April 19, 2005

台義過年大不同 Something about my life in Italy: New Year Tradition

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保羅是老公米奇的小弟,趁著這次我們聖誕假期回台探親,一同前來度假。保羅對於台灣的印象,跟大部分義大利人一樣,只停留在台灣舉世聞名的電腦工業,至於其他,幾乎是一無所知,因為是第一次來到一個語言完全不通的地方,也是第一次來到亞洲,因此保羅也樂得有個台灣大嫂可以當免費嚮導。

這次因為慶祝外公八十大壽,2004年的最後一天,我們全家在陽明山上某家知名溫泉旅館渡過,大家夥兒在吃完晚餐以後,聚在一起聊天嚼舌根,之後便解散回房,各自泡湯去。

「你們在台灣過年怎麼這麼無聊啊??」

剛泡完湯,正慵懶地坐在電視前觀看慶祝晚會,保羅突然冒出了這麼一句。家裡的人,向來對新曆年不太熱衷,自然也就不會有什麼‘慶祝’的情緒與動作,對第一次在外地‘過年’的保羅,看到我們不甚在乎的模樣,竟也哀怨了起來,我只好開始講講台灣的農曆年俗,試著以比較的方式讓他了解,在我們的世界裡,農曆年有著什麼樣的重要性。

我向來都把義大利的聖誕假期,當成台灣的農曆過年,對照起來,其實也讓我找到許多可以類比的地方。義大利人在聖誕夜或聖誕節中午的聚餐,就好像我們除夕夜的團員飯,散居各地的家人都會回來齊聚一堂,是一年之中最重要的節日,不過每個家族聚餐的習慣各異,不僅在時間上有聖誕夜或聖誕節的差別,連地點都可以選擇在餐廳舉行,不一定要在家中。不論聖誕夜是與家人或朋友相聚,在吃完晚餐以後,大部分人會偕伴一同前往教堂,參加子夜彌撒,而這樣的習慣,往往讓我會心一笑,聯想到小時候圍爐守歲的情形。

每年的最後一天,在義大利則是狂歡慶祝的日子,三五好友總會吆和辦個派對,一起享用這一年的最後晚餐。這一天,餐桌上總是會出現幾道應景菜色,最常見的不外乎是扁豆湯(Lentils)及義式豬腳(Zampone)。扁豆像錢,象徵財富,豬腳則代表肥碩。此外也曾經有朋友告訴我,一定要準備一些葡萄,因為葡萄也象徵財富,在這天晚上吃越多葡萄,新的一年也會更有財運。

每個城市的市中心廣場,幾乎都會有晚會活動,將近午夜時分,大家夥兒帶著香檳聚集到廣場上,一同倒數,新年的第一秒,‘蹦’地一聲,香檳瓶上的塞子猛然蹦出,大家手忙腳亂地拿著杯子接著從瓶裡湧出的泡泡,順手沾點抹在耳後,祈求一整年的好運氣,接下來,在美麗的煙火中,人們一陣親吻擁抱,與周圍的人互祝新年快樂。拿波里一地還有個很特別的習俗,就是到了新的一年,得把家裡一些不好、不要的東西往窗外丟,去除舊年的壞運,曾經聽老公米奇說,他就曾經看到過從天而降的馬桶,讓我不禁納悶起來,不知道每年到了這個時候,拿波里當地的醫院是不是特別的忙碌,因為老是有路人被天外飛來的不明物體砸傷!

對重視農曆年的我們來說,國外新曆年的歡樂氣氛,是一種很難得的體驗,只是每個地方習俗都不一樣,這次在台灣過新年的經驗,反而讓保羅失望了…希望,在我們極力說服與說明之下,也許有一天,保羅真的會再度訪台,體驗一下華人世界不一樣的農曆年,享受台灣的年味。

註:本文原載於ARCH雅砌雜誌2005年4月號

Zampone Posted by Hello

April 16, 2005

<春遊德國>新天鵝堡(下)Neuschwanstein (second part)

在指定的時間,我們來到了城堡入口,看著票上的號碼與入口的指標,準時進了城堡內部。
We arrived the castle entrence at the appointed time. Following the indications at the entrance and the number assigned to each ticket, we entered the castle on time.

這座建於十九世紀的山丘城堡,是路德威二世費時17年所建築的夢幻城堡。華麗城堡的背後,其實隱藏著一段悲傷的故事。路威德二世是音樂家華格納的狂熱支持者,城堡內部裝潢,處處都以華格納歌劇的故事為主題。據說路威德二世之所以興起蓋城堡的念頭,實際上是為了要讓華格納歌劇《Lohengrin天鵝騎士》能夠在中世紀城堡內演出,由此可見路威德二世對華格納音樂的狂熱。在城堡內部仔細觀察,匠心獨具的設計讓人嘆為觀止,其中,起居室以天鵝騎士為主題的裝飾,據說其內有超過上百隻的天鵝,舉凡門把、壁畫等,都有其獨到之處。
This beautiful castle among the hills was built in the 19th century by Ludwig II. It took 17 years to complete the construcction work. However, there's a sad story behind this beautiful castle. Ludwig II held very strong patronage to Richard Wagner, and all the interior decoration of the castle was based on stories of Wagner's operas. It is said that the reason Ludwig II built this castle was to allow the "realization" of Wagner's Lohengrin in a medieval castle... and we can see how much Ludwig II was fascinated by Wagner's music. Having a close look of the decoration, the design is really breath-taking. The saloon decorated by more than hundreds of swans is the most characteristic of all. From door handle, wall painting to porcelain, every detail is just impressive.

可惜的是,路威德二世並無緣享受這座美麗的城堡,他在位之際,耗資鉅款興建城堡,可說到了走火入魔的程度,以致債台高築,韃伐之聲四起,大臣以國王精神異常為由,在未經過醫師診斷的狀況下,逼他退位,路威德二世遂避居到新天鵝堡,半年之後的某日,被發現陳屍於城堡下湖畔,死因?只怕替世人留下了一個永遠的謎團。路威德二世歿世的前一天,城堡內的音樂廳Singer’s Hall甫完工,這座裝飾精美、音響效果絕佳的音樂廳,一直到1933年華格納逝世五十週年,才舉行了第一場音樂會。當然,在路威德二世歿世以後,所有建築工程頓時停止,尚未完工的六十幾個房間,至今尚未完工,讓人徒留想像…
It's a pity that Ludwig II wasn't able to enjoy this beautiful castle. When he's still the king, he spent a fortune building this castle, to a point that he's heavily in debt. Some people claimed that he's mentally ill and forced him to resign without the diagnosis of any doctor. He went to the castle to retreat. After six month, his body was found by the lake under the castle. How did he die? It's a mystery that can never be solved. The Singer's Hall of the castle was completed the day before he died. This finely decorated musical hall with terrific acoustics was left unused until the fiftith anniversary of Wagner's death in 1933 when the first concerto was held here. Of course, all construction works were stopped after Ludwig II's death. There're still more than sisty rooms unfinished and we can only imagine how luxurious they could be.

音樂廳是參觀的最後一站,在下樓以前,我在樓梯口看到許多語音導覽設備,才對購票時售票員的問題恍然大悟,原來除了英文和德文以外的其他語言,乃是用語音導覽的方式來進行,讓我不禁後悔了一下,也許,如果當初選擇語音導覽,也不至於跟著一大群人像感鴨子上架一樣地匆忙參觀,下次若有機會再訪福森,我一定會把新舊天鵝堡都好好走一番。
The Singe's Hall was the last room of the route of visit. Before I stepped down the stairs I saw lots of audio guides. Then I came to understand the question that was asked when I purchased the ticket. Beside English and German guides by docents, there're also audio guides available for visitors. I regret a bit for not choosing it. Maybe the visiting experience would be nicer with the audio guide, because I wouldn't have to catch up the group just in order to listen to the explanation. If there's another chance to visit Fussen again, I definitely will spend more time here and visit both castles in town.


Neuschwanstein Posted by Hello

April 14, 2005

<春遊德國>新天鵝堡(上)Neuschwanstein (first part)

在前往德國的途中,負責‘導航’的我,曾經在福森一地走錯路,當時,忙著找路的我,嘴裡頭福森福森地念著,總覺得這個地名好耳熟,只是怎麼都想不起來到底在哪裡聽過,也就沒放在心上。
On the way to Germany, I was in charge of "navigation". We kind of mistook the direction around Fussen. At that moment, I was too busy looking for the correct way. Even though the name "Fussen" sounded familiar, I just couldn't remember when I've heard of it before.

友人家裡客廳的牆上,貼著一張大大的德國地圖。在海德堡的某個晚上,大家夥兒分享電腦裡的存檔照片,聊著這幾年來的旅行,原來,他們兩人早已趁著在德國的這段時間,把能玩的該玩的地方都走遍了!話題中,「福森」這個地名又跑了出來。相談之下我才知道,原來這就是大名鼎鼎‘新天鵝堡’的所在地。既然在回義大利的路上還會再經過一遍,我們於是決定,回程要抽空拜訪這個美麗的山中城堡。
On the wall of our friend's house, there's a detailed map of Germany. In one of the evening when we're sharing the photos saved in our computer and talked about the trips that we've done in the past years, I discovered that they have been to most of the famous places in Germany in two years. During our talk, the name "Fussen" appeared again. I was told that it is the place where "Neuschweistein" is situated. Since we'll anyway pass by the town again, we decided to pay a visit to this beautiful castle among the hills.

抵達福森已經是下午一點多的事。迫不及待的兩人,連吃飯的時間都想要省下,車一停好,連忙順著指標找到了購票處。一問之下,原來參觀只能以團體導覽的方式進行,我們也只好按照規定,選了英文導覽的團體參觀。票買完以後看看時間,大概還有一個多小時的空檔,隨便找了點東西果腹以後,便開始了大約半小時的上坡行。
It's early afternoon when we arrived Fussen. We're so eager to go see the castle that we even thought of skipping our lunch. Once we parked our car, we followed the indication to the ticket office. However, the visits can only be done in groups, and we had to choose between English or German language. We chose the English group that will be starting in an hour. Since we still had some time, we ate some simple snacks and then started to walk uphill to the main entrance of the castle.

從購票處到新天鵝堡的交通方式,可以選擇步行、巴士或馬車。為了要好好欣賞沿路風光,即使我當天的服裝並不怎麼運動風,還是應著頭皮踩著跟有點高的靴子上陣。
From the ticket office to the main entrance, visitors can choose to walk, to take a bus or horse carriage. In order to enjoy the nice view of the landscape, we chose to walk even I wasn't prepared to do so... I was wearing high heel boots that day.

四月的福森,還有著陣陣寒意。事實上,我們在德國的這個星期,天氣並不好,前幾天下著雨,讓我連出門的情緒都沒有,硬是在友人家中睡了三天,中間穿插著一點出門逛櫥窗的樂趣。眾人一起出遊的週末,天氣冷到大家都把厚外套穿了起來,白天氣溫總在四到七度間打轉,晚上也降到零度,讓我在山丘上看夜景時直打哆嗦。回義大利的當天,其實我並沒有想太多,因為睡眠不足,人還沒醒過來就已經上了車,一直到車行經過司圖佳特,才猛然想起,我把大外套留在友人家裡了!為了趕路,我們並沒有折回去拿外套,心想反正春天嘛~~~應該用不著了。等車子越來越接近德奧邊境,窗外的景色越來越有冬意,我才開始擔心了起來…這幾天感情是有下雪,記得前往海德堡的途中,並沒有看到那麼多雪呢!到了福森,外頭只有四度!還好幾年下來,我已經漸漸習慣了義大利的天氣,長袖T恤外加上一件保暖的fleece,再把米奇身上的風衣搶來穿,竟也就這麼在四度天的戶外走動了起來。米奇一如往常,穿著他的短袖T恤趴趴走,直嚷著「這樣的天氣好舒服啊!」我和路人們,則是在旁邊看著冷,膽戰心驚。
It is somewhat chilly in April. In fact, during the whole week the weather wasn't that good. It was raining for a couple days that I didn't feel like going out at all and slept at our friend's place for three days with some window shopping fun in the middle. The weekend when we finally could go out together, it was so cold that we all picked up the heaviest things we've got because the temperature was around 4 to 7 degrees. It even went down to zero degree in the night and I was freezing to death when we're in one of the hills around Heidelberg for the night view. The day we went back to Italy, I was forced to get up early and wasn't really awake. When we passed by Stuggart I finally remembered that I've forgotten my coat in Heidelberg!! We're already a bit in delay so we didn't go back to pick it up. I thought "it's spring anyway! I probably won't need it." When we gradually approached the Germany-Austria boarder, the scenery outside the window started to get "wintery"! I started to worry... It should have snowed these days... I didn't seem to see any snow on the way to Heidelberg! When we arrived Fussen, it was four degrees outside... The only "protections" I've got were a long-sleeve t-shirt and a fleece. I also "stole" Michele's wind stopper. As usual, Michele was walking around happily with a short sleeve t-shirt, saying "how nice the temperature is"... the more he said so, the colder I felt...

Neuschwanstein Posted by Hello