Rome

Dear friend,

Don't you surf the net in office to enhance your happiness at work? I vaguely understand your computer problems. But I think everything is fine with your computer now that you have written to me.

Si. Napoli = Naples. I hate that place. Besides what I have said, I was even 'molested'. Don't know if this is the right word. But that guy at the hotel booking service not only booked me into a damned hotel but also touched my face. And it was not pleasant.

I am now at a cybercafe in Roma. This is a grand-looking place inside a museum. Its slogan is 'mouse inside a museum'.

I spent the past three days in Florence doing almost nothing. It was very relaxing and enjoyable because I knew the place and could be very flexible with any plan because I didn't really have plans. The railway workers had a one-day strike - so I called off my plan to a nearby town. No big deal. And Florence is so beautiful - itself like a picture.

I must be having good luck these few days. Men approached me with no reason at all. One in Florence told me twice he owned two shops and offered to be my guide 'purely for friendship'. Another in Roma tried to teach me how to cross the road because it was dangerous and tried to tell me about the history of the monuments on a street (Roma is full of monuments on the streets). How interesting.

I am meeting my friends (the honeymooners) again tonight. I bought them dinner in Switzerland (cheap stuff) and I made them promise me a free dinner in Roma (I expect grand stuff). Ha ha.

I've bought you a swiss army knife. Write to you later. Bye now.

九月二十八日

我現在在一家氣氛十分溫暖舒適的餐館，叫”Il Giordino Di Barbano”。我會用cosy形容它：女侍應生勤快、親切、不多話，附加微笑，我一個人佔了一個可坐五個人的大卡位，沒有人説話，很舒服。這餐館就在我住的酒店附近，我經過多遍，覺得它的紅色裝修十分光鮮，很想來一趟。今天看清楚餐牌，價錢竟與Duomo附近的自助快餐店差不多，何不一試？

要了海鮮飯，吃了兩口，還不錯。

今天去了Arezzo。原來是一個沒有甚麽可看的小城，最突出之處大概就是電影"Life is Beautiful"在那裏取景，在大廣場上的咖啡館張貼了有關得獎男主角/導演的剪報，標題是"Grazie Roberto"。去時坐了慢車，差不多用了一個半小時，但小城逛了兩個多小時便逛完。回程時坐的是IC列車，只需半小時左右，如果坐的是Eurostar，更快。

NAPOLI!!!

Dear friend,

I left Florence for Napoli yesterday and planned to spend three days there. But now I'm back in Florence again. You see, it's a long way between the two places (over 3.5 hours by the fastest train) and the train tickets are not cheap (over HKD300 for a one-way second-class). But Napoli simply SUCKS!

The place was dilapidated. The tourist office sucked. And also the hotel booking service. And the hotel itself was unbelievably unbearable. The whole experience was so awful that I decided to leave within two hours of arrival. I cancelled all my plans to the south of Italy and didn't know where to go. So I came back to Florence. At least this is a city that I know and like.

Can you imagine a hotel like this - there was no air-con, no fan, no window. There were a pair of french windows which opened to a small rooftop. Those windows faced directly with other people's and also the air-con of other people's. So I couldn't open them either. And it was HOT in Napoli. And also the sound of the TV set. It came on and off automatically. And even the electricity, sometimes you had it, sometimes not. And it was rated as a 2-star hotel. My God. How could I stay?

And when I checked out this morning, the janitor insisted that I should pay 80,000 Lire, but I knew that the outstanding charge should only be 40,000 Lire. But what could I do? He had locked the hotel entrance and I had to catch my train. Of course I paid.

I feel so at ease in Florence though I don't really have any plan. I would just walk around. (And the hotels here, even if they are spartan, they are fine.)

My next stops are Rome and Paris. Bye now.

九月二十六日

在拿坡里的遭遇，說有多壞就有多壞。首先，熱。其次這城市毫無美感可言。舊城的橫街窄巷類似城寨的模樣（可一點也不似威尼斯的窄巷），新建的馬路塵土飛揚，建築物陳舊失修，髒，總之市容破落，就是最壯麗的古堡、皇宮附近也不外如是，旁邊的街道沒有氣派。

但其實最差的遭遇還是和酒店有關。剛到埗時去旅遊諮詢處，該處的職員打扮像“爛佬”，要資料沒資料，找酒店沒酒店，又把我指到另一代訂酒店櫃枱。我說要訂離火車站遠的酒店，職員便面有難色，說我的預算太低，然後哄我要了一間“三星”酒店，又給我看那酒店堂皇的照片，末了還要摸了一把我的臉。去到酒店一看，當然不是那麽一回事。離火車站只有幾條街，街上充滿尿味，那房間的電視的聲音時有時無，空調、風扇、連窗都一概欠奉。只有一雙開往一個天井的門，那門外是別人的分體式冷氣機的主機，十分吵，那門不能開，一開便正對人家的窗，房內於是熱。最要命還是連電力都時有時無。我到埗不到兩小時已決定離開，簡直覺得不能再待下去。本來預算留三天，再到Capri去，現在所有南部的行程都取消。不知要去哪裏嗎？那就回Firenze好了。Firenze 要有甚麽不好，都比這鬼地方強上百倍。

到了最後，那酒店還硬要多收我四萬里拉的房租，我有理説不清，又要趕火車回Firenze，只好付錢了事。連同先前不知如何遺失的四萬里拉，在拿坡里一天便失去了差不多400港元。我旅行了二十多天，在其他地方可從沒有失去/多付過一分錢。

一個地方無論有多美麗的景色，多出色的藝術品，如果配套服務差，遊客如我者還是無福消受。我在希臘雖然辛苦，但卻不如在拿坡里般難受。

話説回來，我在拿坡里一所教堂看到了三件很美的雕塑，氣是消了一點，但仍無補於事。

Florence

Dear friend,

How much do I owe you for all those books? I am a bit disappointed about the VCDs because, you see, I have been out here in a "non-Chinese, no-book" environment long enough that I have started to dream about that TV series in shower.

A strangest thing happened this morning. I woke up and in my half-consciousness and the darkness of the hotel room, I did not know where I was. It was kind of scary. I ran my itinerary through my head and after a while, bingo, I knew I was in Florence. Strange.

Write to you later. Bye now.

Switzerland

Dear friend,

You wouldn't believe what I did. I extended my stay in Lauterbrunnen by one day so that I was there during the honeymooners' whole stay. And you know what they did? They also extended their stay there by one day so they could be free from me at last. Ha ha. The truth is most people extend their visit at Lauterbrunnen because, well, it's a quiet, resting place and within easy reach of the many sights nearby. And really, though it's not cheap, it is relatively cheaper than other places in Switzerland.

My plan today turned out to be very poor. I visited a castle called Chillon, which was nothing but boring. And for no particular reason, I came to Geneva. You see I can travel very freely today as I'm using my rail pass. And when I was in Chillon, which is at the east side of the Lake of Geneva, there were showers whereas there was sunshine at the west side of the lake (i.e. Geneva). That's why I came. And I am bored.

I'm waiting for my night train to Venice, which is scheduled a little before midnight (it is now 6 pm). Lucky that the charge for internet use here is cheap (relatively), only CHF 5 (about HKD 25) per hour.

Write to you later. Bye now.

九月二十日

如果有更好的選擇，也不選這麼晚的夜車。也不知道自己原來是怎麼想的，差透了的計劃，選一個不好玩的Lausanne做基地已是爛透了，而夜車不選在起始站Geneve上車，卻預定在Lausanne上車，是差不多晚上12時啊。晚上的車站大堂挺嚇人的，意大利等地的是當然地差，以為瑞士的會好一點吧，卻也不然。覺得還是在火車上、人堆中最安全，便傻瓜似地從Geneve乘車回Lausanne拿寄存的行李，又再乘車走回頭路，既在人堆中，又可謀殺時間。現在打算在Geneve早一點上車，問過兩地的票務處，都說無問題，希望是真的沒問題吧。

今次旅行的行程計劃得不好，粗疏錯漏處處，又頻走回頭路。我現在想來想去，不知應否早一天乘飛機回香港，走着瞧吧。

※ ※ ※

其實我現在並沒有甚麽想寫的，可是在希臘時卻不寫不行，自己都記不清寄了多少明信片，發了多少電郵，幾乎每天都寫，而且不只寫一封，自己都不好意思起來。始終是剛開始旅行，而且是到一個從沒有到過的國家，當然是感到很大衝擊，有很多感想了。希臘是不錯呀，值得去到極。現在開始到的是意大利和巴黎，舊地重遊，開始擔心會悶呢。

Switzerland

Dear friend,

Switzerland is great. The people are very nice, polite and ready to help. Everything is well organized. If it is not that expensive, it is perfect.

This town, Lauterbrunnen, is quite beautiful. I visited two waterfalls (can you believe it) in just one day. They are SPECTACULAR.

I've found that my friends won't come until tomorrow. I'm a little bit disappointed. Looking forward anxiously for the Tang poems.

Bye now.

九月十七日

現在在由蘇黎世往Lauterbrunnen的火車上，單程票價CHF69.2，約合港幣350元，這是二等的票價。是貴，但不是十分貴。香港的機場快線行程二十多分鐘，單程收70元（或100元？），我現在乘的這車行程差不多三個小時，舒適程度與機場快線相若。

今天做了一件蠢事。晨早打算往AE兌換旅行支票，走了整條（很長的！）Bahnhofstr都找不到AE，而其他銀行原來也並非八時半開門。終於筋疲力盡地回到火車站的找換店兌換，其實滙價應該差別不大，而且也沒有佣金的問題。我為了想到AE兌錢，特別選擇晚一小時才乘火車到Lauterbrunnen，如果一早決定到火車站換錢，那麼其實可乘9:03am的班車離開。這就是所謂的費時失事。

剛才在月台上問一個男人是否須在火車票上打印（一年沒有到過歐洲啦，甚麼都忘記了），他也搞不清楚，後來我們發現無法把票放進打印機，便認為其實不用打印。他看到我的目的地，就告訴我Lauterbrunnen是一個好地方。瑞士人真好，有禮又熱心。

昨晚到火車站內一間diner吃晚飯，進去坐定才知道賣的都是鑊仔菜，太熱氣，但要走已經太遲，只好手指指點菜。女侍應只說德文，一句英語也不說（不知是不肯說還是不懂說），沒辦法。食物倒是不錯的，只是太熱氣。

九月十六日

我現在在瑞航的飛機上。音樂真好呀，先播She’s Out of My Life，接着播Jealous Guy，好像我選的歌。

希臘政府/機場的手段可真高明，當進入離境的禁區後，竟然完全沒有兌換的櫃位。想想退稅處也在離境禁區內呀，退回來的錢怎麽辦？要不在免稅店內花了它，要不大有可能得物無所用。幸好我不是回香港，希望在瑞士的機場能把錢兌成瑞士法郎（我還有差不多500港元的希臘幣呢）。