il Giardino Romantico

I'd seen pictures of 'Salt Mountain' before, and I had never imagined it to be so 'yellow'!! What we saw before our eyes was so disappointing, especially since we had driven for so long to see it, AND almost got lost on the way.

曾經看過鹽山的照片。從來沒想過自己看到的鹽山會是黃色的！眼前的景象實在是很令人失望。尤其是我們開了很久的車才找到，沿途還差點迷路。。。

01 

This gorgeous piece of art work, Dome of Light, by the Italian artist Narcissus Quagalita, stands in the midst of the Kaohsiung metro, Formosa Boulevard Station.  There are four parts to the work: water, earth, light, and fire, all of which depict the process of the universe.  Seeing that the Chinese name of the station literally means 'Beautiful Island', I believe there isn't a better place for this artwork to be displayed other than here.

相信台灣的讀者對這作品已經不陌生。義大利藝術家水仙的作品：光之穹頂，位於高雄捷運美麗島站。此作品分成四個主題：水、土、光、火。象徵著宇宙的過程。因為位於＂美麗島＂站，我想應該沒有比這個更適合展示此作品的地方了吧！

Photo of Central Park Station.
攝於中央公園站

Since the completion of the Kaohsiung Rapid Transport, this is the first time I'd ever been on it. Compared to Taipei MRT, I think they were fortunate to have a model preceding them.  The whole system seems clean, spacious, and comfortable.  Probably because it was constructed after Taipei MRT, they made a lot of 'improvements', if you will, to the system.  I actually enjoyed my ride on it very much, despite the inevitable faults that every system is doomed to have...

I've already presented this little bus station in two different articles with coloured photos.  This time, with my new camera, I've decided to present it in a very different way.  This tiny little station may not hold any significance, but to this day, it remains the main hub for the people in Liouguei Township.  My memories of the station goes back to childhood, and all the way up to the first time I travelled to visit Grandma on my own.  It is a station loaded with memories, and thus worth being captured again and again.

In this article, I posted a picture of the broken bridge, which was taken two months after the devastating typhoon Marokot.  Now, after six months, the road into the village has become a smoother ride, but the bridge that had been washed away, remains far from being rebuilt.

在莫拉克過後一文中分享過被沖走的六龜大橋圖片。那張圖片拍攝於風災過後約兩個月。再次回到原地，已經是六個月後了。雖然進入六龜鄉的道路已經變的很順通，但是看到六龜大橋還在重新修復的進度，才了解一個風災造成的傷害，短短時間內是根本不可能恢復的。

每次想起外婆，或是到了外婆家，總是會想起周杰倫『外婆』曲子中的一段歌詞︰

『外婆她的期待　慢慢變成無奈

Why in the world would I be dragged to southern Taiwan within 24 hours of my arrival back home?  Two missions await for me to accomplish. The most important mission was to visit my 87 year-old granny whose hometown had been badly hit by the typhoon a couple of months back.  Although her house remained in tact, there was no reason to wait any longer to see her.  After all, once you reach a certain age, there is nothing more important than having company.

Because I had just gotten off the plane, and although the high speed train had reduced a lot of physical pressure, I was still pretty knackered, and fell asleep on the coach from Kaohsiung to my grandma's.  When I opened my eyes once again, I could hardly believe what I was looking at!  The once beautiful, peaceful, and scenic countryside road had been completely sabotaged by Marakot.

我去荷蘭？

一邊喝神奇的冬瓜茶，一邊逛一級古蹟赤嵌樓。我想不到有什麼比這個還要更『台南』的。話說台南真是個好地方。雖然天氣熱熱的，但就不會跟台北一樣悶悶的。難怪艾小小才搬去沒多久就愛上他。

[神農宮附近的涼亭]

對外婆來說，咱們去看他的時間永遠是不夠的。住一晚也嫌時間太短。住兩晚也嫌時間太短。可是住超過三天，他大概又會開始嫌你煩。不過話雖如此，如果住久了，要走的時候，外婆又會特別不捨。以前聽說我們這些晚輩離開的時候，他送我們上車後回家都會偷偷哭泣。

外婆的作息跟我差很多。早上大概四五點就起床，念經、上香、吃早餐、看電視。即使我八點起來，都還會被嫌晚。[已經比我平常早一個小時了耶！]十點多就會約我一起出去買午餐。五點多就熱好飯要吃晚餐。八點不到就跟我說晚安睡覺去了。我想外婆最近聽力大概有受到影響。因為電視都開的特別大聲。害我看了一下就受不了一直走出戶外繞兩圈在回來繼續陪他看。

[圖中小人影便是我可愛的阿嬤～]

阿嬤看我一直拍車站，便問：『這車站有什麼好拍的？』我回他說，現在這種車站很少了。上回貼出來得到熱烈的迴響。不過上次來幾乎都是陰天。這次陽光普照，我怎麼能錯過這麼好的拍照機會呢！

[攝於高鐵車廂內南下方向]

住台北太久，常常會忘記為什麼夏日大家都要往南部跑。其實這種藍天是我所熟悉的。但忙著工作、忙著生活看到這藍天才想到這是台北不太常見的藍天。而且，南台灣的藍天，怎麼看都跟北部的藍天不一樣！

誰說千金難買寸光陰？

有多少人因為高鐵，省下了許多寶貴的時間。談成了更多交易？增加了多少親友、情侶能夠相處的時間？也多虧了高鐵，我才能夠完全不用請假的，在下課之後還能夠早早就到高雄。或許乍看之下高鐵票價是貴了些。但多付的這些錢，為自己買了時間以及舒適。我想，這是許多人開始會選擇高鐵的原因吧！

雖然對台灣文學很陌生，但身為文學人，即使不懂，也絲毫不影響「欣賞」的樂趣。其實在進去參觀之前，我還有點懷疑這裡到底會有什麼好看、好玩的。不過參觀的過程中，真的越來越喜歡這裡。

從孔廟走過來，途中可見的詩句：

其實這是我們的最後一站喔。不過我也不知道在堅持什麼，覺得文學館應該最後貼。其實hinlin跟Sue帶我去的地方我都很喜歡。可能是因為在文學館待的比較久吧！

終於讓我看到孔廟了！

孩子們一下車就研究地圖：

- 來源：六龜鄉公所網站

對六龜印象最深的是什麼？以前坐車到六龜要經過幾個山洞。我忘了是不是真的有六個。不過記得幼年時覺得過山洞實在是一件令人興奮的事！

每次回六龜，除非遇上有車的舅舅們也恰好在，不然的話其實幾天的行程都只會在阿嬤家附近。不過孤僻的我，反倒是希望不會遇上舅舅們。不是因為不喜歡他們。而是因為我回六龜的最終目的還是看阿嬤。

抱歉，讓你們久等了。最近有好多想寫的都還沒來得及寫。放假期間想說趁機來全部貼出來。沒想到去了一趟南台灣，之前的沒貼完又欠了一堆文。為了不要讓hinlin與Sue等太久，先貼一篇孩子們玩耍的圖文上來。接下來的遊記我就可以來慢慢寫了。

以下是在台南市孔子廟四位可愛的孩子們玩耍時的趣味照片。聽說這次去台南的主角是我？好像不是喔！他們四個才是主角啦！