Christina Davis, “Border Patrol” | Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019),
dir. Céline Sciamma | Dulce María Loynaz, “Poem LVII” | Margaret Atwood, “Corpse Song”
Ok so there’s these tidal islands in Northern Germany that are connected by little tiny trains that you have to drive yourself, which is already delightfully ghibli-esque.
But then I found out UNTIL THE 196OS, THE TRAINS HAD LITTLE SAILS AND WERE WIND-POWERED?
THAT’S THE MOST GHIBLI THING TO EVER EXIST ON THIS PLANET, BRING IT BACK YOU MONSTERS.
Ok clearly, we just need a ghibli movie set in a world inspired by East Frisia, because in addition to the Sail-Wagons, they also have:
Windmills
Lighthouses
The world’s highest per capita tea consumption, with adorably ghibliesque tea ceremonies
Houses that look like this
Farms that look like this
Heart-shaped waffles (ok that’s everywhere in Northern Germany, but our adorable waffles deserve a ghibli cameo).
SEALS
East and North Frisia are absolutely beautiful regions. The rough, deep blue north sea on one side of the islands and the calm, mirror-like wadden sea on the other. The stiff, salty breeze. The rosehip bushes in the morning dew. The viking burial mounds strewn all over the fields. The Frisian Tea Ceremony with giant chunks of rock candy and cream so thick and fat you poor it carefully around the rim so it gathers at the bottom but rises up as cloudy columns. The pictures above are from my trip the the Morsum Cliff and Red Cliff in Sylt.
