Watched the films Abashiri Prison 1 and 2 today. Bit of background for both my Hokkaido trip (I’ll be visiting Abashiri and its Prison Museum) and for a show I’m watching, Dan Da Dan, where one of the characters is a fan of lead actor Ken Takakura.

Booked a November holiday in Hokkaido. Will be getting a railcard and roaming around a lot of locations (skipping Sapporo entirely, since I’ve done a lot of the top things there.)

Catching up on The Apothecary Diaries now the finale’s out.

Also saw the My Neighbour Totoro stageplay, which was very good. May write more about that later, out for a meal with my aunt and uncle soon.

For lunch today, went to a Chinatown restaurant and had chicken satay plus crispy pork on rice — straightforward choices but good.

An unusual example of latticework with an image in it.

Wooden frame of a teahouse, without the thin clay walls that would normally cover the lattices.

Old-fashioned Japanese saws. These developed from long two-man saws introduced from China about the 15th century, before that chisel-splitting was used instead.

An assemblage from the wooden pieces, representing the corner of a temple roof.

Went to a small exhibition at Japan House on Japanese carpentry. Historically, this used fairly few nails, performing joinery with complex cuts to the wood to fit them together instead.

Tomorrow will be seeing the stage version of My Neighbour Totoro.

Dinner at Mummy Pho’s in Woolwich — spicy chicken rice noodle soup and three-colour dessert with pandan jelly, mung beans and adzuki beans in coconut milk.

Greek food for lunch — stuffed vine leaves and grilled chicken.

Print of a carp from Hiroshige’s Edo series.

Some of Hiroshige’s bird prints.

A Hiroshige print and Vincent van Gogh’s imitation of it — Japanese prints teaching the West in this era inspired many artists. The outlines that Hiroshige uses to give form have been replaced by impressionistic brushstrokes.

This print shows women at the hot springs in Hakone.

Some prints were created in deliberate variations. In this case the versions are different times of day, with different seasons also common.

Don’t think I’ve seen this use of triptych in Japanese prints before — possibly resulting from limitations in printing on a large scale, being used simply to extend an image as here.

An early Hiroshige. Instead of the tranquil landscape and nature images he’s best known for, this illustrates the China-set kabuki play The Battles of Coxinga. The more stylised figures compared to his other works show it’s referencing the play rather than the history.

Went to the Hiroshige exhibition at the British Museum. He’s the second-best known Japanese woodblock print artist after Hokusai, particularly known for the 53 Stations of the Tokaido Road, a series of landscapes set at the stations on the road between Edo and Kyoto. This is the first, Nihonbashi.

Flying back to London tomorrow, spending two or three days before heading home.

Back to the Italian place near my hotel which I’ve been to twice before for dinner. Pizza Dialova this time, topped with spicy salami.

For lunch, a selection of Luxembourgish sausages. The reddish one, the Mettwurst, is the same as was in the soup I had yesterday. It’s smoky and garlicky, close to chorizo in taste without the paprika but a minced texture.

Have these faded or were they deliberately painted this way. If the latter, it’s funny how they’d predate most black-and-white/sepia associations we have today.

Much of the permanent exhibition was devoted to Dutch masters. This picture’s called “The King Drinks”

Went to the Villa Vauban art gallery. The temporary exhibition was on Jean-Pierre Beckius, a Luxembourgish Impressionist. Some paintings of his here.

Breakfast, with a Tresse Noisette and Cherry Streusel.

Last day in Luxembourg today, which I decided to make a quieter one so I could rest up a bit and pack.

Last full day tomorrow, likely to be a lighter one.

Bouchée a la Reine, another Luxembourg dish. Vol-au-vent filled with chicken and mushroom cream served as a main course. Having had a similar Belgian dish, I wasn’t surprised the sauce overflowed its casing. I *was* surprised it overflowed so far as to be continued in a separate bowl.

Fort Thüngen, one-time part of the fortifications of Luxembourg, now a military museum. The darker parts are original, the lighter a reconstruction after it was dismantled in the 1867 demilitarisation of Luxembourg.

Also visited the Art, History and Archaeology Museum. This Ronan frieze shows Homer and the nine Muses. Calliope the muse of epic poetry is at his side, being the most relevant to his art, the others are group round about.

The main course, Judd mat Gaardebounen. Smoked pork collar plus broad beans. Despite this being viewed as *the* Luxembourg dish, it was kind of hard to find somewhere serving it.

Bouneschlupp at lunch, a clear soup containing lots of vegetables plus smoked sausage and bacon. A traditional Luxembourg dish.

Unrealised design for the European Parliament building.

Vase presented to a military officer.

Quick version of Luxembourg’s history from the emphasised points in the museums: the building of a fort on the Bock promontory in 963 is seen as the founding of the city. At this time and for centuries afterwards it was part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Went to the City History Museum next. This is a statue of Melusine, who appears in a founding myth of Luxembourg which resembles the swan maiden/selkie wife story: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melusin... Another version of this statue is placed outdoors near the Alzette.

Stained glass in the lower level of the cathedral. There was a Mass being said up top, so I didn’t really look round there.

Fountain outside the cathedral. The basin is in a much brighter mural style than the rest suggests.

Entrance to Notre-Dame de Luxembourg.

Went round some of Luxembourg’s history museums today, as well as a brief visit to a cathedral and some gift-buying. So a rather busy day getting things I wanted to do done.

Tomorrow am planning to do some of the city museums — Monday was a closing day for virtually all of them — as well as walk round the Old Town proper rather than the lower reaches like today.

Dinner was margerita pizza, though. As I’ve mentioned, a lot of Italian restaurants in Luxembourg, and they tend to do good quality pizza.

Lunch was Gromperekichelcher, fried pancakes of shredded potato with onion and parsley, served with warm apple compote. Yes, I finally had a traditional local dish.

Remains of fortifications surrounding the Rham Plateau, which are less necessary today as it’s now a senior citizens’ care home.

The Grund Gate, a 17th-century gate to the upper town.

A lot of the Old Town buildings make extensive use of wall anchor plates.

Bin with “I’m hungry” written on it in Luxembourgish.