我去的地方都是旅遊書上看到的,可是有些地方的火車站不知為何人跡罕至(貌似)。好像有天(是假日)去了Bari附近的Polignano a Mare和Torre a Mare,車站一貫地設在新城,如常地沒甚麼地圖啊指示啊的,P鎮還好,有人一同下車,旅遊書也清楚地說明路該怎麼走,故並沒怎麼迷路。只是P鎮的火車站既無售票員,自動售票機也是壞的,離開時得主動向車上檢票的買票。至於T鎮火車站那冷清更嚇人,偌大的車站只見我跟另一位一同下車的女孩,女孩不敢隨處走動,打電話讓朋友來接,眼睛看着我在找出口(連車站出口在哪兒都得找,可見多缺乏指示)。她的朋友來接她,我才知道出口在哪兒。朋友問她幹嗎站在路軌旁等,她說不知出口在哪兒,朋友指着出口旁的標誌說:瞧,出口。我沒有直接跟着他們離開,出了站門才發覺前面的大閘鎖了,花了十分鐘走來走去才搞懂怎麼出去,再花了許久舉頭張望決定該往哪個方向走,路上有車,可是沒有人。那十多二十分鐘好難熬,好害怕,是真的人生路不熟(其實沒有人),搞不懂去路,也沒有回去的車。通常在這種情況下,我就會問自己這是何苦來,弄得自己那麼害怕。而那天是假日,T鎮裏其實遊人不少,大概意大利人在假日都不怎麼乘火車的吧,有一些私鐵(像FSE)假日時火車是停駛的。T鎮那段路,其實認得路的話只須走五分鐘,當然路上沒人,單身一人怕不怕那就是另一回事了。(後來發覺車務室內是有職員的,不過那已是後話。)
28.4.2011 I visited the new MAXXI (great name, great museum) in Rome today. There was this exhibition about architecture that people like, and I was surprised to read in one caption about the Australian architecture firm Donovan Hill, which is based in Brisbane, Queensland : "their base in one of the fastest growing regions in the western world ..." I was surprised because it had never occurred to me that Australia was part of the western world. I mean, west of what? Isn't it to the east of China, Japan, Africa and Europe? And based on what do people define if a place is part of the western world? Race? Location? Ideology? Culture? To me Australia is a multi-cultural country in asia-pacific.
27.4.2011 乘車無所事事,亂翻我的Rough Guide,看到這句:”Raphael, a native of Perugia”(!)這大概不太對吧?在Urbino還為他立了一個像,姓氏都不提,只刻着“Urbino的拉斐爾”。