Hello! I Just Saw Your Post About The Conference. I Know It's Very Niche, But I'd Love To Hear / Read

ICE 3 (Gen.1)

After visiting Karlsruhe Palace, I had a bit of time while waiting for a (packed) regional train South to wander around the station. There was quite a lot going on, as on top of the local traffic from S-Bahns to REs, busy intercity lines to Freiburg and Basel, Stuttgart and Munich, Mannheim and Frankfurt meet here. A chance to see my favourite German high-speed train: the Baureihe 403 ICE 3.

Entering service in 2000, over 10 years after the first InterCity Expresses, the ICE 3 was a revolution in European high-speed rail. These were the first 300 km/h-capable trains that weren't of a "power car & carriages" layout, using distributed traction (motors all along the unit) like Shinkansen trains. And a sleek shape to boot! They were designed by Alexander Neumeister, who also penned the 500 Series Shinkansen. Hmm, maybe that's why.

The ICE 3 would be the first example of Siemens's Velaro series, which would be an export hit: the Netherlands, Spain, China and Russia purchased this model. The type received a redesign in the late 2000s that I could only describe as "more beefy": the Velaro D was taken up by Germany, Turkey and Eurostar.

The conference went well, as far as I can tell, so here are a couple of low-sun views of Kashihara's preserved Edo-period area, Imai-chô, as an outro. The first building seems to be operating as an art gallery (maybe?), while the other is a neat little temple. Both are on the same street, 大工町筋, which Google Translate says could be Daiku-chô suji or Daiku-machi suji... or it could be something else, I don't remember reading the name myself on site.

Different place next.

This monument needs no introduction. I just want to show the names of French scientists and engineers that adorn the base of the Tour Eiffel's first floor - just visible at the bottom of the above picture. Similarly to the German names on Strasbourg's Palais Universitaire, if you've studied science at length at any point, you'll know some of these: Cauchy, Navier, Lavoisier, Ampère...

Châteaubriant: a regional rail hard border

Rennes and Nantes, the largest cities in the Western tip of France, could have three direct rail routes connecting them. The one via Redon has always been used in this role; a second, via Laval and Angers, was ridiculously long until the high-speed line to Laval opened and 200 km/h-capable units were adapted for use on it; and a third... has been cut off at Châteaubriant.

The irony is, the Châteaubriant route would be the shortest in distance, at just over 120 km in length, in a fairly simple North-South direction. The trouble is, the line wasn't built with the traffic between the two cities in mind, is mainly single track, and has some steep inclines (1.5% is steep for a train). As such, it has always seen modest levels of traffic, and since the 1980s, it had been falling into disrepair in parts, and become abandoned in others.

The Nantes side saw a resurrection in the early 2010s: the line was electrified and, in 2014, tram-trains began operating. We've seen a tram-train on this blog before, but this service is only technically a tram-train, as it only uses a tram line parallel to the urban tram for a few kilometres inside Nantes, and only making one stop on that stretch. The Alstom Citadis Dualis (SNCF class U 53500) units are effectively regional trains in tram clothing, and are the only tram-trains in France to have onboard toilets.

But in France, local trains are managed by the administrative regions, and Nantes to Châteaubriant is under the authority of Pays de la Loire, so the electric wires, renovated stations and new trains went no higher. Worse, the line has been cut in half by a platform link, as shown above - and a photo on this webpage seems to indicate they used to be joined. So the Rennes side, managed by Bretagne region, has remained without electric power. I remember the stark contrast between the two sides of the regional border when I visited in early 2020: to Nantes, modern infrastructure and trains; to Rennes... nothing, and tracks that were starting to be overgrown!

It turns out the line was indeed closed for repair works at the time, and in 2021, Rennes to Châteaubriant reopened, with first-generation bi-mode Bombardier AGC (B 82500) sets, which only use Diesel power on this route, operating a peak-only service.

In conclusion, the Rennes-Châteaubriant-Nantes route has always been in the shadow of the slightly longer route via Redon, as the latter provided good connections to other major towns on the South Brittany coast: Vannes, Lorient and Quimper. The Châteaubriant route was never double-tracked, and today is a striking illustration of regionalisation, with different levels of investment on either side of the border, and through service now impossible.

Arashio-beya

The quickest way to witness some sumo wrestling is probably to watch a morning practice session in a stable (though we'd probably use the word "club" in Europe). Arashio-beya in Tôkyô is one such stable, with the nearly-daily practice watchable from the street.

On some days, wrestlers may come out to meet the spectators and pose for some photos. This happened on the day I was there.

While researching for this post, it appeared that these two wrestlers may be among the stable's most successful. Arashio-beya was founded in 2002, and has had four wrestlers reach the top division as sekitori. Their first one is retired and now manages the stable, and their second was Wakatakakage, who won their first major tournament in March 2022 - and who probably is pictured left (I'm confident it is him based on other photos, but I'm couching it slightly just in case I'm wrong). Wakatakakage is the youngest of three brothers who all wrestle for Arashio-beya, and one of his brothers is the third sekitori from the stable. The fourth and most recent is Kôtokuzan, probably pictured right.

For someone who knows absolutely nothing about sumo, looking back at that morning, it's neat to think I was in the presence of people who would fulfill their ambitions.

Shionomisaki: Honshu's southernmost point

Southern Kansai is probably best known for the Kumano Kodô, the pilgrimage routes related to the Nachi shrine and temple complex with one of Japan's most famous waterfalls. But Southern Kansai is also Southernmost Kansai, and the Shionomisaki peninsula, part of the town of Kushimoto is as South as it gets for the main island of Japan.

Beyond this lawn and those rocks is the Pacific Ocean: just water for thousands of kilometres in this direction! The nearest substantial landmass due South from here is Papua New Guinea, 35° latitude lower, or 10% of the Earth's circumference!

That's a nice lawn by the way, it would be a shame if someone...

Shionomisaki is basically Honshu's version of "Land's End" or "Finistere", and there is a little leisure complex to mark it. The recent Geopark Centre is good, but the blue buildings in the previous shot, the shop and restaurant and the observation tower, are from a different time and showing their age - case in point, the children's cups in the restaurant with the mascot of the 1998 World Cup in France!

The Reality Checkpoint

In the middle of Parker's Piece (no relation to the Thunderbirds character) in Cambridge, stands a lamppost. The only lamppost on the common, a beacon and a reference for anyone walking there at night. A bit like the lamppost in Narnia. A lot like the lamppost in Narnia in fact, as it serves as a boundary marker between the university and the town, two worlds with distinct notions of reality. That's one theory behind the name, the Reality Checkpoint.

Another theory suggests one should use the checkpoint to assess their clarity when going back from the pub, and this view certainly calls reality into question... Not to worry, the Ferris Wheel is just being dismantled.

This ornate lamppost has been restored in recent years, and improved with a Dinky Door. Well, I say "improved", but the note on the door says "on holiday, please check reality yourself"!

Can't read my, can't read my, No you can't read my 岡 face!

Neuviller-la-Roche

Quick post today - just a few views of climbing out of the village of Neuviller-la-Roche in late March 2022.

The things people write on clocks...

Craignez la dernière - Eglise Notre-Dame de Croaz-Batz, Roscoff

Literally, this means "fear the last". OK, but the last what? Well, you're looking at the sundial for the time, which here, in French, would be "12 heures", so the full saying is inferred to be "craignez la dernière heure" - "fear thy final hour". Reminding people of their own mortality was an important part of medieval-Renaissance Christian discourse, as we saw with the ages of Man passing before Death among the automatons on the Astronomical Clock in Strasbourg Cathedral, built around the same time as this church in Roscoff.

Die Zeit eilt, Die Zeit heilt - Rathaus St. Johann, Saarbrücken

I've only got a close-up of one, but the tower of the historic town hall in Saarbrücken has at least two clocks, each with a message. The meaning of "die Zeit eilt" is similar to "time flies", and could be linked to what we saw above: be aware of what time you may have left. The second clock cleverly adds one letter to that to make "die Zeit heilt": "time heals".

"How to use this sundial" - Piazza della Borsa, Trieste

In the ground in front of the Chamber of Commerce in Trieste is a sundial, but conspicuously, the hand is missing. That is because you are the hand! Taking astronomy into account, one should stand in a slightly different place depending on the season, and apply corrections to the minutes to get official time. It was cloudy when I saw this, so I'm afraid I don't have a nice picture of the sundial in action. The instructions are in Italian on the left side of the base.