il Giardino Romantico

話說雖然內部都不能拍照，但是羅斯林的禮品部也不是蓋的。到了這個時候，該花的不該花的都花了。所以身上只剩下足夠帶我們回城裡搭車回利物浦的公車錢。看到喜歡的也只能看。整個禮品部都是想敗回家的物品。但我最後只買了一張30p的明信片寄給某人。所以才會拼命的把想要帶回家的東西通通都拍下來。反正，按下快門：免費！

Even though it was a little disappointing that photography was not allowed inside the chapel, the souvenire shop alone was enough a compensation for what my camera had missed out.  I'd already over spent my budget at this point, and had only enough coins for the bus ride back to catch the coach back to Liverpool.  Since I was unable to actually buy anything, I took loads of pictures of the things I might have wanted to take home, if I had more money with me. 

【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.

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."¹

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!

久等囉！下篇終於出爐囉！

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!

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。

【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。

與好友兩人閒晃愛丁堡個個角落時，好友不時抱怨說利物浦是個多麼無聊、簡陋、毫無美感的城市。也難怪。如果我從小生長在L.A.鬧區，來到利物浦可能也會跟她一樣對利物浦感到非常失望吧。看到愛丁堡每棟建築物都具有歷史性的美感，雖然很感動，但我並不後悔選擇來利物浦。利物浦的人們有一具口頭禪形容這座城市：不太大、也不太小。走在愛丁堡的街上，常常想著，如果我不是來利物浦，我會對愛丁堡有著這麼深刻的印象嗎？

愛丁堡的聖誕市集又是一個上天丟給我們的天大的禮物。原本不在行程中，卻怎麼躲也躲不掉。恰恰好在我們要搭公車的路線上。由於時間還蠻充裕的，就趁機逛逛這超級無敵誘人的愛丁堡聖誕市集囉！光看照片數量的比例就可以看出這個市集實在比利物浦的小市集精彩的要多！光是在這裡就殺掉25張照片呢！

來到這以後，果然是旅遊機會一大堆。光是第一學期就被邀約去Dublin跟Belfast。Dublin沒去的原因有兩個：1.) 那週正好要交essay 2.)要加辦簽證。後來又有朋友邀約去Belfast。雖然不用簽證，但因為老實說，我興趣並不是很大，就推掉了。不過這次來愛丁堡最吸引我的，除了我最想看的Rosslyn Chapel之外，還有就是住宿跟交通完全不用煩惱！我這個懶旅人，當然就一口答應了！

有時候做決定時還真的需要一點衝動。如果再晚個一兩個星期問我，我大概又會因為事情開始陸陸續續堆積起來又不想去了。不過因為早早就付好錢了，不去太浪費了。就硬著頭皮還是這麼去了。六小時的車程，我還帶了書在車上看呢！可見事情真的是有夠多的。現在問我我還真不知道那兩週是怎麼活過來的。

這是去愛丁堡中途停靠的休息站。無論是裝潢或是食物的品質都看起來好高級呢！雖然大家可能覺得沒什麼，不過我總覺得很新鮮呢！忍不住按下快門，拍下來跟大家分享。