il Giardino Romantico

大家都知道英國大文豪莎士比亞。即使你對英國文化不了解，從來沒讀過英國的文學，或甚至連英文都不是你的好朋友，你都一定有聽過莎士比亞。但是如果沒有接觸過英國文學，甚至連念英美文學長大的人都比較少接觸到莎士比亞同時期的競爭對手 - Christopher Marlowe。其實他是寫"Doctor Faustus"「浮士德」的作者。而且要不是年紀輕輕在酒吧遇害，很多學者認為他未來的發展應該是可以比莎士比亞還要優秀的。因此也有很多傳說產生。許多文學作品也繞著這個傳說，編寫出他為什麼會遇害。電影「莎翁情史」裡有一個片段就是莎士比亞與Marlowe在酒吧遇到，Marlowe還指點了莎士比亞，給他一點寫作的方向。其實他的故事挺有趣的，作品也跟莎士比亞是不相上下的。有興趣者可以去Wiki一下，或甚至找一下浮士德的中譯本（注意，不是歌德的版本喔！歌德寫的是小說，Marlowe寫的是劇本）來讀看看。

Everyone knows Shakespeare. Even if you are unfamiliar with English culture, or have never approached English literature, even those who have not yet befriended the English language, would surely have heard of Shakespeare at some point. However, if you have not had contact with English literature, well, even those who are native English speakers, only get to know Marlowe on rare occassions. Christopher Marlowe is the playwright who wrote 'Doctor Faustus', not to be confused with Goethe's 'Faustus'. Scholars believe that if he had not been murdered at an early age, he had the potential to become even more than what Shakespeare had become. Because of this, many myths and legends were born. Writings of fiction and nonfiction surrounds the plot of why he had been murdered, and who the plotters were. In the film 'Shakespeare in Love', there is also a scene where the lost Shakespeare found Marlowe at a pub, and Marlowe gave him a few pointers as to how to go about with his next play. His story is intriguing, and his works are not incomparable to Shakespeare's. I recommend those who are interested to at least Wiki him, or even find a modern edition of 'Doctor Faustus' to read. 

逛一整天也逛累了。腿痠肚子當然也就趁機抗議。怎麼辦呢？我一直不太懂為什麼大家老是說英國的食物難吃的要死。我超愛的耶！是我的問題嗎？總之，我的重點是，在英國呀喜歡英式早餐的人最幸福了！因為許多pub或是這種cafe，"早餐"都是全天候供應的（咦？）。雖然沒有打上時間，不過其實我記得這餐應該是下午三點左右才吃的。

After walking around for the entire day, your feet gets tired, more or less. And of course, your tummy would also take the chance to protest as well. Well, what to do then? I don't really understand people's complaints about how terrible English food is. I rather enjoy it! Might be just me... Anyway, the point I'm trying to make here, is that if you happen to like English breakfast, there are a plethora of pubs and cafes that offer 'all day breakfast'... Can it still be 'breakfast', when you're having it in the afternoon? Cuz if my memory serves me right, this took place at around 3pm! 

其實早在2010年12月貼出【坎特伯里】Canterbury Cathedral一文時，我早就在當年的七月造訪過第二次了！這兩次的感觸非常不一樣。第一次因為是一個人單獨進去參觀，所以花了很多時間看透每一個細節。第二次，除了再次享受這華麗教堂的內外部，其實我最主要的目的是用新的相機把這座美麗的教堂，再做一次紀錄。

When I posted the first article on Canterbury Cathedral in December, 2010, I had already been there a second time. These two visits were very different, though. I was on my own the fist time, so I took all the time I needed to steep myself in the cathedral atmosphere. The second time round, other than enjoying everything for one more time, my most important agenda was to make a second recording of this magnificent building. 

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經過了一兩周的台灣食記轟炸，我想大家看食物應該看的也累了！所以我們再來把焦點轉移到英國吧！由於我是英國台灣這樣穿插的再貼文，在這裡我想我必須再次提醒讀者們，其實這次是我第二次造訪坎特伯里。第一次來的時候，花了許多時間參訪博物館以及大教堂。整個時間被占去因此有許多其他的事物都來不及嘗試。既然有機會能夠再來第二次，我就想說要嘗試一些第一次來的時候無緣參與到的事物囉！這個河上導覽就是其中之一。

After a few weeks of Taiwan food articles, I'm sure you're getting a bit sick and tired of looking at food, food, and not thing but food articles. So here we are again, back in the UK. Since I'm sort of overlapping Taiwan and UK articles, I feel obliged to remind you again that this was my second time to Canterbury. The first time round, I took a lot of time in museums and the cathedral itself. Because time was a valuable asset, I had to be selective of what I did. Since I was lucky enough to come back for a second visit, I decided to try things that I did not try the first time round. This river tour, was one of them. 

Standing across from the main entrance to St Augustine's Abbey, on a patch of land called Lady Wootton Green, are two statues of King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha. The unique thing about these two statues is the exquisite details of each and every part. From the upper and lower torsos, to the clothes and accessories on them, no detail went unnoticed. It's definitely worth taking some time to examine. 

King Ethelbert was king of Kent from 580 or 590 until his death. He was the first king to convert to Christianity. The eighth century historian also referred to him as the third king to hold imperium over the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. 

I don't know when I started to have such an enormous appetite. Perhaps it was because knowing that after this trip, it would take an even longer wait for me to come to the UK again, and thus I forced myself into making the most of it - even my belly. I was hungry almost all the time. I wanted to eat everything I saw on the menu. But... I knew that was impossible. I still had to make a choice. 

This restaurant looked very colourful. My friend and host said it was quite good. So we decided, or rather I decided, that we should have dinner there. 

Canterbury is the only place, other than London and Liverpool, that I visited for a second time during this trip. There were a few reasons for this: 1. my friend was still living there at the time, and if I missed out on the opportunity to visit her this time, I didn't know when I would see her again (seeing that prior to our reunion a couple of years back, we had not seen each other for 14 years...) 2. it was such a lovely place, there was absolutely no reason not to visit! 3. my friend had suggested that we visit some surrounding towns, places that I did not get to see last time. So here I was again, in Canterbury. This time, with a slightly different mood. But pleasant, nonetheless.

坎特伯里是我這次去少數有與之前重複到的地方（倫敦與利物浦除外）。這其中有幾個原因：一、我朋友當時還住在這裡。基於我們曾經分隔過十四年，若錯過這次又不知道要等到什麼時候才能再見面了！所以當然要把握！二、我本來就非常喜歡這個地方，所以沒有理由不來第二次。三、朋友建議說我們這次可以去看看上回沒見到的周圍小鎮（又更吸引我了！）所以我就又來這裡了！雖然這次心情不太一樣，但還是依然的很享受。