Who Lives Sees,but Who Travels Sees More

By Sylvia Yang

你为什么远行？因为这样你就可以回来。你可以用全新的视角去审视那个你属于的、离开的又回归的地方，而那里的人们也会用不同的眼光去看待你。兜兜转转一圈，虽然重新回到原点，那感觉也是完全不一样的。

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”

—— Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky1. A Hat Full of Sky: 英国著名幻想小说家特里·普拉切特的小说《帽子里的天空》。

People have travelled more often than before. As Terry Pratchett said, when you go away from where you live, the final destination is always coming back to it. Since the starting point is also the terminal one, what’s the meaning of going away or travelling? The key point, to my understanding, is the observation and digestion of what we see, hear and feel on the way. We feel refreshed when we come back to the familiar place, because what we have experienced makes us see it differently. We may even get an epiphany2. epiphany: 对事物真谛的顿悟。sometimes. Going away and coming back gives us a real and vivid experience which will be embedded in our mind and get recalled in later life from time to time.3. 出发和回来给了我们一个真实的、生动的体验，这种体验铭刻于我们的记忆中，并让我们在以后的人生中不断回味。vivid: 生动的，鲜明的；be embedded in: 嵌入。Several years or decades later, the places we’ve been to and what we’ve experienced in those places will become the real fortune, which is more precious than any material wealth.

Travelling is one of the most important parts of my life. In the UK, Easter4. Easter: 复活节，每年春分月圆之后的第一个星期日，是纪念耶稣基督在十字架受刑死后复活的节日。vacation is usually as long as three to four weeks, which gives me a chance to travel around the Europe. Here’s my first taste of travelling alone in the continental Europe.

As for destinations, without any doubt, France came to my mind as the first choice, because I was interested in French culture and lovely small towns.Besides, as I studied French for two years, travelling to France would be helpful to improving my fluency in French. My second choice was the one that most girls would love to make: Greece, specifically, its romantic white island Santorini surrounded by the azure Mediterranean Sea.5. island Santorini: 圣托里尼岛，是爱琴海诸岛中较有名气的岛屿；azure: 蔚蓝的；Mediterranean Sea: 地中海。Thirdly, I chose Italy,which is geographically located between them. As a result, my destinations were France, Italy and Greece in that order.

C’est la vie,6. C’est la vie: 法文“这就是生活”。 France

My first stop was Paris. Even though Paris is quite big, I decided to explore it on foot so as to embrace the romantic and artistic Paris atmosphere as much as possible. Since my hostel was located in Montmartre in the north of Paris,7. hostel: 旅馆；Montmartre:蒙马特，位于巴黎北部。I started my city walk from that area. There were plenty of small shops of art works, chocolate and bars which were well decorated with an artistic style.Different from the cafés in China, Paris cafés and bars usually offer outdoor seats and tables so that customers can chat and sit next to each other while enjoying their food, drink and the splendid sunshine at the same time. Some Parisians8. Parisian: 巴黎人。were walking their dogs on the street.Others were having sun bath in front of the most visible landmarks of Paris: Sacre-Coeur9. Sacre-Coeur: 圣心大教堂，位于巴黎的蒙马特高地至高点上，以其视角广阔，景色如画而闻名。at the highest point of the city.

After walking for an hour and half, I finally reached the worldwide well-known Eiffel Tower.Disappointingly, when I saw it in reality for the first time, it didn’t look as breath-taking10. breath-taking: 惊人的，令人屏息的。as I had expected. It looked more like a thing constructed with brown rotted11. rotted: 破损的，被腐蚀的。irons. I only took some pictures and then walked away. While I was sitting on a bench to rest, an old man’s voice attracted my attention, “Bonjour!” (“Hi”in English) When I turned around, I found the voice came from an old French man. I responded with “Bonjour!” and started to look him up and down. He was wearing a casual beige jacket and a light blue shirt inside.12. casual: 随便的；beige: 米黄的。He might be my grandpa’s age as he had grey hair and a face with many wrinkles. He couldn’t speak fluent English,so we talked to each other switching among English, French and body language.Travelling alone in a foreign country for the first time made me alert when strangers approached me. I tried to avoid disclosing13. disclose: 公开，透露。any personal information and even thought about running away. Luckily, not all strangers are dangerous.This old man turned out to be friendly. He was hanging around in the city centre for the weekend, because he lived in a relatively distant area. Finally, he became my tour guide and introduced some interesting places to me while we were walking along the River Seine14. River Seine: 塞纳河，是流经巴黎市中心的法国第二大河。. We said good-bye to each other when it became dark.

When I was about to go back to the hostel, something shiny in the dark sky drew my attention. It was the Eiffel Tower! The unattractive rotted iron Eiffel Tower suddenly became a diamond in the dark night. Its whole body was covered by dazzling orange lights, which sparkled and shined hourly. That was truly amazing. At that moment, I finally understood why it was such an extraordinary landmark of Paris.

Up to now, I have visited Paris three times, but whenever I went to Paris, I found something interesting that lured me to go back again and again. There are so many things to explore in Paris, the food, the art, the monumental places, areas of cultural conflict, museums and galleries.

Those are the legacy of history and human intelligence. With an artistic air added, Paris becomes even more charming and adorable15. adorable: 可爱的。.

Pizza and gelato16. gelato: （意大利语）冰淇淋。, Italy

After visiting other two small towns in France, I went to the city of water, Venice. It is not only surrounded by the sea, but also connected internally mainly by waterway. If the city is like the lung, blood streams are the rivers and bridges providing waterway to transport people, food and other goods. Due to the lack of solid land, roads in Venice were built too narrow to drive a car, let alone buses. Clothes, jewelry designers and fine art17. fine art: 艺术作品。artists ran their own shops on both sides of narrow roads which receive the major volume of tourists. Apart from traditional souvenir shops, there were lots of shops selling glass art works, because a small island near Venice,called Bruno, is famous for its high quality and fine art made from glass.

As for food, apart from spaghetti, Italy is represented by its thin, crispy and large Pizza.18. spaghetti: 意大利式细面条；crispy: 酥脆的。Although I’ve tasted so-called Italian pizza in the UK, it’s still worth trying the original one. I ordered my first piece of pizza from a take-away restaurant. Either the way of cooking it or the ingredients19. ingredients: 成分，材料。made it taste much better than pizzas in the UK. After finishing my first piece, I instantly ran to buy the second one like a glutton20. glutton: 贪吃的人。. Having wolfed21. wolf: v. 狼吞虎咽地吃。down two pieces, I thought it was high time to have some Italian gelato (“ice cream” in Italian). To be honest,I am not a gourmand, but I agree with the saying “Food is the paramount necessity of the people”.22. 实话说，我并不是一个美食家，不过我认同“食物是人类至高无上的需求”这一说法。gourmand: 美食家；paramount: 最重要的，至高无上的。There’s no better thing than walking around an old town with a cone of ice cream23. cone of ice cream: 圆筒冰淇淋。in hand in a sunny day. I was addicted to the set of pizza and gelato, so it became my main meal for two days in Venice. The consequence is interesting: I didn’t have appetite for any pizzas in the UK for half a year,because I missed the authentic24. authentic: 真正的，正宗的。one so much.

The pearl in Mediterranean, Greece

My final stop was Athens. At that time, the Greek financial crisis was becoming quite severe and strikes became a common phenomenon. When I arrived at Athens,a transportation strike was going on in the city centre where my hostel was located. I had to walk to the hostel with the help of passers-by.

The bad luck didn’t follow me for too long. When I was hungry and tired, it was great to find some Greek restaurants near the hostel. A grand baked tomato displayed behind the window, with the top being cut apart, directly caught my attention when I was wandering around25. wander around: 闲逛，徘徊。. Something that was likely to be melted cheese leaked out between the gaps.26. 好似融化的奶酪一样的东西从（西红柿顶端的）切口中流出来。I ordered one of the tomatoes out of curiosity. It tasted sweet and there were rice, sliced vegetables and other Greek spices inside. It was the very first time for me to know that tomatoes can be cooked in such a way.

Having satisfied my stomach, I visited the Acropolis27. Acropolis: 雅典卫城，意为“高丘上的城邦”，是希腊最杰出的古建筑群和宗教、政治的中心地。and museum. The museum guide told me the four sculptural pillars supporting the ceiling of the Acropolis were duplicated,28. sculptural: 雕刻的；pillar: 支柱；duplicated: 复制的。while only one of the originals was displayed in the museum and the rest have been stored in the British Museum since they were stolen by the British Army in wars. This reminded me of what happened in The Old Summer Palace where the intruders stole movable treasures and burnt anything they couldn’t take into ash.29. intruder: 入侵者；into ash: 化为灰烬。Both Chinese and Greek scholars have been trying to retrieve lost historical relics.30. retrieve: 找回，收回；relic: 遗迹。

There’s a place in the Mediterranean Sea. The majority of the houses on it are painted white, which has made it one of the most popular white islands in the world. In western culture, white represents purity and it has become the best choice for wedding dresses since the Victorian era. That’s perhaps the reason why it has become one of the hottest places for lovers to spend their honeymoon. It is my final destination: Santorini. When I finally arrived at Santorini, without any delay, I took a bus to go to the kamari beach. It is totally covered with pebbles31. pebble: 沙砾，鹅卵石。, gradually thickening towards the sea. The promenade32. promenade:（供人们散步的）海滨散步道。is full of bars, restaurants and shops,most of which were closed, otherwise, the beach must be full of fun with people having sunbath and dancing after sunset. Since there weren’t so many people, instead of talking to people and making new friends, it was a great opportunity for me to appreciate the peace and rest. Having walked in the shallow area along the beach, I lay on the pebbles to “conduct photosynthesis” just like plants on earth.33. 沿着海边的浅滩区域漫步之后，我躺在了鹅卵石上“进行光合作用”，就像地球上的植物那样。photosynthesis: 光合作用。I spent almost three hours lying on the beach, smelling the salty flavour brought by the breeze, listening to the beating of sea waves and observing the movement of clouds in the clear blue sky. Probably I’ve reached an age at which I began to slow down my pace of moving forward sometimes to appreciate the peaceful, quiet and motionless moment.

For the minute I stepped on the cruise34. cruise: 航行。from Santorini to Athens, I suddenly realized the end of my journey was approaching. While sitting at a table by window, staring at the mysterious azure Mediterranean Sea, I saw the people I met, food I ate and the beautiful art work I saw in a way like movies. I also learnt something from this journey.I know how brave I can be through travelling alone in Europe only with a backpack.When I don’t speak the other’s language, I know I can draw pictures, use body language or even pronounce English words with French accent to give it a try. When strangers approach me, I know not all of them will do harm to me, but I need to be cautious as it’s still true that not all people are friendly. First impression may be biased35. biased: 带有偏见的。by when and where you get it, just like the Italian pizza in the UK is different from the authentic one.It is great to slow down a bit sometimes not only in travelling but also in daily life so that I can take a close look at the surroundings.

I have kept going away and coming back. Memory about every journey was cherished as treasure in my mind. When it’s recalled from time to time, it reminds me of the past, the feelings I had, which made me who I am. Who lives sees, but who travels sees more.