Selina--Up in the air!

Never really felt like homesick though, I start to miss mother's cuisine and little Jasica. Studying in U.S. has been my dream for ages, and it seems so natural to come here eventually.

The first lunor August 15 was a showering day, endless for a day... I received an emal from Lv, my middle school friend. She lost her baby due to miscarriage for 3 months. Isn't it a day for family gathering?

Studying, studying, studying. Fire alarm. Student card, credit card, cell phone, key, and back my passport. Rushing down from 14 floor to ground. It's a test............

What a day! What a festival day! What a family festival day!

 

Due to local weather, OG269 (Thai Airways) crashed in Puket airport, 88 paxs dead and more than 40 injured in this accident. As a total number of 5 crew and 123 paxs, most of whom were Europeans travelling for a vacation. According to one surviver, he stepped on the dead bodies and managed to survive evantually. Poor availabily as it was, the pilot decided to circle around before making final approaching. The aircraft lost its balance and hit trees and buidlings nearby runway.

 

“But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?”

“It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!”

Important as the gateway to Italy, known as the Transportation hub and second ancient Roman city though, Verona is especially the romantic place for lovers since it’s the former residence of Romeo and Juliet under British master Shakespeare.

In Latin, Verona means “An Elegant City”. “People come here for the spirit of love. It’s enough to find out the inspiration and loyalty of love. Love is the most instinct thing of human and also shows happiness. Why not seeking for that?” said Mr. Yu Qiuyu. Here is the love cradle, and here is Verona.

Located in No.27 Via Cappello, the residence of Juliet is covered by creepers of a typical medieval courtyard. Nobody knows from when the wall is written by couples recording love stories and slogans, among which the word “Forever” is the most distinct and popular one. The second floor of terrace is the place where Juliet usually waits for her Romeo in legend. A bronze Juliet sculpture is standing with glooming expression looking for her beloved. As the idol of men, Juliet could bring eternal love whoever touches her right arm and breast. There are two possible explanations on the touching: One is that if only Romeo could touch the right breast of Juliet, she could be conscious from coma, but he didn’t do that. Therefore, men are doing this for him; the other one is that men could have good luck in their real love stories.

Anfiteatro Arena is second only after Rome arena situated in Piazza Bra. It’s one of the oldest arenas which is still in use. In the center of plaza, it is a sculpture of Vittorio Emanuele riding.

  Scores: 77

Open eyes, deep breath, now in Alps. Alps look like a young lady who finished showering with light fogs surrounded. People can easily tell different seasons, since trees change color as altitude goes high and peaks are covered by snow.   

Along Alps, we came to Milan. Together with Torino and Genoa, Milan plays important roles in the industries of auto, airlines, railway, chemistry, pharmacy, and food etc. Those three cities form a triangle of leading industry and stimulate the economic development in the whole country.

Situated in the center of Milan city, Duomo, also known as Mary Nativity Church, is the third biggest church, only after Piazza San Pietro in Rome and Cathedral de Sevilla in Spain. It is a must-see typical Gothic church with 3,159 individual icons of Sages and Cherries in and out. Five bronze gates are describing European history, and the biggest one in the middle is telling the life story of Mary.

Piazza del Duomo is the real center of politics and religion with Italian king Emanuele II riding sculpture in the middle. Walking on the marble and mosaic, people could enjoy the relaxed way of life with coffee bar, bookstore, and accessory shops nearby. Funny thing is that I found many colorful bulls along the street. Finally, we came to the Leonade Da Vinci sculpture in piazza della scala. Castelo Sforzesco didn’t make as deep impression as Duomo on me except the fountain in front.

 

Scores: 75

6 hours driving from Paris with grape trees along highway, Lyon was in front of us with continuously raining for a whole day. As the second biggest city of France, Lyon is famous for its silk industry, inventions, as well as sculptures.

Silk industry used to be the most important business bringing fortune and glamour to the city. It was not until 1536 that the first workshop was finally established in and all of the professional workers came from Genoa, Italy.

Inventions have never been stopped in the city of Lyon. Physician Andre Marie Ampe was born in Lyon. Montgolfier brothers were the first inventors of air balloons carrying chickens, ducks, and sheep and flow 25 minutes, 8.9 kilos away from the take-off point. They were also been treated as ancestors of airline industry.  Pyrosc-aphe, sewing machine, and movies were also invented in Lyon.

Basilique de Notre Dame de Fourvière was built for the victory of war between France and Prussian in 1870. It is the combination of Byzantine and Medieval features with paintings and colorful windows inside. Coming out of the church, the view of Lyon city with red individual roof as threads of cloud could make deep impression for tourists.

Place Bellecour, also known as the royal place, is the center of Lyon with Lovis XIV sculpture as the most important and only decoration of the square. The specialty with other traditional city place is that the ground is made of red mud, the same color of red house roof. People who dislike usually call it “huge tennis play ground” instead. It played important role for on-strike workers for better pays-off and living conditions in the middle of 19 century.

Hôtel de Ville (City Hall), built in 1646 by Simon Maupin, was partially destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1674. It is famous for its Italian features, dome decorations and its splendid Barock feature art inside. Fountains are the main characters of the hall.

Ancient Roman built the most magnificent theater 2,000 years ago in Lyon. Up to now, the theater is still in use and constantly reconstructed. It was in the A.D. 2 century that another 11,000 seats were added in. It is still up in the air for architects and archaeologists how Roman people designed the stage and retained the site for such a long period of time.

 

Scores: 70

Coming from European cities for quite a long time did I finally feel like need to write something for my trip. With my family members and colleague’s, we joined a travel agent, called Mandarin Voyages, and spent 8 days in 5 countries. We took KLM flight, which I call it my air taxi, on May 30 from Beijing to Amsterdam and same day connection to Paris. Both flights were not full, and some Dutch colleagues I used to fly before. Moreover, we received special souvenirs from pursers that made me feel warm indeed.

The first impression about Paris was its people. Often heard that French people are not willing to communicate in English though, they were of great helpers to me in metro (RER). Some people offered help for my super big luggage, and others pointed out the way to hotel. To my surprise, whenever I was wondering if it is all right to speak English, they responded in English already. As Dutch, French are also relaxed in the way of living, while look more fashion and charming in the way of appearance.

As the first tourist destination city in Europe, Paris owns dozens of scenic spots as well as world known masterpieces. Eiffel tower, triumphal arch, the river of Seine, Notre Dame De Paris, and Place De La Concorde are all the places that I could only see in news report or movies. La Saione and Le Rhone are two main rivers going through the city and standing for woman and  man. My mother loves Notre Dame the best coz’ she has ever watched the movie and has more sensation on it. However, my favorite is Louver, and I wish I could spend more days in it. It was not only the 3 well-known master works as Venus, Victory, and Monna Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, but also the canvases attract me a lot. Each painting is telling an ancient story, and sometimes I can even tell the relationship according to their face expression and gesture.

Paris is definitely a shopping paradise, but it’s a pity we didn’t spend any time in shopping. Another pity is that traffic is headache of Paris as Beijing. It could take an hour for only 20 minutes driving in rush hour. Since most people own cars, certain youngsters drive motorcycles in high speed crossing among cars. Charles De Gaul (CDG) is of course much more spacious and convenient than Schiphol(AMS) airport. As one of the transition hubs of Europe, Paris is welcoming passengers from different part of the world.

 

Score: 87

 

 

 

 

From now on, I will put all my attention on you and you are the only girl I cherish in this world,

cause I won't lie to you even if I am going to die;

Every tiny thing I promise to you, I swear I will stick to them; 

Every single sentence I said to you, I swear they are all true. 

I'll believe in you like I believe in God.

I will neither make you angry nor speak bad words on you. 

If anyone who dares to pull you down, I'll be the first one who will stand up to protect you.

When you are happy, I'll be happy with you; 

when you are unhappy, I'll try my best to make you happy. 

You are the most pretty girl in my whole life and even after; 

You are the most dreamed girl of my life in day and night. 

You are the only one in my heart and soul forever, and for all eternity. 

 

Only on TV News do I hear that some old people were cheated when they were persuaded to exchange money or buy curios at low price on street. As we all know, those cheaters apply fake money or they ask others to buy things that worth nothing. Making use of people's sympathy and drive for extra interest, cheaters could easily "earn" money illegally.

However, I was surprised to see this screen in a bank. When my mother and I were waiting for money exchanging in the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, a man aging 55 around was sitting next to us, counting dozens of dollars without concealing. He suddenly stopped and asked if we were interested to exchange money at a low price. Being quite alert, we refused to do so. After a while, he asked another woman sitting next to him if she was interested to exchange dollar with him. 5% lower than market price, they were in agreement to exchange for $3,000. Afriad of being cheated, the woman asked the man to wait to check authenticity of those dollars. Although the man has been waiting for more than 1 hour, he was disappeared just before his turn by the excuse of somebody was waiting for him outside. As most of audience guess, the woman was mostly cheated since the man did not wait until the bank officer's check.

As the old saying goes, protecting ourselves is always necessary.

Hope Betrayed     Ching Dynasty     Xueqin Cao

 

One was a flower from paradise.

One was a pure jade without spot or stain.

If each for the other one was not intended,

Then why in this life did they meet again?

And yet if fate had meant them for each other,

Why was their earthly meeting all in vain?

In vain were all her sighs and tears.

In vain were all his anxious fears.

All, insubstantial, doomed to pass,

As moonlight mirrored in the water,

Or flowers reflected in a glass.

How many tears from those poor eyes could flow?

Which every season rained upon her woe?

 

枉凝眉       清       曹雪芹

 

一个是阆苑仙葩，一个是美玉无瑕。
若说没奇缘，今生偏又遇着他；
若说有奇缘，如何心事终虚话？
一个枉子嗟呀，一个空劳牵挂。
一个是水中月，一个是镜中花。
想眼中能有多少泪珠儿，
怎禁得秋流到冬，春流到夏！