2015-04-05: Showing Off Skills

Ewa's desire to roam is increasing. I can show off all the things I have figured out through trial and error. This makes me seem like a better catch and reinforces Ewa's choice to wander the world with me as a Good Thing tm.

I was told Pipi from the poster the other day means young girls fashion. Neither the sound nor the meaning make him a good catch. I rarely say PeePee in public and almost never talk about girls fashion. His grumpy wife would scoop me up if I was available.

Today. The Subway. I like trains so it was the first useful thing I taught myself here.

They drive on the left here! Why walk on the Right? Sometimes I think there is a big joke no one is telling me.

We caught the train in to Nagoya Station. When Ewa came through last time she was tired and in pain and didn't appreciate the huge towers or shops. Also I figured we could run up to the 51st floor and book her a hair cut or beauty treatment or something else Lady Like Looking out over the Landscape.

Or we could looks at shops instead

Cultural Observations: Heavy Metal Fonts

Heavy metal in the late 70's and Eighties went crazy for umlauts. Didn't matter if it made no sense, they looked cool. Motley Crue is boring, Mötley Crüe is cool (even if pronouncing the umlauts breaks the meaning of the name and I think ü is a made up letter).
Poland has started using Scandinavian letters in places where they make no sense.
Nord Fisk makes sense; Nørd Fisk makes no sense but sounds like Nerd Fish, I pictured fish which had bad social skills, but at least they were at school (ahahaha, oh lord, I kill me)

Finnish? The Value of the Wave?

Japan has gone crazy with this. As is so common with the Japanese culture they appear to have decided to go Balls to the Wall Hardcore.

Japan liked French baking so they went crazy with it and, arguably, perfected it. They win International baking and patisserie competitions fairly regularly now I am told.

A Tree in a Mall? We can perfect that!

Japan liked Chinese weapons so they made the Katana. Doing things half arsed is something they would probably try to perfect if they ever thought it was cool.

Google No Like!

So if Americans can grab an umlaut or two Japan can grab three.

Rating: 7/10 (I like it as I can try making google translate them while Ewa looks at clothes)

Twelfth and Thirteenth floor are dedicated to restaurants. There is an International Beer Cafe. Shopping is hard work and I like beer.

Looks pretty bistro-ish

For some reason they have decided smoking can only be done at the bar. And that you can only use it for smoke breaks from your table. Except there were locals that had camped out at the bar smoking so I don't know what the deal really was.

In France these wouldn't worry me, especially if they were a bit more beaten up, could still be a basic bistro. Here it is rarely a good sign of the Casual Haphazard Elegance I like in a bistro.

Beer menu was good. All the usual Belgian suspects on there including Rochefort 10 at $15 or so which is pretty common pricing outside of Belgium.

Sausages and mustard were actually very good.

All in all not really our scene so we scurried down to the basement for the food hall. Note that the food hall does not have an area to sit down and eat your purchases that I can find. This seems a terrible oversight to me but is probably cultural.

Speaking of cultural, I love the AutoAwesome gif that google made of this. When my legs are sore and I want shots from a low level I aim the camera vaguely and just take a series of shots as I reach down with the camera. Goggle often stitches them together in little animations. This one is cool.

Food hall is basically two areas. I think the official designation is "Savoury Stuff" and "Sweet Stuff". This is bollocks.

It is actually "Look how Incredible we are at our Traditional Foods" and "Oh Yeah we can Kick Your Arse at your stuff too". We are tired now so we will do the "Kicking Your Arse" section another day.

Food & Beverage Review: Sandwich Cakes (I Think These Are Traditional)

A sandwich cake with Red Bean or a White filling

Wrapped up pretty. Do not expect purchases in the Food Hall to be fast. Everything gets wrapped pretty or wrapped with little ice packs or something to make it a special occasion

Red Bean wins. I should have noticed that the guys making them were making 1/12th white and 11/12ths red and purchased according. Instead I got three of each. I will call this choice being impartial and open, not being an oblivious idiot.

Rating: 6/10 (They are okay but I don't really get the Japanese Sweet Bean flavour yet)

On the way home we stopped off at Shogen (The Tigers Bar) to double check our thoughts regarding the best wings in Nagoya. We order a plate of 5. They are definitely the best we have had yet. Then we order another couple of plates of 5. And they came with the cabbage and dipping sauce which is the best dipping sauce for cabbage we have had yet.

Third Plate, Still Happy.

The Dragons don't even have a dedicated bar I can find yet. I am wondering if the best Team Fan Bars are in cities which are not the home cities. Maybe in Kyoto I can find a Dragons Bar.