主唱的聲音真的很棒!
2012年10月24日 星期三
2012年10月22日 星期一
My trip to Boston 2012
This summer, I met a lovely Taiwanese girl in Milwaukee. There are certainly many Chinese people here, but Taiwanese are very very few. So when I was introduced to a Taiwanese this summer, I was super excited, especially after I found that we have a lot in common.
Dores is very nice and she has the most beautiful smile in the world. She is always smiling and being positive toward everything. When she told me that she is planning to have a trip before she leaves, I was thinking that it would be great if I can go with her. She will be a very good travel partner. Later on that day, John told me that he wants to go to Utah for the dental outreach program. And guess what!? John will be away in the same week which Dores is planning the trip on. So~ Dores and I started to plan to visit a big city where there is good public transportation system and it is safe for two girls walking around even at night. And that is Boston!
On Sep 15th, we left for Boston early in the morning. After we landed, we just stood outside the airport and was trying to figure out how to get to our hotel. At the time, an airport worker came to us and asked us to help her. She wanted us to translate her words into Chinese to a Chinese old man. She tried to tell him that they changed the locations of the bus stops because of the construction. After talking to them, we found that the Chinese old man was going to the same direction as we were. What a coincidence! So we got on the bus with the Chinese guy. On the way to the hotel, he told us that he had moved to Boston from China 14 years ago. His sons have all grown up and have their own families now. He also told us how the subway and bus system works in Boston. How funny it is that in the beginning, it was us who were helping him, but in the end, it was him who helped us to get to the hotel and told us a lot about Boston. Thank you, 伯伯!! What surprised us more was that the old apartment where he lives with his wife now was just across the street from our hotel. We were really lucky to meet such a nice person on our first day in Boston!
The hotel worker who checked us in is a very nice Korean girl. She told us, on the last day, that she had studied Chinese in China (in Chinese!!).On the day we arrived, we've only got half a day and we planned to go to Harvard. Harvard is very far from our hotel. We planned to take subway and change to bus. I know that will take us a lot of time. We didn't tell her about our plan. However, how nice it is that she told us that we can walk to a bus stop and the bus will take us to Harvard directly. The information saved us plenty of time!
At Mr. Bartley at Harvard Square
This is the best burger I've ever had!
At Harvard Square, everything is extremely expensive. Although I really wanted a T-shirt with "Harvard" printed on it, I don't think I would pay 30 bucks for that!!
Because Boston is next to the sea, you can find a lot of seafood restaurants where you will have fresh oyster and lobster. At the Neptune Oyster, we had fresh, but super expensive oyster.
So expensive that we only ordered one each. :-(
We didn't miss the famous Quincy Market. I got the famous lobster roll there. It cost me 16 bucks!! Scary~huh. This is Boston life. You have to be prepared. With Money!
Delicious lobster roll. Not very special though.
I love the chowder soup that I had in Quincy Market. It was really good. I would recommend it!
The chowder soup I had in Milwaukee was always very salty but this one was not salty at all. And it was full of clam and potatoes!
Left: Sticky Bun (Just looking at the photo, I want one now!!! We don't have that in Milwaukee. It's kind of like Cinnamon roll but tastes better)
Right: Danish (Dores's favorite)
We not only ate a lot of good food but we also learned a lot about the history of the United States.(we've got culture,too haha~) Walking around the city, you'll see buildings with great histories. You'll hear how America became what she is now and also some amazing stories of her people. The best tour we've got is the free tour in Trinity Church. Neither of us are Christian or Catholic so we know nothing about churches.After the tour, we've learned the story of Trinity Church and why it is so special from other churches. Also, we've learned how the stained glass was made.I think this one is a must-see!
Trinity Church
The witch statue in front of the Witch Museum
I am happy to have such a great friend to share this wonderful experience with. There are still many other great places in Boston we didn't have time to see. I hope I can go back some time soon!
Dores is very nice and she has the most beautiful smile in the world. She is always smiling and being positive toward everything. When she told me that she is planning to have a trip before she leaves, I was thinking that it would be great if I can go with her. She will be a very good travel partner. Later on that day, John told me that he wants to go to Utah for the dental outreach program. And guess what!? John will be away in the same week which Dores is planning the trip on. So~ Dores and I started to plan to visit a big city where there is good public transportation system and it is safe for two girls walking around even at night. And that is Boston!
On Sep 15th, we left for Boston early in the morning. After we landed, we just stood outside the airport and was trying to figure out how to get to our hotel. At the time, an airport worker came to us and asked us to help her. She wanted us to translate her words into Chinese to a Chinese old man. She tried to tell him that they changed the locations of the bus stops because of the construction. After talking to them, we found that the Chinese old man was going to the same direction as we were. What a coincidence! So we got on the bus with the Chinese guy. On the way to the hotel, he told us that he had moved to Boston from China 14 years ago. His sons have all grown up and have their own families now. He also told us how the subway and bus system works in Boston. How funny it is that in the beginning, it was us who were helping him, but in the end, it was him who helped us to get to the hotel and told us a lot about Boston. Thank you, 伯伯!! What surprised us more was that the old apartment where he lives with his wife now was just across the street from our hotel. We were really lucky to meet such a nice person on our first day in Boston!
The hotel worker who checked us in is a very nice Korean girl. She told us, on the last day, that she had studied Chinese in China (in Chinese!!).On the day we arrived, we've only got half a day and we planned to go to Harvard. Harvard is very far from our hotel. We planned to take subway and change to bus. I know that will take us a lot of time. We didn't tell her about our plan. However, how nice it is that she told us that we can walk to a bus stop and the bus will take us to Harvard directly. The information saved us plenty of time!
This is the best burger I've ever had!
At Harvard Square, everything is extremely expensive. Although I really wanted a T-shirt with "Harvard" printed on it, I don't think I would pay 30 bucks for that!!
Because Boston is next to the sea, you can find a lot of seafood restaurants where you will have fresh oyster and lobster. At the Neptune Oyster, we had fresh, but super expensive oyster.
We didn't miss the famous Quincy Market. I got the famous lobster roll there. It cost me 16 bucks!! Scary~huh. This is Boston life. You have to be prepared. With Money!
I love the chowder soup that I had in Quincy Market. It was really good. I would recommend it!
Right: Danish (Dores's favorite)
We not only ate a lot of good food but we also learned a lot about the history of the United States.(we've got culture,too haha~) Walking around the city, you'll see buildings with great histories. You'll hear how America became what she is now and also some amazing stories of her people. The best tour we've got is the free tour in Trinity Church. Neither of us are Christian or Catholic so we know nothing about churches.After the tour, we've learned the story of Trinity Church and why it is so special from other churches. Also, we've learned how the stained glass was made.I think this one is a must-see!
Trinity Church
We also took ferry to Salem where there was a famous witch trial in old times. Salem is very small. We thought that we would see people dressing like vampires, or witches on the streets. We saw nothing scary, though. I guess we were there at the wrong time. I think they might have a big fest for Halloween.
I am happy to have such a great friend to share this wonderful experience with. There are still many other great places in Boston we didn't have time to see. I hope I can go back some time soon!
2012年10月17日 星期三
The Shadow of the Wind (風之影) 和 The Angel's Game (天使遊戲) By Carlos Ruiz Zafon
昨天終於把天使遊戲看完,我是前個月才看完風之影,因為很喜歡這個作者的寫作手法和故事,所以又緊接著看天使遊戲。 我知道我很後知後覺,其實風之影已經暢銷很久了,不過之前在台灣看到中文版在推銷,當時翻閱一下沒有很吸引我,所以就沒有買下來。不知道為什麼,可能人的想法會隨著時間改變,前一陣子去書店,看到風之影是讀書會必看的小說,看了一下開頭,覺得好像很不錯看,就買下來了。不過我現在才看也很好,連續看兩本,甚至第三本(The Prisoner of Heaven) 前一陣子才剛出版。
"風之影"的故事主要是環繞著一本神秘的小說,主人翁Daniel是一個書店老闆的兒子,有一天爸爸帶他到the Cemetery of Forgotten Books,那是一個很神秘的地方,那裡收藏了被人們遺忘的書,每一本書都有靈魂,有著作者的靈魂,讀者的靈魂,這個地方確保這些書的靈魂可以被保留,等待下一個主人,等待再次復活,爸爸要Daniel選一本書,並且永遠保護好那本書,Daniel選的是The shadow of the wind by Julian Carax。Daniel很喜歡那本書,想要再找同一作者的書來看時,他發現有人企圖銷毀這個作者的所有的著作,他更發現這本書作者悲傷的過去,只是要找到過去的真相,也讓他自己陷入危險當中。
"風之影"結合了所有我最愛的故事元素:家族秘密、愛情、友情、謀殺、復仇,藉由善良的主角的好奇心去一步步揭開一本書背後龐大的秘密。作者製造懸疑氣氛的功力堪稱一絕,有好幾度一個人在房間裡看這本書,會被突然發出的聲音嚇得一身冷汗。我尤其喜歡作者筆下Barcelona,他筆下的世界,雖然黑暗,不過卻令人想要深陷其中,不想回到現實世界,我的文筆不太好,我不知道怎麼敘述這種感覺。我覺得有可能是因為作者對於很多場景鉅細靡遺的描述,讓人很有身如其境的感覺,像是有時候他可以為了寫一棟建築物,形容上好幾頁,有看過其他人的書評,有些人特別不喜歡他這種手法,不過這卻是我最愛的部分,見仁見智啦!
不過我對於第二本"天使遊戲"就有點失望,作者筆法一樣精湛,只是我不喜歡這個故事,風之影的最後會解答所有前面的謎題,不過天使遊戲的最後讓人霧煞煞,可能我比較喜歡所有事情都有合理的解釋的那種故事,天使遊戲的最後並沒有解答很多疑點。
"天使遊戲"有點算是前傳,不過又其實是完全不相干的故事,唯一的關聯是the Cemetery of Forgotten Books和Sempere書店,看完這本書,我有很多不懂得地方。主人翁David Martin是個天才但失意的小說家,他在最失意的時候,接受一個神秘的出版商的豐厚的book deal,只是這本書要怎麼寫,完全要遵照這個出版商的意思,而且他要的故事並不是一般的故事,他要一個會讓人們會去相信的故事(就這一點,就夠玄了)。奇怪的是David後來發現這個神祕出版商和過去曾住在他現在住的公寓的人有關連,並且也和他從the Cemetery of Forgotten books拿到的書有關,隨著故事的發展,我以為一切都會真相大白,不過最後我還是不知道那個出版商到底是誰,作者沒有明講,還有為什麼David會被牽扯進來,不過我想每個人看完都有不同的猜測。
天使遊戲這本書,在看到一半時,我有點後悔開始看這本書,這本書中間其實有點悶,講了很多有關信仰的東西,幸好那只是中間幾個章節,前後其實都滿精彩的,就只是事情的真相只能靠你的想像力去解釋啦!
至於第三本The Prisoner of Heaven,我還沒買,看了Amazon上其他人的書評,有些猶豫,他前兩本都大概500頁,第三本居然只有不到300頁,感覺會是沒有結局的書。雖然故事大綱看起來很吸引我,這次故事又回到Daniel和他朋友Fermin上,不知道會不會和David Martin的部分相接,改天再去書店翻翻,再說啦!希望Zafon可以把整個故事都寫完整一點,不要在考驗我的想像力啦!!!
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