il Giardino Romantico

【天仙提醒：本篇設有自動播放背景音樂】

Rosslyn Chapel was the reason why I went to Edinburgh.  The journey was long, and the weather was absolutely freezing, but I was overjoyed to have finally made it here.  Some of the pictures may be a little blury due to my trembling hands in the cold.  You may not enjoy them as much as I enjoy them myself, but I hope that one day, you will all come and see this impressive building yourselves.

羅斯林教堂是我來愛丁堡的主要原因。雖然路程遙遠[指前一天從利物浦到愛丁堡]，天氣也爆冷的，但終於看到一直想親眼目睹的建築物之後，高興的什麼辛苦都忘了。以下有些照片會稍微有點模糊。因為天氣太冷手一直抖，而我還是依然捨不得開閃光。即使照片模糊，但希望大家有機會到愛丁堡，不仿花點時間來這看看。因為，真的很壯觀。

此篇為大家由歷史的角度介紹Rosslyn Chapel與聖殿騎士的密切關連。英文部份載至於Frances A. Yates所著之 The Knights Templar in Britian.  由此可得知，Dan Brown所著的『達文西密碼』並不是完完全全天馬行空。有非常多的靈感都是來自於可靠的資料來源。[最主要的：Holy Blood, Holy Grail]而哪些是虛構，哪些是真實的，就讓有興趣的讀者自己去慢慢察覺囉！

This is a historical background introduction to the Chapel.  The English extracts are from the book The Knights Templar in Britian, by Frances A. Yates.  From this, we can see that Dan Brown wasn't completely making things up on his own.  Many of his sources were extremely reliable and thoroughly researched, most notably - Holy Blood, Holy Grail.  As for which parts are fiction and which are actual historical facts, that is for you, the reader, to find out on your own.  That is, if you are interested.

"Roslin Chapel and the Templar legends are inexorably mixed, even though the chapel was founded over a hundred years after the Order’s suppression. It figures largely in many theories about the Templars, their purpose and survival."<sup>1

不負責任翻譯：</sup>

Chester是個什麼樣的地方？我來英國前沒聽說過這地方。但同學中竟然有三位在此混過大學三年。除了他們之外，每個去過的人也都說讚！不過因為我不了解，所以之前想去的慾望就大打折扣。這次其實是託了一位14年沒見面的法籍友人的福，才又得到了這難得的出遊機會。

What kind of a place is Chester?  I've never heard of the place prior to my arrival in the UK.  Interestingly enough, there are three mates in my MA who were Chester fellows.  On top of that, every single person who had been there had had only good things to say about the place.  Because I didn't 'know', it lessened my desire to visit before.  However, when a friend you had not seen in 14 years comes to visit you, you're bound to pick up surprises wherever you go!

<-- 省錢車票

國家蘇格蘭博物館也是在我們住的youth hostel附近而已。位於Grey Friars正對面。最棒的是：免費入場！來到愛丁堡一定要來這逛逛。因為這一整棟樓一共有八層的展覽可以讓你看個夠！不過這次來真的沒什麼時間慢慢晃。對蘇格蘭歷史文化有興趣的話，一定要抽出至少半天的時間仔細的品嚐每一層樓的展覽。絕對不會讓你失望的！

National Museum of Scotland is located near our youth hostel.  It's right across from Grey Friars.  Best of all, admission is FREE!  If you come to Edinburgh, you must spend some time here.  There are eight stories all together, and you are bound to love everything in the museum.  However, because of our limited time, we could only have a quick glance at everything.  If you happen to be interested in the history and/or culture of Scotland, you must spare at least half a day's time to slowly savor each and every floor.  Satisfaction is guaranteed!


Replica of the tomb of Mary Queen of Scots 瑪麗一世墓碑複製品。

久等囉！下篇終於出爐囉！

Apologies for the long wait.  Here is the rest of my quest for signs of Harry Potter.

在hostel跟我們住同一間房間的兩個女生說他們前一天去找哈利波特。他們找到了作者J.K. Rowling開始起筆的那家coffee shop，還說許多裡面角色的名字靈感都是從這裡來的。其實我跟我朋友早就預計要來好好參觀一下這個『墓地公園』。不過一聽到他們這麼一說，還真想來看看是不是真的有書本裡頭的角色的名字。

The two girls that shared the same room in the hostel told us that they went on a sort-of Harry Potter tour the day before.  They found the coffee shop in which the author J.K. Rowling first started writing the story on napkins.  When my friend and I passed by the day before, we had already made plans to come and take a closer look at this graveyard the next day.  But having heard them say that Rowling had allegedly taken names from here, it made us want to visit it even more.

從早上到傍晚，相機不曉得拍下了幾百張照片。在這個時候已經開始有點秀豆了。因為在此之前，我們還去了國立蘇格蘭博物館。由於照片非常多，還沒來想要怎麼呈現比較妥當，因此這也是沒有按照順序的遊記。

I can't remember how many pictures I made my camera take from the morning till the afternoon.  Up to this point, it had begun to malfunction.  It's also because before we reached here, we also went to the National Museum of Scotland, and Lord only knows how many pictures I took there!  This is yet another part of my travel note that does not follow chronological order, and that is because there are way too many pictures of the museum that I have not yet figured out the best way to present them yet!

會回來到Royal Mile，是因為友人想要參加愛丁堡著名的ghost tour。如果有看過旅遊頻道的愛丁堡節目，應該會有印象節目內有介紹過。[因為我有印象在旅遊節目中看過]不過當時時間還沒到，就先來St. Giles' 晃晃。好巧不巧，抵達的時間他們已經要準備關門休息了。所以拍照拍的很匆忙，內部也沒時間多看兩眼。不過大家來這如果有多的時間，一定要好好的參觀一下。

雖然第一次逛城堡是一件很好玩又值得慶祝的經驗，不過原本Edinburgh Castle不是愛丁堡最吸引我的地方。但相信各位應該可以輕易感受到，我一點都不後悔來愛丁堡。城堡之旅，簡直就是『撿到』的好運。因為每件美好的事情都會有連環效應。因為這座城堡，讓我對蘇格蘭歷史開始感興趣。好巧不巧，這一陣子BBC也開始轉撥一系列的蘇格蘭歷史紀錄片。[可用BBC iPlayer觀看。UK限定]

不過我的中文程度，大家也知道，不是挺好。如果要我來陳述這座城堡的複雜歷史，恐怕有損城堡的尊嚴又會被冠上誤人子弟的罪狀。或許我上篇承諾的太爽快。一想到要用我的破中文來解釋這段複雜的歷史，簡直比寫essay的壓力還要大。大家還是輕鬆看看圖，隨便看看文字，想要多了解什麼，我再去試著幫你找出答案來好囉！？

上篇分享的幾乎都是戶外的圖片。下篇分享的大多都是室內的展覽。在St. Margaret禮拜堂裡，有位工作人員正在對旅客解說歷史。不過我沒注意聽。原因是，我剛好開始聽的那段，他正在解說電影『英雄本色』中所描素的William Wallace跟實際歷史有多麼不符合。因為我沒看過那部電影，也知道這是好萊塢喜歡亂改寫歷史的壞習慣，我就沒多注意聽了。

不過剩下來看到的，可是樣樣都充滿了長久的歷史背景。一間這麼大的城堡，鎖住了多少歷史？豈是光晃一圈就能全部吸收的了的？

【未成年請喝汽水】



先插撥一篇比較不花時間的來給大家看。這是在參觀城堡之後離城堡不遠的地方。如果想來的話，眼睛一定要睜大一點，像我們差點就錯過了說。

這天好巧不巧的，從城堡出來才下午一點不到的樣子，可是工作人員卻說因為當天有人有喜慶活動，就不能讓我們參觀樓上的威士忌自造過程了。如果想來看的話，要隔天早上十點以前來報到。可是隔天我們已經安排了去Rosslyn Chapel的行程了呢！反正我們兩個女人對威士忌的興趣也不是挺高的。只是想說既然來的就看看。所以就聽工作人員建議的，到樓下的restaurant/bar去瞧瞧囉！

這不是傍晚，也不是凌晨拍攝的。此張照片拍攝時間為早上九點半左右。沒錯。來到愛丁堡的第一天，可以說是整天細雨棉棉。還好主辦人在出發前就有提醒我們一定要準備保暖與防水的裝備。雖然天氣不佳，但我卻覺得這也算是個很有趣的經驗。畢竟這次真的讓我體會到蘇格蘭的天氣果真是比英國，至少比利物浦，糟糕多了。



在城市中，幾乎每個角落都可以看到城堡的某一角。也因為如此，想要以最佳角度拍攝到城堡的全景的話，請記得往地上看看這個標誌。站在上方拍攝到的角度，就如同第一張圖片。