Who Lives Sees,but Who Travels Sees More

By Sylvia Yang

你為什么遠行？因為這樣你就可以回來。你可以用全新的視角去審視那個你屬于的、離開的又回歸的地方，而那里的人們也會用不同的眼光去看待你。兜兜轉轉一圈，雖然重新回到原點，那感覺也是完全不一樣的。

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”

—— Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky1. A Hat Full of Sky: 英國著名幻想小說家特里·普拉切特的小說《帽子里的天空》。

People have travelled more often than before. As Terry Pratchett said, when you go away from where you live, the final destination is always coming back to it. Since the starting point is also the terminal one, what’s the meaning of going away or travelling? The key point, to my understanding, is the observation and digestion of what we see, hear and feel on the way. We feel refreshed when we come back to the familiar place, because what we have experienced makes us see it differently. We may even get an epiphany2. epiphany: 對事物真諦的頓悟。sometimes. Going away and coming back gives us a real and vivid experience which will be embedded in our mind and get recalled in later life from time to time.3. 出發和回來給了我們一個真實的、生動的體驗，這種體驗銘刻于我們的記憶中，并讓我們在以后的人生中不斷回味。vivid: 生動的，鮮明的；be embedded in: 嵌入。Several years or decades later, the places we’ve been to and what we’ve experienced in those places will become the real fortune, which is more precious than any material wealth.

Travelling is one of the most important parts of my life. In the UK, Easter4. Easter: 復活節，每年春分月圓之后的第一個星期日，是紀念耶穌基督在十字架受刑死后復活的節日。vacation is usually as long as three to four weeks, which gives me a chance to travel around the Europe. Here’s my first taste of travelling alone in the continental Europe.

As for destinations, without any doubt, France came to my mind as the first choice, because I was interested in French culture and lovely small towns.Besides, as I studied French for two years, travelling to France would be helpful to improving my fluency in French. My second choice was the one that most girls would love to make: Greece, specifically, its romantic white island Santorini surrounded by the azure Mediterranean Sea.5. island Santorini: 圣托里尼島，是愛琴海諸島中較有名氣的島嶼；azure: 蔚藍的；Mediterranean Sea: 地中海。Thirdly, I chose Italy,which is geographically located between them. As a result, my destinations were France, Italy and Greece in that order.

C’est la vie,6. C’est la vie: 法文“這就是生活”。 France

My first stop was Paris. Even though Paris is quite big, I decided to explore it on foot so as to embrace the romantic and artistic Paris atmosphere as much as possible. Since my hostel was located in Montmartre in the north of Paris,7. hostel: 旅館；Montmartre:蒙馬特，位于巴黎北部。I started my city walk from that area. There were plenty of small shops of art works, chocolate and bars which were well decorated with an artistic style.Different from the cafés in China, Paris cafés and bars usually offer outdoor seats and tables so that customers can chat and sit next to each other while enjoying their food, drink and the splendid sunshine at the same time. Some Parisians8. Parisian: 巴黎人。were walking their dogs on the street.Others were having sun bath in front of the most visible landmarks of Paris: Sacre-Coeur9. Sacre-Coeur: 圣心大教堂，位于巴黎的蒙馬特高地至高點上，以其視角廣闊，景色如畫而聞名。at the highest point of the city.

After walking for an hour and half, I finally reached the worldwide well-known Eiffel Tower.Disappointingly, when I saw it in reality for the first time, it didn’t look as breath-taking10. breath-taking: 驚人的，令人屏息的。as I had expected. It looked more like a thing constructed with brown rotted11. rotted: 破損的，被腐蝕的。irons. I only took some pictures and then walked away. While I was sitting on a bench to rest, an old man’s voice attracted my attention, “Bonjour!” (“Hi”in English) When I turned around, I found the voice came from an old French man. I responded with “Bonjour!” and started to look him up and down. He was wearing a casual beige jacket and a light blue shirt inside.12. casual: 隨便的；beige: 米黃的。He might be my grandpa’s age as he had grey hair and a face with many wrinkles. He couldn’t speak fluent English,so we talked to each other switching among English, French and body language.Travelling alone in a foreign country for the first time made me alert when strangers approached me. I tried to avoid disclosing13. disclose: 公開，透露。any personal information and even thought about running away. Luckily, not all strangers are dangerous.This old man turned out to be friendly. He was hanging around in the city centre for the weekend, because he lived in a relatively distant area. Finally, he became my tour guide and introduced some interesting places to me while we were walking along the River Seine14. River Seine: 塞納河，是流經巴黎市中心的法國第二大河。. We said good-bye to each other when it became dark.

When I was about to go back to the hostel, something shiny in the dark sky drew my attention. It was the Eiffel Tower! The unattractive rotted iron Eiffel Tower suddenly became a diamond in the dark night. Its whole body was covered by dazzling orange lights, which sparkled and shined hourly. That was truly amazing. At that moment, I finally understood why it was such an extraordinary landmark of Paris.

Up to now, I have visited Paris three times, but whenever I went to Paris, I found something interesting that lured me to go back again and again. There are so many things to explore in Paris, the food, the art, the monumental places, areas of cultural conflict, museums and galleries.

Those are the legacy of history and human intelligence. With an artistic air added, Paris becomes even more charming and adorable15. adorable: 可愛的。.

Pizza and gelato16. gelato: （意大利語）冰淇淋。, Italy

After visiting other two small towns in France, I went to the city of water, Venice. It is not only surrounded by the sea, but also connected internally mainly by waterway. If the city is like the lung, blood streams are the rivers and bridges providing waterway to transport people, food and other goods. Due to the lack of solid land, roads in Venice were built too narrow to drive a car, let alone buses. Clothes, jewelry designers and fine art17. fine art: 藝術作品。artists ran their own shops on both sides of narrow roads which receive the major volume of tourists. Apart from traditional souvenir shops, there were lots of shops selling glass art works, because a small island near Venice,called Bruno, is famous for its high quality and fine art made from glass.

As for food, apart from spaghetti, Italy is represented by its thin, crispy and large Pizza.18. spaghetti: 意大利式細面條；crispy: 酥脆的。Although I’ve tasted so-called Italian pizza in the UK, it’s still worth trying the original one. I ordered my first piece of pizza from a take-away restaurant. Either the way of cooking it or the ingredients19. ingredients: 成分，材料。made it taste much better than pizzas in the UK. After finishing my first piece, I instantly ran to buy the second one like a glutton20. glutton: 貪吃的人。. Having wolfed21. wolf: v. 狼吞虎咽地吃。down two pieces, I thought it was high time to have some Italian gelato (“ice cream” in Italian). To be honest,I am not a gourmand, but I agree with the saying “Food is the paramount necessity of the people”.22. 實話說，我并不是一個美食家，不過我認同“食物是人類至高無上的需求”這一說法。gourmand: 美食家；paramount: 最重要的，至高無上的。There’s no better thing than walking around an old town with a cone of ice cream23. cone of ice cream: 圓筒冰淇淋。in hand in a sunny day. I was addicted to the set of pizza and gelato, so it became my main meal for two days in Venice. The consequence is interesting: I didn’t have appetite for any pizzas in the UK for half a year,because I missed the authentic24. authentic: 真正的，正宗的。one so much.

The pearl in Mediterranean, Greece

My final stop was Athens. At that time, the Greek financial crisis was becoming quite severe and strikes became a common phenomenon. When I arrived at Athens,a transportation strike was going on in the city centre where my hostel was located. I had to walk to the hostel with the help of passers-by.

The bad luck didn’t follow me for too long. When I was hungry and tired, it was great to find some Greek restaurants near the hostel. A grand baked tomato displayed behind the window, with the top being cut apart, directly caught my attention when I was wandering around25. wander around: 閑逛，徘徊。. Something that was likely to be melted cheese leaked out between the gaps.26. 好似融化的奶酪一樣的東西從（西紅柿頂端的）切口中流出來。I ordered one of the tomatoes out of curiosity. It tasted sweet and there were rice, sliced vegetables and other Greek spices inside. It was the very first time for me to know that tomatoes can be cooked in such a way.

Having satisfied my stomach, I visited the Acropolis27. Acropolis: 雅典衛城，意為“高丘上的城邦”，是希臘最杰出的古建筑群和宗教、政治的中心地。and museum. The museum guide told me the four sculptural pillars supporting the ceiling of the Acropolis were duplicated,28. sculptural: 雕刻的；pillar: 支柱；duplicated: 復制的。while only one of the originals was displayed in the museum and the rest have been stored in the British Museum since they were stolen by the British Army in wars. This reminded me of what happened in The Old Summer Palace where the intruders stole movable treasures and burnt anything they couldn’t take into ash.29. intruder: 入侵者；into ash: 化為灰燼。……