In late July, I went on a four-day Japanese tour. Our first trip was one-day in Tokyo, and the highlight of my day was eating crepes at our last stop, Takeshita in Tokyo, which came as a surprise to me.

Unexpected encounters on a trip could easily surprise me. And when the surprise is connected to one of my favorite foods that was first tasted at a faraway place, the encounter becomes a story that I will tell repeatedly later. Food preserves beautiful memories which are rich and vivid.

I like crepes because it contains the Sichuan flavor that I am familiar with. Enjoying crepes is always a warm and sweet experience for me, because crepes cross my European, American, and Asian memories.

Our tour group visited Takeshita Street, our last stop of our one-day Tokyo tour, for a free activity. I strolled along the over 300-meter-long short street and looked around randomly without purpose. The small shops along with the crowds on the street reminded me of Chunxi Road in Chengdu in China in the 1980s. While strolling on Chunxi Road in Chengdu, I was a poor college student with a strong desire to buy things. Now strolling on Takeshita in Tokyo, I am a contented 60-year-old without worldly desires. I said to myself: “Time flies quickly and time has refined me nicely!”

Strolling freely amidst the bustling crowd, a small crepes shop caught my eye, because crepes awaken the happy moments I shared with my daughter vividly. I had my first taste of crepes which was bought for me by my daughter, in Wuerzburg, Germany. In 2017, at the Country Inn Cafe in San Jose California, I ordered a fruit crepes, chatted with my daughter while eating, and made a deep connection for crepes. In 2021, at my daughter’s friend’s house in Waltham, Massachusetts, I enjoyed Rachel’s home-made crepes with a variety of savory and sweet fillings alongside my son. I suddenly remembered that when I was studying in Chengdu, I went to Chunxi Road to eat egg-baked cakes, which I defined as Sichuan style crepes.

With these memories in mind, I happily went to the Tokyo shop, stood in line, and bought a basic crepes. I held the crepes as a souvenir to take photos on Takeshita Street joyfully.

(Two entrances of the Takeshita Street, the crepes I enjoyed on Takeshita Street.)

My daughter is always in my memory of crepes. Eating Japanese style crepes on Takeshita Street in Tokyo Japan also has my daughter’s present, as she planned this Japanese trip for me.

There are many stories about our one-day in Tokyo, but enjoying crepes is my favorite story today, which shows I am a high-end foodie.

After enjoying the crepes, I felt that the taste of crepes all over the world are similar: juicy, delicate, and soft. Crepes can be folded, rolled, and paired with various fillings, to easily present the charm of delicious food.

（The set of fruit crepes I ordered in the Country Inn Cafe in San Jose California in 2017.）

（The set of fruit crepes I made for myself in Rachel’s house in Waltham Massachusetts in 2021.）

One day tour in Tokyo

Our Japanese tour group consists of 14 people who are originally from California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Washington, all states from the United States. Our tour guide is an Indian with a Japanese green card. He is short, wears earrings, has a shaved head and a goatee beard. Because he wears pants in the sagging style of high school boys in the United States, I had difficulty guessing his real age.

Our one-day tour in Tokyo started at 10am. Under the scorching sun, the tour guide took us for a quick visit of the Imperial Palace East Garden, where the large stone walls were eye-catching. While bypassing the large stone wall, I saw that there were gaps and cracks between the stones, and I felt that the masonry process was very rough and could not be compared to the seamless masonry process of the giant stones in the Inca era Sun Temple in Cusco, Peru. The experience of previous traveling has been awakened during a journey, this is a truly satisfying pleasure for a traveler. I think the ancient people liked to show their strength by playing with giant stones, such as Stonehenge in Britain, Machu Picchu in Peru, Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area in China, and the stone wall of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

（Our tour group approaching the big stone wall while visiting the Imperial Palace East Garden in Tokyo.）

（The stone chamber in the Inca era Sun Temple in Cusco, Peru, 11-2023.）

Afterwards, we went to Asakusa Temple/Nakami Sei for free activities and individual lunch.

Asakusa Temple is small and crowded with people; Nakamise street is short with small shops along both sides. We went to the temple to pay money to shake bamboo tubes to seek fortune, and went to small shops filled with eye-catching goods for purchase on Nakamise street. The atmosphere here was very harmonious because visitors could easily obtain spiritual and material satisfaction in close proximity to one another.

I went to a small restaurant on the street near Asakusa Temple and asked for Wagyu beef, the waitress recommended the Black Haired Wagyu set meal, which cost over 5000 yen. She brought to me a serving tray with many dishes and bowls, and the Black Haired Beef was even placed with a piece of paper indicating “黑毛和牛” on the top. Each dining table is equipped with an open flame stone pan. The waitress lit up the pan on my table and told me, “If you’re not used to half cooked beef, please use the pan to fully cook it.” She also explained various beef dipping methods to me. At the table next to me sat an elegantly dressed elderly lady, and we studied each other silently using eye contact. I guessed she is a local.

After lunch, our tour group gathered at the Asakusa Temple, then took the subway to Shibuya to experience the Shibuya “Scramble Crossing”, when light is green, people flood the intersection from all directions. I felt this sightseeing is a bit boring, as I was grew up in crowded crowds in China and I don’t understand how a flood with people place became a tourist attraction. While crossing the road in a dense crowd, I saw a pretty lady asking four friends to take photos of her posture in the crowd from different directions. Imagining her “high” appearance from different angles in the photo, I smiled.

Then, we took the subway from Shibuya to Harajuku Takeshita for free activities, which brought me memories of and new stories of crepes, so I was overjoyed.

(Photo collections: Today’s weather in Tokyo, taking the subway, I’m at Asakusa Temple, my black haired Wagyu lunch, strolling around Nakami District, crossing Shibuya Cross Road, and at the entrance of Takeshita Road.)

Our Tour Guide

He has never been to the United States and speaks fluent American English because he attended a bilingual school in English and Japanese since childhood. After graduating from high school, he went to Canada to attend university for a year and missed home. He returned to Japan to attend Tmple University, where students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in four years, but he said it took him six years to graduate. After getting his bachelor degree, he became a tour guide, then the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. He had to switch to a job doing bilingual telephone services. Now, being a tour guide is his side job, and he is 31 years old single without a girlfriend. He has a younger sister who was studying remotely from home during the pandemic when she was in college. She is very good at studying and graduated in four years. She immediately started working in the government and recently switched jobs to a large energy company in Japan because corporate pays higher than the government does. They live with their father, who is an engineer, and their father cooks at home because their mother has passed away. His father has a car. he and his sister use public transportation as they don’t have cars.

Before getting my booster shot on Monday morning, according to the guidelines, I first drank 500 ml of water. While giving me the Moderna booster shot at CVS, the nurse said: “If the arm which received the shot hurts, you can take some painkiller.” “Do you think I will have a fever?” I asked. The nurse said, “Probably not.”. For the sake of safety, I rested at home for a day with no fever but a sore arm.

While resting at home, I thought of the almost-forgotten memory of this year’s Thanksgiving and the vivid details of it after recently chatting with my daughter, I suddenly felt that this forgetfulness might be because the aged memory easily sleeps during daily activities, but once we start to talk about the past, the almost-forgotten details of the past will appear. Perhaps chatting about sharing time helps with forgetfulness, because sharing time together is often one of the happiest activities in life.

While chatting with my daughter about our Thanksgiving this year, I remember she cooked new Thanksgiving-related dishes: roasted turkey, roasted pumpkin, and roasted sweet potato. A friend bought two bottles of white wine, one of which was Riesling. After we finished drinking the bottle of Riesling, Lucas, a German Ph.D. student, joked: “Of course I should have tasted the Riesling flavor that I am familiar with.” After finishing two bottles of white wine, we opened a bottle of red wine. Simon, Alex’s former roommate who came back to Boston for holiday from New York, brought a bottle of Japanese whisky, but we had no chance to open it. After finishing three bottles of wine, the alcohol in the air and in our stomachs inspired our conversation on the dinner table. Lucas wanted to experience the capsule hotel in Japan. He also showed us online photos of dozens of neatly stacked “capsules”, which can each accommodate one person, similar to a spaceship capsule. Alex wanted to visit the Romantic Road (Romantische Straße in German) in Germany, a road, from Würzburg to Füssen and about 350km. Romantic Road is rich in cultural landscapes, my daughter and I visited in September 2016. I was delighted to see Lucas’ authentic German fruit salad on the dinner table, as I really enjoy tasting authentic homemade food afar without leaving my home.

The holidays often paved nice ways in our memories. After relieving 2021′s Thanksgiving, I recalled the story of 2020′s Thanksgiving party. While in Germany, my daughter encouraged me, who was alone in Waltham, to hold a Thanksgiving party, as we were particularly isolated to avoid being infected by COVID-19 virus during the pandemic period of 2020. She suggested that I invite Rachel and her twin children and Grace andLou for Thanksgiving dinner. She also suggested that I roast a turkey. I had never roasted a turkey before, so I was planning to go to a Chinese supermarket to buy a roast duck instead (many Chinese families used roasted duck instead of roasted turkey on Thanksgiving). But she insisted that I roast a turkey. In order to please her, who was far away from home in Germany where Thanksgiving is not celebrated, I went to Costco and bought the smallest turkey home. Unexpectedly, my first roast turkey was very successful, everyone liked it. Lou’s specialty, braised pork belly in brown sauce, is also very popular. After Thanksgiving dinner, we played a Clue board game and ate delicious turnover desserts made by Rachel with different fillings such as blueberries, cranberries and apples.

Little Episodes

1. Thanksgiving in 2021: Walden Pond scenery, roasted sweet potato and roasted pumpkin made by my daughter, Lucas’ homemade German fruit salad, and other dishes.

2. Thanksgiving in 2020:
Colorful pepper, green asparagus, Clue game, our princess Kara, my roasted turkey, and Rachel’s turnovers.

Wine, tea, and Lou’s braised pork belly in brown sauce.

3. In September 2016, my daughter and I took a tour bus to visit the Romantic Road in Germany:

While sitting and walking in the flower blooming April court garden, I was not bothered by tearing nor sneezing, the common symptoms of pollen allergy, and I praised myself for my well-prepared trip, as I took with me eye drops to relieve itching, ginseng slices and ginger slices (a home remedy for treating pollen allergy), and alcohol-marinated garlic (used as sterilizing). Being a senior traveling alone, I pay careful attention to avoid getting sick and maintain a good appetite without diarrhea and constipation. To expedite going to the paid restroom, I prepared Euro in coins right after I arrived in Germany. Today, I planned to stay in the garden for an entire day because I knew someone knew about the nearby restrooms. But on the door of the very old restroom in the Residenz there are only German words without symbols. Thinking “Her” is female in English, I guessed “Herren” would be female in German, and I almost embarrassed myself. Actually, “Herren” refers to men and “Damen” refers to women. When I saw the men’s and women’s restrooms with symbols at Frankfurt Airport, I thought it was people friendly, so I took a picture.

When I met families in the garden, I usually took a few more looks at them, as I had noticed that flower loving families were relaxed and joyful while walking in a garden. Being a flower loving solo traveler who is often in a garden, I felt people who love flowers and family carry unspoken joy and kindness.

It was very apparent that people bypassing the bright red quince flowers did not stop to enjoy the quince, unlike the many people who stopped to enjoy the blooming magnolia and take photos of the magnolia flowers in the garden on the left side of the Residenz. Although bright red quince flowers have a big advantage over pale magnolia flowers in terms of color, the former is less-known than the latter and is ignored by many garden goers. Wandering around the quince bush, I tasted the subtle feeling of being left out in the cold from my favorite quince flowers, feeling pity for beauty in my leisure; wandering around the quince bush, I saw a spectacular natural bouquet: in front of the red quince and purple lilac was a large green wall with a door that was shaped by cornelian trees, and at the end of the green wall were blooming pink cherry and white magnolias. In this small corner, my mother’s favorite magnolia, my favorite quince, lilac, and cornelian all presented a panoramic view to me, which created an atmosphere with a vaguely floating feeling and a lingering emotion.

At dusk, a gardener riding on a bike around the gravel road of the garden called out that the garden would be closed soon in English. On my way back home after walking out of the garden, I was intoxicated with the pleasure of watching beautiful flowers all day in the garden and heard someone singing on the roadside from a distance.

Following the music, I went into a side road and saw a male singer sitting on a high chair and holding a microphone singing. There was a black stereo on the ground next to his chair playing the sound track and a green box for tips and a stack of brochures on the ground two meters in front of him. Looking at the scene behind the singer, the sunset splashed gold on the white building to make an elegant and bright artistic background for the singer, I thought he had the good taste to pick this place as his natural stage. Because it was late, the passer-by in a hurry didn’t stop to listen to his song. However, the singer who didn’t mind the missing audience sang beautifully with passion, so I stopped to listen to him sing to show my support. The more I listened to him sing, the more I liked his voice. After finishing the first song, he sang a second song, which was an American pop song that I was very familiar with. However, tonight this song impressed me more than ever before. After enjoying beautiful flowers in a garden for an entire day by myself, I enjoyed the beautiful male voice of “I say love, it is a flower” which was full of emotion. This lyric made me feel that flowers have a soul. After spending a day in the garden with me in their natural form, the flowers waited by the roadside to let the singer express their feelings in such a way that touched me deeply. I felt thankful to attend a special concert of American pop songs with the soul of flowers after doting on flowers in a German garden for an entire day. From the song, I heard my soul: “The flowers I love and my love are in harmony: love is a flower, and flowers contain love.”

Little Episodes

1. 04-16-2022, in this small corner, my mother’s favorite magnolia, my favorite quince, lilac, and cornelian all presented a panoramic view to me, which created an atmosphere with a vaguely floating feeling and a lingering emotion.

2. 04-16-2022, in the Wurzburg Residenz Court Garden in Germany, a threesome family bypassing the blooming quince, the father and the son who was on crutches walking side-by-side in front with empty hands, and the mother with two bags was walking behind wearily, a picture of a mother pampering two big boys:

I remember a scenery that I saw on Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz California a few years ago, a picture of parents pampering their teenage son. Then I remember that my neighbor and friends sighed: “Nowadays, lots of young men are spoiled by their parents” and that some mothers joked about treating their husband as a son. While looking at the threesome family bypassing the blooming quince, I felt that making casual jokes is one of the nice ways to laugh at oneself and feel a sense of relief.

08-2016, on the Natural Bridges State Beach, in Santa Cruz California, a threesome family enjoying the beach, the father on the left, the son in the center, and the mother carrying a big bag on the right.

04-13-2022，many people who stopped to enjoy the blooming magnolia and take photos of the magnolia flowers in the garden on the left side of the Residenz. 【looking at Magnolia】 At dusk, I sat in my favorite place watching magnolia, one of my late mother’s favorites, being loved constantly by many people… I told my mother: “You enjoyed this very beautiful scene, right?”

04-16-2022, people bypassing the bright red quince flowers did not stop to enjoy the quince and I felt sad for this:

3. I was asking my daughter where the restroom is and which one is for females.

04-21-2022, the men’s and women’s restroom with symbols at Frankfurt Airport:

4. At dusk, a singer is singing on the street.

5. The 1979 pop song “The Rose” written by Amanda McBroom. In my memory “I say love, it is a flower” was sung solely by female voices.
Some say love, it is a river, that drowns the tender reed
Some say love, it is a razor, that leaves your soul to bleed
Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need
I say love, it is a flower, and you, its only seed

Its the heart afraid of breaking, that never learns to dance
Its the dream afraid of waking, that never takes the chance
Its the one who won’t be taking, who cannot seem to give
And the soul afraid of dying, that never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed, that with the sun’s love in the spring becomes the rose

我在维尔茨堡官邸花园里意外地看到贴梗海棠之后，今天在复活节前的周六又去花园里逗留了一整天；在他乡、花为媒、浪费好时光。

在花季的花园里，我时走时坐一天居然没有遭受抹流泪或打喷嚏的花粉病骚扰，自我表扬准备工作好，随身带了减缓涩痒的眼药水、西洋参片和姜片（治花粉病土方子）、和自制酒泡大蒜（可以杀菌）。我觉得半百人独行远方的关键是不生病、能吃、能拉。为了方便方便，我一到德国就准备了很多欧元硬币，因为在德国方便是要付钱的。我敢在花园里呆一整天也是因为我知道有人知道在这附近方便的地方。官邸里的老式厕所没有图案只有德文，我以英文“Her”是“她”推测德文“Herren”是“女厕”，差点出洋相了。原来德文Herren指男厕，Damen指女厕；我在法兰克福机场见到有图案的男女厕觉得亲民就拍了一张照。

在花园里偶遇拖家带口的游人，我会多看上几眼，我发现爱花一家子在花园里举止放松神态愉悦。爱花闲游人在花园里与爱花又爱家的人们偶遇会感受并传递无言快意和善意。

我留意到路过红色的贴梗海棠花的游人都没有停下来欣赏那红花，不像在左侧花园里好多游人在玉兰花树下逗留拍照，虽然通红的贴梗海棠花在颜色上胜过淡雅的玉兰花几筹，看来前者比后者更阳春白雪鲜为人知。流连在贴梗海棠花四周，我欠欠幽幽地感受着她被冷落的滋味，闲情怜香；我一走一停四处观望眼前一亮看到一幅天然心仪花束：红色海棠和紫色丁香前面是花已凋谢的茱萸树修剪成的一个大大的绿色门墙，绿色门墙的尽头是盛开着的粉红色的樱花和白色的玉兰花。在这个小小的角落，妈妈喜欢的玉兰、我喜欢的海棠、丁香、和茱萸都尽收眼底，身临此景悠悠飘然朦朦情染。

在黄昏时，花园管理人员骑着自行车绕着花园的碎石路提醒游客花园要关门了（他说的是英文）。走出花园，我一路陶醉在与春花嬉戏一天养育出来的快意中，听到远处有人在路边献唱。

我顺着歌声走进岔道，看到一位男歌手坐在高高的椅子上拿着麦克风自唱，他椅子旁边的地上有一个黑色的音响放着伴奏曲，他前面两米远的地上有一个绿色的接受赏钱的盒子和一叠小册子。歌手身后斜阳余晖泼金白楼制作了一个雅致亮眼艺术的图案，我觉得歌手很会选天然舞台！因为天晚了行色匆匆的路人都没有停下来听歌，歌手不在乎没有听众，一个人充满感情尽心地用优美的歌声倾诉着，我就停下来站着听他唱歌为他捧场，我越听越觉得他的声音好听。他唱完一首歌后接着唱的第二首是我很熟悉的一首美国流行歌，但是今晚这首歌却给我留下了难忘的记忆。独自在花园里享受了一天的春花之后，享受到男声充满感情的“（我说爱是一朵花）I say love, it is a flower”的歌声，顿时产生强大共鸣。这句歌词让我觉得花有了灵魂能够表白。在花园里以天然形式陪伴我一天之后，花又特意等在路边让这位艺人以歌的形式和我缠绵。感恩老天恩惠，花痴独行的我在德国花园里沉醉于春花一天享受了静态的“花悦人”之后，又赶上一个有花魂的美国流行歌曲独特专场音乐会：“我说爱是一朵花”的优美歌声让我享受到登峰造极动态的“花悦人”。从歌声中我听出我的心声：“我爱的花和我的爱是和谐一体：爱是花，花含爱。”

小插曲

1. 在一个小小的角落，妈妈喜欢的玉兰、我喜欢的海棠、丁香、和茱萸都尽收眼底。红色海棠和紫色丁香前是茱萸修剪成的绿色门墙，绿色门墙的尽头是粉红色的樱花和白色的玉兰花：

2. 2022年4月16日，德国维尔茨堡官邸花园里路过贴梗海棠花的三口之家，父亲和拄着拐杖的儿子两手空空并排走在前面，拿着两个包的母亲疲乏地走在后面，一幅母亲呵护着两个大男孩的画面：

注视着这三口之家路过盛开的红贴梗海棠花，我想起几年前在加州Santa Cruz的天然拱桥州立海滩（Natural Bridges State Beach）见到的儿子和父母在海滩游耍的画面，一幅让我难忘的父母呵护着大男孩的画面。记得邻居和同学感叹过：“如今被父母宠惯大的男孩好像不少。” 还记得多次听人开玩笑说把老公当孩子养了。看着眼前的画面，我觉得闲暇时的玩笑是调侃人生释放自己不错的方式。
2016年8月，加州Santa Cruz的天然拱桥州立海滩上的三口之家，父亲在左、儿子在中、母亲在右背着大包：

2022年4月13日，好多游人在维尔茨堡官邸左侧花园的玉兰花树下流连拍照。【看玉兰】夕阳西下，坐在我喜欢的地方看妈妈喜欢的玉兰花不断地被人们喜欢着……我告诉妈妈：“您一定看到这场面很美好。”

2022年4月16日，路过红红贴梗海棠花的游人都没有停下来欣赏她。

3. 我问女儿厕所在哪，哪个是女厕：

我在法兰克福机场为有图案的厕所拍照：

4. 黄昏时在露天献唱的艺人和路过他的行人：

5. 1979年的流行歌曲“The Rose” （Writer: Amanda McBroom）。记忆中这首歌都是女声，今晚优美男声“我说爱是一朵花”很别致。
Some say love, it is a river, that drowns the tender reed
Some say love, it is a razor, that leaves your soul to bleed
Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need
I say love, it is a flower, and you, its only seed

Its the heart afraid of breaking, that never learns to dance
Its the dream afraid of waking, that never takes the chance
Its the one who won’t be taking, who cannot seem to give
And the soul afraid of dying, that never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed, that with the sun’s love in the spring becomes the rose

出发前，我从Greta那里打听到她喜欢的几个巴黎景点，其中之一是Sacre Coeur。Greta说：“Sacre Coeur是一个大学生爱逗留的地方，可以俯视巴黎，建筑不太同于市区的巴黎建筑。”她的介绍增添了这个景点的吸引力，我在巴黎的第二天就坐地铁去了。

不知为什么，谷歌地图为我在巴黎乘车指路时只推荐地铁，我恐地下深处也恐地铁的声音，所以我在巴黎坐地铁时喜欢提前一两个车站出来缩短恐慌时间。今天我提前一个地铁车站出来，沿着步行线路往山上走去Sacre Coeur。上坡的路很窄也没特色，我走得有些茫然无趣，突然听到歌声。我顺着歌声看去，看到一个戴着撮箕帽留着大胡子的艺人一边用手摇着一个乐器一边唱着歌，他身后有一个很小的花园。歌声给我提神也吸引我走进那小花园，小花园左边有一堵墙，墙上有好多白色的文字，墙脚前簇拥着成双成对的伴侣在亲吻拥抱中拍照。我走近墙脚抬头仔细看墙上的文字，看到墙上“我爱你”中文旁边有一段古文像女儿学的古代语言希泰语（Hittite），我立刻拍照发给女儿，她回答说：“这是Grace学的语言：Akkadian。” 原来墙上有来自世界各地的250种语言和方言的“我爱你”，这个地方叫爱墙。

看着爱墙前的情形和比波士顿开得更早的棣棠花，想到爱花的妈妈和爱旅游的爸爸，我默默地对爸爸妈妈说：“这个地方叫爱墙，狭窄拥挤但浪漫有情趣，因为好多情侣在拍亲昵合影。”想了想，我又说：“我爱您！因为您的陪伴，我感受到天地间的父女情趣和母女情趣，深埋心底，无需浪漫。”

在Sacre Coeur山顶，一个西方景点，看着铁栏杆上挂满情侣锁，我突然想起泰山，一个东方圣地，挂满情侣锁的玉皇顶。仔细一想，我见过挂满情侣锁的地方真不少；情侣锁浪漫有情趣，从西方到东方都流行。听朋友说好多景点情侣锁满为患，太多太重的锁必须定期处理掉，所以只有留在心间的爱才会长存。我在心里寻找着我的浪漫有情趣：写祝福，点河灯，希翼河水载着河灯也载着祝福…… 那是大学毕业30年同学聚会后与大学同学一起夜游平乐的经历。

今天是我在巴黎的第二天，我走了近25英里，晚上躺在旅店的床上回放白天的精彩，Sacre Coeur首当其冲。因为浪漫有情趣汇到一起：走爱墙、看情侣锁、回忆泰山玉皇顶情侣锁、也回忆四川平乐河灯。不过我觉得最合我口味的浪漫有情趣是远在美国波士顿公园里那棵星玉兰大树。星玉兰伤痕累累大树干上记载着爱花人爱的誓言。想一想，花前月下的浪漫有情趣常伴有伤痛和承担，恰似这棵星玉兰大树干，伤痛过承担着。

小插曲

1. 爱墙和爱墙前自摇自唱的大胡子艺人：

2. 爱墙上的古代语言：
“我爱你”阿卡德语（Akkadian），是三千多年前的楔形文。

“我爱你”苏美尔语（Sumerian），是五千多年前的楔形文。

3. 爱墙前比波士顿开得早的棣棠花：

4. 2011年3月29日，波士顿公园的伤痕累累的星玉兰大树干：

【春游记】周一下午波士顿公园：星玉兰花，娇嫩盈盈盛开。星玉兰干，伤痕累累示爱。人少、风大、景色好。

5. 2016年5月24日，泰山玉皇顶上的挂满情侣锁的地方：

【登泰山】昨早来了一个说走就走的旅行，乘头班高铁到泰安。上午十点钟从红门步行登山，下午五点钟到达南天门。一路辛苦一路汗，一路圣山一路字。今早三点半起，四点出发看日出，然后登上泰山玉皇顶。“登泰山而小天下”。圣山圣人！

6. 2015年7月22-23日，大学毕业30年同学聚会之后，平乐夜游写祝福点河灯：

【有情趣】同学同游平乐乐无穷！深夜的白沫江边，河灯送祝愿。清晨的剑仙楼上，妹妹等情郎。

成就感

疫情两年半之后，我第一次坐飞机出远门，昨天从波士顿起飞，今早抵达法兰克福机场，然后从机场坐ICE火车到达维尔茨堡已经11点过了。我在维尔茨堡根据移动地图的指引找到了女儿租的学生公寓大概地址却误入临近大楼。当我终于打开我从未来过的房门就非常开心，可惜我的开心很快被随即而来的问题冲走了。没有网络，网络服务器没指示灯，房间里根本没电；我找到电源保险开关又不懂德文，听楼下有人说话就下楼敲开邻居的门进去学习保险开关的正常装置。在这楼上楼下忙碌中，女儿发来新指示：“你去信箱拿信，打开来自XXX的最近的信，然后拍照发给我。”女儿看到我拍的XXX的信后说：“房间的电源被拉闸了，因为拖欠电费太久。你拿着这封信去XXX办事处缴费，电源就会通了。”

我根据移动地图引导来到XXX办事处，看到其门口居然按上了红黄绿的标准交通灯，暗叹此处有官气。我在门外排队等到绿灯进门，大厅里一位门卫把我指到一个服务窗口，可那里的工作人员不懂英文。我又重新等候到一位懂英文的工作人员，Karen，她看了我的信后说：“你实际欠款比信上写的多。我们这里不负责收费，我如果重新给你开出欠款单，你必须在24小时之内去收费的地方缴费。然后打这个电话请求打开电闸。”拿到崭新的账单，我却交钱无门；一位不懂英文又很热心的本地人看了我的账单后说了一堆话，我听到了“dm”，恍然大悟，“dm”是一个收钱的地方。

去“dm”交了电费欠款后，我和美国本土的手机客服联系上希望开通国际通话，客服说：“你打电话到德国每分钟25美分，无需特别开通。”我用美国手机在德国打国际长途电话给维尔茨堡负责开电闸的机构请求开电闸。因为好久没有打过国际电话了，我纠结了好久，已经怀疑脑痴了才打通了电话。我现在记住了把本地电话变通成国际电话应该：011（是国际）49（是德国）XXXXXXXXX（本地电话）。电话打通了，可我又听不懂机器人说的德文，无法在电话里选择下一步；最后我只好又回到XXX办事处求助，在被不懂英文的工作人员敷衍后，我恳求门卫让我去见到Karen并告诉她：“我用国际长途打了开电闸的总机号，因为不懂德文不能联系到具体的人，您能不能帮我打一下电话请求打开电闸？”Karen想了想，拿出一个窄长有两指宽小屏幕的老式手机打通了电话，我站在一边听着她说着我不懂的语言干着急。她打完电话后说：“已经快四点了，负责开电闸的人四点下班，不知道他今天有没有时间到你那里去开电闸，如果今天不行，明天一大早他就会去开电闸。你现在回到公寓大门等着，希望你走运。”一直跟踪进程的女儿建议：“今晚我给你在就近找一个旅馆住好吗？”我回到公寓门口忐忑不安左顾右盼了好久，终于等到了高大和善的Steve，他说他已经开通了电闸。为了更稳妥，我又请他一起上楼进屋核实我房间有电了。在感谢他的同时还征得他同意为他拍了照。

达到德国的第一天，饿着肚皮折腾了四个多小时后，女儿公寓的电和网络都工作了。和女儿视频之后，我带着无人分享的成就感赶到维尔茨堡官邸花园去享受春色酬劳自己，因为几年前我就听说过：“四月的维尔茨堡官邸花园非常美。”

四月的维尔茨堡官邸花园

我从维尔茨堡官邸左侧的铁门走进左侧花园，看到花园中四棵玉兰树上花开得正欢，花园草坪一尺见宽的边儿开着艳丽多姿的时令鲜花；花园边金黄的银翘花很显眼，紧靠着大殿左侧的三排古老的樱花开始泛红了。盛开着玉兰花的大树下陆陆续续不停有人在拍照，看着那画面，我告诉妈妈：“您喜欢的玉兰花开的正欢，好多人在为玉兰花拍照，玉兰花真的很招人喜欢。”

我绕着左侧的花园走了几圈，游人多在此赏花拍照；我就漫步到大殿后面的大花园，那里比较清静。在四月天的维尔茨堡官邸大花园，漫走在高墙下大花园上面的碎石坡路上，我一边走一边和爸爸妈妈分享这里的风景和记忆中的美好：空旷灰暗的大花园曾有过“新人拍婚纱照的“阳光灿烂场面；春天光秃秃的玫瑰树干在秋季会开着玫瑰花，那里的长椅上中曾坐过一位读报的“俏大叔”；高高的爬满绿叶的墙头曾有一位“时髦女郎”枕着背包享受日光浴。和天国父母一起分享这些片段也许是独行客千里迢迢重游异地的精华之一：独自静静地与心上人分享记忆镶嵌于短暂逗留异地的宝石。这种分享让我更懂得成年人的记忆，模糊着平淡岁月却铭刻着润心瞬息，已经变得很挑剔了。

走到大花园上大平台，环视下面的花草树木时，我突然看到下面一棵大树的角落边有一抹红，我远远地觉得那是盛开的贴梗海棠花！我匆匆从大花园的平台碎石路走到坡下大树旁，果然看到两大笼盛开的红色贴梗海棠花。

妈妈教会我爱花之后，贴梗海棠是我自己渐渐喜欢上的一种花。近年来，贴梗海棠花似乎对我格外眷恋，常出现在眼前出现在记忆里：老家自贡蜀光母校山上的海棠是故知，美国CUA母校图书馆旁边的海棠是挚友，加州公路边的海棠是难友，金门公园的海棠最具风采，麻州水库边的海棠展新颜。今天维尔茨堡官邸花园角落的海棠仿佛是特意地为我的成就在喝彩，是新欢。

我看着盛开的贴梗海棠花静静地“嗨”：我闻了没有花香的贴梗海棠；仔细端详了五瓣海棠花，每个花瓣都呈现着丰富的曲线美，每朵花都各具姿色耐看又讨人喜欢；我轻轻地抚摸待放的花苞享受怜香情。贴近花丛端详许久之后，我好奇地绕着大花园走了几圈发现这花园里只有这两笼贴梗海棠。我又回到贴梗海棠边去感受当年种花人的情怀，我看到一幅天然的巨型插花艺术：盛开的红海棠，左邻盛开着金黄色花的银翘，背靠满枝头紫色花苞的丁香，右侧远方高台上有几棵泛红的樱花。此时此地，我觉得我和一位花痴古人相遇相知了，很神奇。

再次花缘贴梗海棠，意外相逢快乐极限：花缘，美丽单纯

小插曲

1. 天然的巨型插花艺术：盛开的红海棠，左邻盛开着金黄色花的银翘，背靠满枝头紫色花苞的丁香，右侧远方高台上有几棵泛红的樱花。

2. 大树旁的一抹红和近看耐看的贴梗海棠花：

3. 泛红的三排樱花树：

4. 空旷灰暗的大花园：

5.安装了交通灯的办事处：

6. 我在德国用美国手机打国际长途的纠结：

7. 女儿对我的鼓励和热心的Steve：

In the morning, my daughter who had just come back from a week-long camping trip and I went to the Country Inn Cafe in Almaden Valley for breakfast.

I ordered a set of fruit crepes, and my daughter ordered a chiken walnut waffle. She also asked to add bananas, instead of chicken, to the top of waffle and put the chicken on a separate plate. The chicken she ordered came along with a dipping sauce. I tried a piece of dipped chicken, it was crunchy with strong flavor of dipping sauce, delicious.

In the sunny autumn morning in California, while sitting next to a window in the cafe, I slowly enjoy my fruit crepes, beautiful and tasty, which awaken some sweet memories.

I asked my daughter: “Do you still remember that you introduced crepes to me, in Wurzburg last October?”

“Of course, I remembered. It was in a festival, I ordered a crepes from the street side mobile truck, because you asked me what are crepes.”

“Eating crepes always reminds me about a famous Chengdu dish, DanHongGao, which has a flavor similar to crepes.”

“Sure, the mild flavor of crepes just fits your taste.” My daughter was happy to extend the theory of crepes has the same flavor of DanHongGao for me, because she knew my taste very well.

I don’t like to eat very sweet food, because I grew up at a time where buying candy required government-issued coupons. For example, brownies are one of the popular party sweets here, and they are also my children’s favorite. However, I rarely eat brownies because they are too sweet for me.

My children love sweets, just fit into a folk saying: “Growing up coated with sugar.” Because desserts in the United States are usually very sweet, my children were well-trained to have a magnanimous attitude toward sugar from various parties starting from kindergarten.

While studying ancient languages in Germany, my daughter also noticed that American desserts are usually sweeter than the German ones. With the mindset of a historian, my daughter explained that during the Second World War, in the United States, citizens were not limited on sugar supplies, but in Germany sugar was mainly for the military and citizens had very limited sugar supplies. When I was little, we also had very limited sugar supplies. Therefore, nowadays, desserts in China and Germany usually aren’t so sweet as desserts in the United States.

The crepes introduced to me by my daughter carry a familiar Sichuan flavor.

Enjoying crepes in the United States is always a warm sweet experience for me, because crepes crosses my European, American, and Asian memories. Sweet food retains a sweet memory…

Little Episodes

1. The set of fruit crepes I ordered：

2. My son is faraway from home. The gardenias, which I planted for my son at the front of the house, were blooming happily today. Though the flowers have a delicate fragrance, instead of a summer aroma, I felt the fragrance carried the blessings of my whole heart.

Travelers often experience joyful surprises away from home.

Travelers who love flower and plant will likely encounter strange fruits and experience joyful surprises, in autumn, away from home in a garden, which was what I had experienced in Wurzburg.

On one autumn morning, I went to a garden. In the garden, little shiny red fruits in the dew-dropped green leaves gleamed and called at me to stop. I stopped and bent down to take photos of it.

While taking a photo of the red fruit, I was surprised to see purple fruits and black fruits hidden in the green leaves, and I joyfully kept their beautiful images too. I thought I captured the actual sizes of the three autumn fruits I saw in the garden. However, when I enjoyed the photos later, I found that my lens had unified the size of the fruits, because I knew they are different in size. This is probably due to the fact that my eyes are used to some specific size.

My subconscious tendency and preference had already affected the fruits before the photo was taken. The readers, who have never seen the three fruits before, would naturally think that these three fruits are of the same size after looking them on individual photos. This is unintentionally misleading. I sincerely think that the photos of the autumn fruits I took are true portrayals, but they are not…

By convention, we all aware that different trees, although they have experienced the same spring-time effects to reach maturity in autumn, will produce fruits of different sizes. While looking at the individual photographs of the three autumn fruits, readers may not bring up their awareness of different sizes of fruit, but just undoubtedly think the three fruits on the photos are the same size.

This situation reminds me of how nowadays we are bombarded with information on social media via mobile devices. Due to the lack of editorial corrections and high productivities, news reports and personal blogs are 24/7 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) surging continuously on social media. And many accounts carry the author’s subconscious or conscious personal perspectives, which could mislead the readers a lot, similar to my pictures of the three autumn fruits.

We need to continuously accumulate knowledge and establish our own rules to reduce unnecessary anxiety caused by being confused about excessive information. So that we can avoid being overwhelmed or choked even when swimming in today’s ocean of information.

I hope our society can consciously reduce the amount of misrepresentations that an overwhelming amount of information may cause.

In addition, in the era of big data, anyone who analyzes data with a predetermined purpose may make up values to reach said purpose… At this time, it is largely dependent on the conscientiousness and wisdom of big data players.

Chinese Version

03-04-2018

To let my guests try authentic home-made Chinese dishes, I racked my brains to come up with a list of dishes. After I made my decision I bought, washed, and cut the meat. Then I bought, sorted, and washed the vegetables. And finally I steam cooked, fried, and boiled them as I planned.

After cooking for more than half a day, I managed to fill a whole table with home-made Chinese dishes. However, the story here is not about those dishes but about the steam cooked rice I made effortlessly.

My guests were four members of an American family, and I wanted to treat them like family.

I followed my hometown Zigong’s eating habits: The main dishes are placed on the table for everyone to enjoy, while everyone has their own rice in a rice bowl for themselves.

Before we started our dinner, I explained: “In our family, we eat rice with every meal, this way the flavor is amplified by the contrast between the plain rice and the tasty dishes.”

The youngest guest is the almost two year old little girl, K, and this is her first time eating Chinese food. When she saw the strange Chinese food on the table, she had no appetite. Her mother told her: “Just try your rice.”

K looked at the rice in the bowl in the front of her, maybe the white rice didn’t look strange to her. She started to use her fingers to put rice into her mouth. After a few bites of rice, she started repeatedly saying: “I like rice.” while eating the rice.

K had just started to enjoy using word to express herself. I felt K’s childish voice repeating “I like rice” released very pure and natural feelings, it sounded so sweet and tender.

K finished her small bowl of rice, then she also picked up the rice stuck on her clothes and ate them as well. Her mother joked: “K really likes rice, we probably need to buy a rice cooker for K.”

Children’s natural instincts on accepting new food are biased towards food have pleasant appearances, mild smells and good taste.

Pure white rice does not look gross, has no smell, and tastes just a little bit sweet. All these things combined to let K enjoy the rice. Little K had great taste, because she immediately liked the most authentic Chinese food, rice.

Sometimes, large efforts may not bring out the expected result. Sometimes, the simplest things are the most desired. Wisdom comes from practice.

Chinese Version

09-09-2016.

Try Authentic German Cuisine

Today is my fourth day in Wurzburg Germany. My daughter and I went to a German restaurant, which has been in business since 1951 and located at a busy intersection, to try some authentic German cuisine.

We sat on the roadside next to restaurant, so we could see the traffic on the street while eating. I heard locals like to eat this way.

I ordered a big dish: roasted pork shank, cheese needle, two big potato balls, and half a liter of beer.

The roasted pork shank is a traditional dish of Bavaria where Wurzburg resides. My pork shank tasted a little bit like my hometown Zigong’s famous dish NiuFoHongZhou. But I felt my hometown’s pork shank is more tasty than the one I was having. NiuFoHongZhou is a very famous dish with a long history, it was a imperial palace tribute from the Qing dynasty (1662 – 1722).

I lived in the United States for more than 20 years after leaving my hometown Zigong. Today I am sitting on the side of the street eating pork shank, and yet the flavor and the color of the pork shank brought me back to my faraway hometown of Zigong.

“Memory is a messy courtyard with many doors, you don’t know what winds will blow open which door at what time.”

To remember delicious food is always a warm sweet feeling for me, I guess this is probably one of the reasons that travelers enjoy eating local food, to collect warm sweet memories from far away.

Children born in the 90′s enjoy fries, my daughter ordered a special side of fried potato slices. The potato slices here are fried in oil, they are very crunchy unlike the soft French fries from McDonalds’.

While eating, I saw convertibles of many colors and many brands passing by at the busy cross section. Before we left the restaurant, I could not resist shooting a few photos of the convertibles on the street, I was very happy to know that convertibles are not only California cars, but can also be found in Wurzburg.

Lilacs

After a satisfying meal with good food and beer, we took the leftover food and walked back home. I saw a familiar bush with light purple flowers in the garden outside the apartment building. I climbed up to the garden to smell the light purple flowers and smelled the strong sweet smell of lilac. I told my daughter joyfully: “This is a lilac bush, a flower filled with poetic flavor and romantic feelings.” It is too bad, she didn’t felt anything, because I never planted lilacs in our garden.

Buying a Bike

Lots of Germans ride bikes, so my daughter and I went to the bike shop to buy a bike.

The sales lady in the shop had silver colored nails. My daughter commented on how beautiful her nails were. The sales lady proudly replied: “My nails are real and not artificial. So my nails have different length.”(My daughter translated this for me).

I could not understand German, so I stood there silently observing: the sales lady is very pretty with hoarse voice, it sounds like she is a long time smoker.

I noticed lots of Germans smoke and many cigarette vending machines were on the street, some are very close.

Every country has its own problems.

Traveling abroad lets me treasure what I have.

A Few Episodes

Start eating happily:

Zigong’s famous dish NiuFoHongZhou on Baidu:

Niufo roasted pork shank is a specialty snack in Zigong Sichuan. Niufo is a thousand-year-old town in southern Sichuan, the famous chef in Niufo developed this roasted pork shank, therefore it is named Niufo Roasted pork shank.

This dish was a court tribute as early as the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. This dish has a unique flavor of brown-red color, fresh taste, moderate saltiness, tender meat, rich aroma, and fat but not greasy. It is suitable for people of all ages.