeling to Karlovy Vary, the most famous spa town in Czech Republic, which is no surprise, given that Bohemia, where Karlovy Vary is located, used to belong to Germany, when the town was known as Karlsbad.
In Baden-Baden the most famous spa is called the Friedrichbad, to which I headed in the evening. It cost something like $30 for 3 hours. In this spa we were expected to follow a route with about 15 different hot bathes, warm pools and steam saunas and to stay for certain minutes at each of them. Such a system was a first to me at spas, but after I finished, I certainly felt quite relaxed.
After the Friedrichbad I headed out for dinner at a restaurant. I often go to modestly priced restaurants during my trips, but this one turned out to be probably the best German restaurant I have ever been to. My Hauptgericht was a roast pork with mushroom sauce, and I did not know that roast pork could be that tender.
MAULBRONN
I stopped at Maulbronn on the way from Baden-Baden to Frankfurt to see the Maulronn Monastery, a World Heritage site, supposed to be the best preserved medieval monastery in the north of the Alps .
At the restaurant at the monastery I had a regional food they called German ravioli with meat and vegetables. It tasted more like Chinese dumpling, which is the origin of the Italian ravioli, but in any case it was far from the stereotype of the meat-only German food.
KASSEL: BERGPARK WILHELMSHÖHE
This park is said to be the largest mountain park in Europe and was freshly named by Unesco as a World Heritage site earlier this year.
The park is actually known for its palace and water falls cascading from the top of the mountain with a huge statue of Hercules, which is supposed to exemplify the power of the absolute monarchs in the area from 17th to 19th century.
This was the first time I traveled in Germany in October, and what I didn't expect at all was the beautiful autumn color almost all over the county. It was particularly beautiful at this park. Canada and Japan are famous for differently styled, but equally beautiful autumn color, but the autumn color at this park definitely ranks among the most beautiful I have ever seen.
The park also had a castle called Löwenburg built in 18th century.
THE HARZ MOUNTAINS REGION
I discovered this region of Germany only last year and now firmly believe that this is the area where you can witness the best of German traditions today. But the reason I decided to visit this region this year again was to psych up myself for Goethe's Faust, part of which is set in this region.
QUEDLINBURG
My favorite town in this region and in fact in all of Germany is Quedlinburg.
The photo of the market place from my last year's visit can be seen here.
After checking into my hotel I went straight to this cafe on top of a hill I recently heard about, which is supposed to offer a fantastic view of the castle and the whole town.
The cafe indeed offered it. I was a little surprised at how the whole castle looked like, because the castle also sits on top of a hill, and the foot of the hill apparently did not offer a good view of the whole castle.
The view of the whole town from the cafe reminded me of the old town of Tallin, Estonia, which, along with Quedlinburg and Carcassonne in France, is what I believe is the best preserved Medieval town in Europe. I just sat at this cafe for a few hours, sipping coffee, enjoying the view and talking to other tourists.
In the evening I joined a walking tour of the town guided by a night watcher.
QUEDLINBURG TO WERNIGERODE
The next day I took two steam locomotives to go around the Harz Mountains from Quedlinburg to Wernigerode. The autumn color was quite beautiful in these mountains as well.
WERNIGERODE
It was my first time to visit Wernigerode. This town is probably the tourist center of the Harz Mountains region, and there were more tourists here than in Quedlinburg. I thought the beauty of the half-timbered houses in this town was second only to Quedlinburg.
The blockbuster attraction in this town is the castle, which looks more like a real castle than the one in Quedlinburg, but I still prefer Quedlinburg to Wernigerode as a town.
I was also surprised to find out that the Baumkuchen, the hugely popular German cake in Japan, was born in this region, and there was even a Baumkuchen museum.
WEIMAR
I finally saw the staged production of Faust by Goethe. In a word it was a disappointment.
It was so only because the production was a modern rendition of Faust. What I wanted to watch was a classical rendition as Goethe would have imagined it. This goes on to show that it may be quite impossible to see a classical rendition of this play anywhere today.
I am aware that Peter Stein, perhaps the most famous German theater director alive, staged 21 hour-long Faust Part 1 & 2 for the Hanover World Fair in 2000. Even though I hear it did not get good reviews, I'd be very much interested in watching it if it ever gets staged again.
LAKE CONSTANCE AREA
Lake Constance exists on the borders of Germany, Switzerland and Austria. I stopped at the area for several hours after an overnight train ride from Weimar on the way to Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland.
In the German territory of the lake is the Monastic Island of Reichenau, a World Heritage site.
SWITZERLAND
THE BERNESE OBERLAND REGION
The most famous hiking track in Switzerland, Stages C10 and C11 of the Green Trail of the famed Via Alpina, runs from Grindelwald through Klain Scheidegg, Lauterbrunnen and Murren to Gimmelwald in the Bernese Oberland region of the Switzerland, which supposedly offers the magnificent views of the trio of mountains: Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.
I hiked from Grindelwald to Lauterbrunen on my 2nd day in Switzerland and from Lauterbrunnen to Gimmelwald on my 3rd day without carrying my large luggage, by staying in Lauterbrunnen for 3 nights and taking a train from Lauterbrunnen to Grindelwald before the hiking on the 2nd day and a bus from Gimmelwald to Lauterbrunnen after the hiking on the 3rd day.
Lauterbrunnen is in the famed Lauterbrunnen Valley with 72 waterfalls. It looks a lot like the Yosemite Valley in California.
One of the more unusual waterfalls in the valley is called Trümmelbach Falls, a 300 meter-long waterfall, or actually a series of 10 connected waterfalls, that goes through the rocky cliff of the valley.
The most popular time of the year to go hiking on this track is of course summer. I was in fact taking a risk by going there in late October, when it is cooler and rainier.
Fortunately my 2nd day was sunny. The track from Grindelwald to Lauterbrunnen was 18 km (11 miles) long and had an elevation gain of 1.2 km (0.75 miles). With the
fatigue it was too difficult for me to pay attention to the trio of the
mountains. Looking at the photos I realize the scenery was gorgeous.
Klein Scheidegg is the base town for the trio of the mountains.
Unfortunately my 3rd day was cloudy or actually foggy. The track from Lauterbrunnen to Gimmelwald was 6 km (4 miles) long and had an elevation gain of 0.8 km (0.5 miles). With the fatigue it was too foggy in my eyes to pay attention to the trio of the mountains. Looking at the photos I realize it was foggy.
Mürren sits on top of the cliff of the Lauterbrunnen Valley.
The total distance of the track was 24 km (15 miles) and the total elevation gain was 2 km (1.25 miles). It was supposed to take 10 hours, but it took me 7 hours. This was the longest track I walked on in 25 years. (In 1989 I climbed Mt. Whitney in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, which is the highest peak in the 48 states in the mainland USA, at 4421 m (14505 feet). The day remains to be the single most tiring day of my life, partly due to the high altitude sickness.)
LA CHAUX
I stopped at La Chaux for a few hours on the way from Lauterbrunnen to Paris. La Chaux, a World Heritage site, is the center of watchmaking in Switzerland.
It is in fact the center of the most expensive watchmaking in the world.
At one of the two museums I visited, a staff told me that Rolex was one of the cheaper watches made in this region. I was glad that I did not have a Rolex watch on my wrist.
At the other museum, a short film traced the history of the town and said the town encountered a crisis in 1975 but did not mention the cause of the crisis. I had an idea, so asked a staff what caused it. She said, "Inexpensive Asian watches." I was glad that she refrained from saying, "Cheap Japanese watches."
You can guess what kind of watch I had on my wrist.
FRANCE
PARIS
For a long time I also wanted to watch a Moliere play at the Comedie-Francaise, the most famous theater in France founded in the 17th century by Moliere himself. Despite the name, the company stages dramas as well as comedies.
Unlike Faust in Weimar, Dom Juan by Moliere here was a classic rendition. That was a plus.
But everything about this production, direction, acting, scenery, costume, lighting and so on, was so refined that I thought even the Royal Shakespeare Company in the UK would have a hard time to imitate it. The best theater company in France is superior to the best theater company in the UK. I thought this went on to show how serious the French still are about art. This production was a feast for the eyes.
But I would like to note here about something else: Paris is no longer what most people imagine as Paris. The romantic image of Paris has been completely gone in reality in recent years.
You can immediately sense it once you ride a Paris metro today. Or here is another example: Vendors were grilling and selling corn out of stolen supermarket shopping carts on streets all over Paris. The fact that there did not seem to be any regulations was astounding.
SAINT DENIS
I visited the Cathedral of St. Denis in the north of Paris, which is probably the most important cathedral in France because St. Denis is the patron saint of France. I also learned a term "cephalophore" here.
Almost all kings of France have been buried here. Louis XVI is no exception. But I have to admit that I was surprised to see even the casket of his wife Marie Antoinette.
CHANTTILY
I stopped at Chantilly for a few hours on the way from Paris to Beauvais. The Chateau and its garden may not look great in these photos, but it is only because it was cloudy at dusk. They were actually gorgeous.
The Grand Stables is part of the Chateau, and in front of it is the hippodrome, which is supposed to be the most important training ground for horse racers in Europe.
BEAUVAIS
I stayed in the city of Beauvais, north of Paris, for one night because my plane to Romania was leaving from the city's airport in the following morning.
I had never heard of this city, so I said, "Is there anything to see in this town?" and looked out the window of my hotel room to my amazement: there was an enormous and beautiful church right behind the hotel. I went outside just to walk around the church, as it was certainly closed at 10 pm. As I did so, I was further surprised that there appeared to be no nave to this enormous structure, and thought, "OMG, it must have been destroyed in WWII," as I had seen such examples before. But I was wrong. I later learned that the construction of the cathedral began in 13th century but stopped in 16 century before building the nave, when its tower, the highest structure in the world at that time, suddenly collapsed, leaving the cathedral as it is today. But still, I have to say, looking only at the remains, it is the most beautiful cathedral I have seen in France, surpassing such famous ones in Amiens, Reims and Strasbourg.
I am going to write the following report on Germany in English.
VÖLKLINGEN
There are officially two kinds of World Heritage sites as designated by Unesco: "natural" and "cultural." But among the World Cultural Heritage sites there are some sites that I would like to call "industrial." I used not to pay much attention to these industrial sites, but lately I have been.
Völklingen is such a site. This site was absolutely amazing. It is a former smeltering factory built during the Industrial Revolution in 19th century in Germany, but the size of it was enormous beyond imagination; I had never seen anything like it.
 |
| Only a small part of Völklingen Ironworks |
BADEN-BADEN
I visited Baden-Baden, the most famous spa town in Germany, for the first time.
The town had a similar feeling to Karlovy Vary, the most famous spa town in Czech Republic, which is no surprise, given that Bohemia, where Karlovy Vary is located, used to belong to Germany, when the town was known as Karlsbad.
In Baden-Baden the most famous spa is called the Friedrichbad, to which I headed in the evening. It cost something like $30 for 3 hours. In this spa we were expected to follow a route with about 15 different hot bathes, warm pools and steam saunas and to stay for certain minutes at each of them. Such a system was a first to me at spas, but after I finished, I certainly felt quite relaxed.
 |
| Das Friedrichbad |
After the Friedrichbad I headed out for dinner at a restaurant. I often go to modestly priced restaurants during my trips, but this one turned out to be probably the best German restaurant I have ever been to. My Hauptgericht was a roast pork with mushroom sauce, and I did not know that roast pork could be that tender.
MAULBRONN
I stopped at Maulbronn on the way from Baden-Baden to Frankfurt to see the Maulronn Monastery, a World Heritage site, supposed to be the best preserved medieval monastery in the north of the Alps .
 |
| The Cistercian Maulbronn Monastery |
At the restaurant at the monastery I had a regional food they called German ravioli with meat and vegetables. It tasted more like Chinese dumpling, which is the origin of the Italian ravioli, but in any case it was far from the stereotype of the meat-only German food.
 |
| The German Ravioli |
KASSEL: BERGPARK WILHELMSHÖHE
This park is said to be the largest mountain park in Europe and was freshly named by Unesco as a World Heritage site earlier this year.
The park is actually known for its palace and water falls cascading from the top of the mountain with a huge statue of Hercules, which is supposed to exemplify the power of the absolute monarchs in the area from 17th to 19th century.
 |
| The Palace |
 |
| On top of the triangular structure is the statue of Hercules |
This was the first time I traveled in Germany in October, and what I didn't expect at all was the beautiful autumn color almost all over the county. It was particularly beautiful at this park. Canada and Japan are famous for differently styled, but equally beautiful autumn color, but the autumn color at this park definitely ranks among the most beautiful I have ever seen.
 |
| The autumn color in the park |
The park also had a castle called Löwenburg built in 18th century.
 |
| Das Schloss Löwenburg |
THE HARZ MOUNTAINS REGION
I discovered this region of Germany only last year and now firmly believe that this is the area where you can witness the best of German traditions today. But the reason I decided to visit this region this year again was to psych up myself for Goethe's Faust, part of which is set in this region.
QUEDLINBURG
My favorite town in this region and in fact in all of Germany is Quedlinburg.
The photo of the market place from my last year's visit can be seen here.
After checking into my hotel I went straight to this cafe on top of a hill I recently heard about, which is supposed to offer a fantastic view of the castle and the whole town.
The cafe indeed offered it. I was a little surprised at how the whole castle looked like, because the castle also sits on top of a hill, and the foot of the hill apparently did not offer a good view of the whole castle.
 |
| Das Schloss |
The view of the whole town from the cafe reminded me of the old town of Tallin, Estonia, which, along with Quedlinburg and Carcassonne in France, is what I believe is the best preserved Medieval town in Europe. I just sat at this cafe for a few hours, sipping coffee, enjoying the view and talking to other tourists.
 |
| The old town of Quedlinburg |
In the evening I joined a walking tour of the town guided by a night watcher.
 |
| Der Nachtwächter |
QUEDLINBURG TO WERNIGERODE
The next day I took two steam locomotives to go around the Harz Mountains from Quedlinburg to Wernigerode. The autumn color was quite beautiful in these mountains as well.
 |
| "Get out of there!" |
WERNIGERODE
It was my first time to visit Wernigerode. This town is probably the tourist center of the Harz Mountains region, and there were more tourists here than in Quedlinburg. I thought the beauty of the half-timbered houses in this town was second only to Quedlinburg.
 |
| The main street of Wernigerode |
The blockbuster attraction in this town is the castle, which looks more like a real castle than the one in Quedlinburg, but I still prefer Quedlinburg to Wernigerode as a town.
 |
| Das Schloss |
I was also surprised to find out that the Baumkuchen, the hugely popular German cake in Japan, was born in this region, and there was even a Baumkuchen museum.
 |
| The popularity of Jack Wolfskin in Germany is truly phenomenal. |
WEIMAR
I finally saw the staged production of Faust by Goethe. In a word it was a disappointment.
It was so only because the production was a modern rendition of Faust. What I wanted to watch was a classical rendition as Goethe would have imagined it. This goes on to show that it may be quite impossible to see a classical rendition of this play anywhere today.
I am aware that Peter Stein, perhaps the most famous German theater director alive, staged 21 hour-long Faust Part 1 & 2 for the Hanover World Fair in 2000. Even though I hear it did not get good reviews, I'd be very much interested in watching it if it ever gets staged again.
 |
| DNT with the statues of Goethe (left) and Schiller (right), both of whom worked in Weimar. |
LAKE CONSTANCE AREA
Lake Constance exists on the borders of Germany, Switzerland and Austria. I stopped at the area for several hours after an overnight train ride from Weimar on the way to Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland.
In the German territory of the lake is the Monastic Island of Reichenau, a World Heritage site.
 |
| One of the three Benedictine monasteries on the Monastic Island of Reichenau in Lake Constance. |
In the prehistoric time around the European Alps dwelled people in houses built on piles over lakes. 111 sites spreading over 6 countries around the Alps have been named collectively as a World Heritage site.
 |
| Pile Dwellings near Mülhofen at Lake Constance |
 |
| Prehistoric people in today's Germany lived like this with water underneath. |
SWITZERLAND
THE BERNESE OBERLAND REGION
The most famous hiking track in Switzerland, Stages C10 and C11 of the Green Trail of the famed Via Alpina, runs from Grindelwald through Klain Scheidegg, Lauterbrunnen and Murren to Gimmelwald in the Bernese Oberland region of the Switzerland, which supposedly offers the magnificent views of the trio of mountains: Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.
I hiked from Grindelwald to Lauterbrunen on my 2nd day in Switzerland and from Lauterbrunnen to Gimmelwald on my 3rd day without carrying my large luggage, by staying in Lauterbrunnen for 3 nights and taking a train from Lauterbrunnen to Grindelwald before the hiking on the 2nd day and a bus from Gimmelwald to Lauterbrunnen after the hiking on the 3rd day.
Lauterbrunnen is in the famed Lauterbrunnen Valley with 72 waterfalls. It looks a lot like the Yosemite Valley in California.
 |
| Lauterbrunnen with a waterfall to the right |
One of the more unusual waterfalls in the valley is called Trümmelbach Falls, a 300 meter-long waterfall, or actually a series of 10 connected waterfalls, that goes through the rocky cliff of the valley.
 |
| One of the ten Trümmelbach Falls |
The most popular time of the year to go hiking on this track is of course summer. I was in fact taking a risk by going there in late October, when it is cooler and rainier.
 |
| I basically hiked on the Heeji Way. |
 |
| The trio of mountains, Eiger, left, Mönch, center, Jungfrau, right seen from Klein Scheidegg. I took the train to the structure (hard to see in this photo) between the two peaks of Mönch and Jungfrau in 2003. |
 |
| Jungfrau |
 |
| Lauterbrunnen |
Unfortunately my 3rd day was cloudy or actually foggy. The track from Lauterbrunnen to Gimmelwald was 6 km (4 miles) long and had an elevation gain of 0.8 km (0.5 miles). With the fatigue it was too foggy in my eyes to pay attention to the trio of the mountains. Looking at the photos I realize it was foggy.
 |
| The autumn color in Lauterbrunnen with snow-capped mountains in the background. |
Mürren sits on top of the cliff of the Lauterbrunnen Valley.
 |
| Mürren |
 |
| This sculpture in Mürren reminded me of "Ikezukuri," or a dish of "live but prepared seafood," popular in Japan. |
 |
| The Lauterbrunnen Valley seen from Gimmelwald |
The total distance of the track was 24 km (15 miles) and the total elevation gain was 2 km (1.25 miles). It was supposed to take 10 hours, but it took me 7 hours. This was the longest track I walked on in 25 years. (In 1989 I climbed Mt. Whitney in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, which is the highest peak in the 48 states in the mainland USA, at 4421 m (14505 feet). The day remains to be the single most tiring day of my life, partly due to the high altitude sickness.)
LA CHAUX
I stopped at La Chaux for a few hours on the way from Lauterbrunnen to Paris. La Chaux, a World Heritage site, is the center of watchmaking in Switzerland.
It is in fact the center of the most expensive watchmaking in the world.
At one of the two museums I visited, a staff told me that Rolex was one of the cheaper watches made in this region. I was glad that I did not have a Rolex watch on my wrist.
At the other museum, a short film traced the history of the town and said the town encountered a crisis in 1975 but did not mention the cause of the crisis. I had an idea, so asked a staff what caused it. She said, "Inexpensive Asian watches." I was glad that she refrained from saying, "Cheap Japanese watches."
You can guess what kind of watch I had on my wrist.
 |
| The watchmaking museum |
FRANCE
PARIS
For a long time I also wanted to watch a Moliere play at the Comedie-Francaise, the most famous theater in France founded in the 17th century by Moliere himself. Despite the name, the company stages dramas as well as comedies.
Unlike Faust in Weimar, Dom Juan by Moliere here was a classic rendition. That was a plus.
But everything about this production, direction, acting, scenery, costume, lighting and so on, was so refined that I thought even the Royal Shakespeare Company in the UK would have a hard time to imitate it. The best theater company in France is superior to the best theater company in the UK. I thought this went on to show how serious the French still are about art. This production was a feast for the eyes.
 |
| Comedie-Francaise |
But I would like to note here about something else: Paris is no longer what most people imagine as Paris. The romantic image of Paris has been completely gone in reality in recent years.
You can immediately sense it once you ride a Paris metro today. Or here is another example: Vendors were grilling and selling corn out of stolen supermarket shopping carts on streets all over Paris. The fact that there did not seem to be any regulations was astounding.
 |
| A man grilling and selling corn from a shopping cart from the German supermarket chain "Lidl" near Gare du Nord, the busiest train station in Europe. This practice has not occurred in the US yet. |
SAINT DENIS
I visited the Cathedral of St. Denis in the north of Paris, which is probably the most important cathedral in France because St. Denis is the patron saint of France. I also learned a term "cephalophore" here.
 |
| The Cathedral of Saint Denis |
Almost all kings of France have been buried here. Louis XVI is no exception. But I have to admit that I was surprised to see even the casket of his wife Marie Antoinette.
 |
| Marie lies in the mid-left casket. |
CHANTTILY
I stopped at Chantilly for a few hours on the way from Paris to Beauvais. The Chateau and its garden may not look great in these photos, but it is only because it was cloudy at dusk. They were actually gorgeous.
 |
| The Chantilly Castle |
 |
| The garden at the Chantilly Castle |
The Grand Stables is part of the Chateau, and in front of it is the hippodrome, which is supposed to be the most important training ground for horse racers in Europe.
 |
| At the hippodrome |
BEAUVAIS
I stayed in the city of Beauvais, north of Paris, for one night because my plane to Romania was leaving from the city's airport in the following morning.
I had never heard of this city, so I said, "Is there anything to see in this town?" and looked out the window of my hotel room to my amazement: there was an enormous and beautiful church right behind the hotel. I went outside just to walk around the church, as it was certainly closed at 10 pm. As I did so, I was further surprised that there appeared to be no nave to this enormous structure, and thought, "OMG, it must have been destroyed in WWII," as I had seen such examples before. But I was wrong. I later learned that the construction of the cathedral began in 13th century but stopped in 16 century before building the nave, when its tower, the highest structure in the world at that time, suddenly collapsed, leaving the cathedral as it is today. But still, I have to say, looking only at the remains, it is the most beautiful cathedral I have seen in France, surpassing such famous ones in Amiens, Reims and Strasbourg.
 |
| The apse, right, and the trancept, left, of the Cathedral of St. Peter in Beauvais |
ROMANIA - UKRAINE
THE ROMANIA - UKRAINE BORDER REGION
Another region I wanted to explore more in Europe was the Romania - Ukraine border region. Romania and Ukraine share two separate borders, but the one I'm referring to is the border between northern Romania and western Ukraine. This region offered one World Heritage site in the Maramures area of northern Romania and two World Heritage sites and the Hutsul village of Yaremucha in the Carpathian Mountain area of western Ukraine. This region is also known as the one forgotten by time. So when I realized that I could visit this region on my way from Paris to Kiev in Ukraine by jumping on a Wizz Air plane from Beauvais in France to Cluj Napoca in Romania, I didn't think twice.
SIGHET
I stayed in Sighet, one of the few cities in the Maramures area of Romania, and went to see on the second day two of the eight churches collectively designated as a World Heritage site in the area.
Within the day I took bus twice and hitchhiked five times. Hitchhiking can be dangerous anywhere in the world, but I had no other choices, as there were no car rental companies in Sighet and only a few buses running in the area. But almost each time I hitchhiked, a car stopped as soon as I raised my hand. It was as if locals of this rural area were determined to help each other when someone needed a ride.
The only car that passed me without stopping was driven by two French tourists. I met them only a few minutes later at the second church I visited, as the car that came by right after theirs picked me up.
THE ROMANIA - UKRAINE BORDER REGION
Another region I wanted to explore more in Europe was the Romania - Ukraine border region. Romania and Ukraine share two separate borders, but the one I'm referring to is the border between northern Romania and western Ukraine. This region offered one World Heritage site in the Maramures area of northern Romania and two World Heritage sites and the Hutsul village of Yaremucha in the Carpathian Mountain area of western Ukraine. This region is also known as the one forgotten by time. So when I realized that I could visit this region on my way from Paris to Kiev in Ukraine by jumping on a Wizz Air plane from Beauvais in France to Cluj Napoca in Romania, I didn't think twice.
SIGHET
I stayed in Sighet, one of the few cities in the Maramures area of Romania, and went to see on the second day two of the eight churches collectively designated as a World Heritage site in the area.
Within the day I took bus twice and hitchhiked five times. Hitchhiking can be dangerous anywhere in the world, but I had no other choices, as there were no car rental companies in Sighet and only a few buses running in the area. But almost each time I hitchhiked, a car stopped as soon as I raised my hand. It was as if locals of this rural area were determined to help each other when someone needed a ride.
The only car that passed me without stopping was driven by two French tourists. I met them only a few minutes later at the second church I visited, as the car that came by right after theirs picked me up.
The interior of the Church of Holy Parasceve was covered with frescos, one of which depicted the most gruesome image of Hell one can possibly see.
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| The Church of Holy Parasceve |
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| This woman at an ethnographic museum was showing me how to use a loom that also shakes a cradle, seen here in the left. I thought the cradle was being shaken too violently. |
NOVEMBER 3
November 3 was one of the most memorable days of this trip.
After Sighet in Romania my next destination was Yaremucha in
Ukraine. My plan for the day was to walk
across the border from Sighet in Romania to Solotvyno in Ukraine and to take
buses from Solotvyno through Rakhiv to Yaremucha.
Now, I'm talking about probably THE most rural region in the
whole Europe. This is the area where
they still rely on HORSE power. (I even
met a Ph. D student in anthropology from Belgium in Sighet the night before who
was doing a research on the rural life in Europe.) Accordingly, I could not
find ANY information in English on the web on the BUS from Solotvyno to
Rakhiv. This was a highly unusual
situation because I ALWAYS know how to get from point A to point B in advance
when I travel. Will there be a bus from
Solotvyno to Rakhiv? I even thought about giving up my visit to Yaremucha and Kolomyya and instead heading straight to Chernivsti in Ukraine from Suceava in Romania by
train.
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| Life goes on in Maramures in Romania... |
On the other hand my experience in traveling and especially
that in Ukraine told me that there MUST be a bus from Solotvyno to Rakhiv. After all a road seems to connect the two
small but sizable villages at least on a Google map. The fact was also that there used to be even
trains running between Sighet in Romania and Rakhiv in Ukraine. But in 2007 when Romania joined the European
Union, they stopped the train service in order to avoid the problem of illegal
immigration from Ukraine to the EU.
So I eventually decide to take a chance and to execute the plan for that day,
thinking I may have to walk across the border back to Romania if I don't find
the bus, or I may have to stay overnight in Solotvyno if the bus to Rakhiv will have already left for the day even though I find the bus stop, or I myself may have to
rely on the horse power.
Walking across the border from Romania to Ukraine at 9 in
the morning was indeed no sweat. Just
went through the Romanian border control, walked on the bridge over the Tisa river that constitutes the border between
the two countries, and then went through the Ukrainian border control. I was the only one walking across the border, but there were many others driving across the border.
 |
| Tisa River with Romania to the left and Ukraine to the right. |
The turning point for me actually came rather early that day
at the Ukrainian border control.
The last thing you want to do at a border control is to linger on,
right? You want to leave as soon
as they stamp your passport in order to avoid any troubles, especially when the officer looks scary.
Ukrainian men often look mean, icy and even scary. But
dealing with them before, I have realized that some or even most of them are in
fact friendly, warm and even helpful.
So I decide to take a chance with this scary-looking
Ukrainian officer at the border control and said: "Do you know where to catch a bus from
Solotvyno to Rakhiv?"
In his broken English he said he didn't know where but would ask
drivers coming from Romania into Ukraine if they knew it.
That sounded like a long wait for me at the border control, even
though the officer appeared to be asking each driver. So after several minutes I decided to leave and
try to find the bus for myself.
About 100 m away there was another officer at the exit. I heard his phone ring and saw him pick it up
and talk. After that he gesticulated to stop
me. Now what? Am I in a trouble?
Soon afterwards, a car from Romania approached and
stopped. In a better English a man among
the three men in the car with a Hungarian license plate said that they would take me to the bus stop where I could catch a bus to Rakhiv. Apparently, the scary-looking officer
phoned the other officer at the exit to stop me so I could get the ride. How nice!
But really? I mean
they are REALLY going to take me to the bus stop? How do the Hungarians know
where the bus stop is in this small village in Ukraine? They seemed to be in a hurry and quickly
threw my large luggage into their car trunk.
To put myself into a deeper trouble, I said I also needed to
stop at an ATM to get the cash in Ukrainian currency. I certainly needed it to take a bus. It turned out that there was an ATM even in
this small village of Solotvyno, probably because it is a border town, and the
car stopped there for me. Are they not
going to drive away with my luggage while I'm at the ATM? Are they not going to rob me after I get the cash? I was always nervous, but after getting the cash I got back in the car, and we drove off again.
I was looking at the GPS on my tablet, so I knew the car seemed
to be going through the center of the village toward the road that connected Solotvyno and Rakhiv.
So, after all this, they dropped me off at a bus stop on that road. I didn't offer them any
money, but I don't think they even expected it.
I thanked them but had to make sure they drove off. They were after all honest and nice
people.
A bus came only after about 20
minutes, and at 10 am I was already on my way to Yaremucha.
I had to put this experience into words because this kind of
experience really means a lot to me, especially because I'm not an honest
person. :)
YAREMUCHA
After a few-hour stop in Rakhiv to change bus, I was in the Hutsul village of Yaremucha by 4 pm.
This is the central town of the area where the famed 1965 film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by the Armenian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov was set.
It was kind of difficult to see the difference of culture between the Ukrainians and the ethnic minority of the Hutsuls during my short stay, as I couldn't distinguish the two peoples, and absolutely nobody spoke English in this village.
KOLOMYYA
I stopped in Kolomyya on my way from Yaremucha to Chernivtsi.
Kolomyya's main church is one of the 16 churches in this area that were named collectively as a World Heritage site earlier this year for their unique structure built on horizontal wooden logs.
CHERNIVTSI
Chernivtsi is one of the larger cities in western Ukraine with the population of 250, 000. Finding a tourist office here for the first time ever in Ukraine was truly marvelous.
The former residence of the Orthodox church leaders is a World Heritage site and is now used as a university.
KIEV
I arrived in the capital of Ukraine, Kiev, my last stop for this trip, after an overnight train ride from Chernivtsi.
I encountered a military parade as soon as I arrived in the center of Kiev from the train station.
Only 5 days after I left Kiev started the Orange Revolution 2.0 in Ukraine. The epicenter is the Independence Square in Kiev, or Maidan Nezaleznosti in Ukrainian, where the biggest protest since the Orange Revolution in 2004 has been taking place since November 21st. The photo of the Maidan from my visit in 2010 can be seen here.
On my last day in Kiev I had coffee with my friend Oksana at a cafe right under the Maidan.
CONCLUSION
I have visited 587 cities and 269 World Heritage sites in 42 countries in Europe over cumulative 2 years and 6 months I have spent traveling in Europe since 1995. The list of these cities and sites can be seen here.
Besides the two plays, the highlights of this trip were the Harz Mountains region of Germany, the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland and the border region of Romania and Ukraine.
One more play I would like to see in Europe is Chekhov's Seagull at the Moscow Art Theater. The list of artistic institutions in Europe I have visited can be seen here.
I would also love to continue my hiking track tour next in Norway and Sweden, if possible...
Mick Nishikawa
Copyright: 2013 Westriver Press All Rights Reserved
YAREMUCHA
After a few-hour stop in Rakhiv to change bus, I was in the Hutsul village of Yaremucha by 4 pm.
This is the central town of the area where the famed 1965 film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by the Armenian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov was set.
It was kind of difficult to see the difference of culture between the Ukrainians and the ethnic minority of the Hutsuls during my short stay, as I couldn't distinguish the two peoples, and absolutely nobody spoke English in this village.
 |
| Yaremucha seen from my four star, $36 hotel room. |
KOLOMYYA
I stopped in Kolomyya on my way from Yaremucha to Chernivtsi.
Kolomyya's main church is one of the 16 churches in this area that were named collectively as a World Heritage site earlier this year for their unique structure built on horizontal wooden logs.
 |
| Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kolomyya |
CHERNIVTSI
Chernivtsi is one of the larger cities in western Ukraine with the population of 250, 000. Finding a tourist office here for the first time ever in Ukraine was truly marvelous.
The former residence of the Orthodox church leaders is a World Heritage site and is now used as a university.
 |
| The Chernivtsi University |
KIEV
I arrived in the capital of Ukraine, Kiev, my last stop for this trip, after an overnight train ride from Chernivtsi.
 |
| A restaurant at Kiev's main train station where I usually have breakfast when I arrive in Kiev early in the morning. |
I encountered a military parade as soon as I arrived in the center of Kiev from the train station.
 |
The military parade on Khreshatyk, the thoroughfare of Kiev |
 |
| The military parade in close-up |
Only 5 days after I left Kiev started the Orange Revolution 2.0 in Ukraine. The epicenter is the Independence Square in Kiev, or Maidan Nezaleznosti in Ukrainian, where the biggest protest since the Orange Revolution in 2004 has been taking place since November 21st. The photo of the Maidan from my visit in 2010 can be seen here.
On my last day in Kiev I had coffee with my friend Oksana at a cafe right under the Maidan.
CONCLUSION
I have visited 587 cities and 269 World Heritage sites in 42 countries in Europe over cumulative 2 years and 6 months I have spent traveling in Europe since 1995. The list of these cities and sites can be seen here.
Besides the two plays, the highlights of this trip were the Harz Mountains region of Germany, the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland and the border region of Romania and Ukraine.
One more play I would like to see in Europe is Chekhov's Seagull at the Moscow Art Theater. The list of artistic institutions in Europe I have visited can be seen here.
I would also love to continue my hiking track tour next in Norway and Sweden, if possible...
Mick Nishikawa
Copyright: 2013 Westriver Press All Rights Reserved
