celiagarden

From Interlaken to Zermatt 

Château de Chillon

Frankfurt

    Paradises are always the final destination of travelers but are inevitably spoiled by them in the end. The ideal paradises must have astonishing beauty and heavenly peace. By their very nature, paradises are essentially isolated from people to avoid pollution. Because paradises are irresistible to travelers, more and more travelers would go to the paradises to experience their beauty and peace. But the destruction and the disturbance brought by travelers eventually put paradises in jeopardy. Hence, to live in the paradises is initially a joy but turns out to be a disaster. The Beach illustrates this problem that all travelers have. In short, travelers are unaware that they usually spoil the paradises in two ways. The first way is that they ruin the environment of the paradises. The second way is that they destroy the peace of the paradises. 

    Most travelers have a tendency to bring worldly things, more or less, to where they settle. This is the first way that the travelers ruin the environment of the paradises. In fact, in order to make their lives more comfortable, travelers like to develop the paradises. This development includes transportation, housing, and entertainment. One example presenting the housing development of the paradise in The Beach is, “At first glance, the camp…[has] a large, dusty clearing surrounded by trees, with some huts and a few tents. At the far end was a larger building, a longhouse, and beside it the stream from the waterfall reappeared” (20). Another example showing the entertainment development of the paradise is, “Sal had organized a huge team of football” (27). Indeed, too many developments make the paradise become very plastic. As a consequence, paradises are no longer paradises since travelers ruin the natural beauty of the paradises. 

Chicago and San Francisco

    第一次見到Trav，就被他的丰采迷住了！1988年Fall Quarter，剛到Northwestern不久，便打電話跟他約好見面時間，地點就在Trav的實驗室。他電話中聲音顯得非常開朗、熱情，心想能在這樣個性的教授門下，應該是非常幸運吧！時光飛逝，當年所學的尖端神經細胞生物理論，因著科技的日新月異，已成平淡無奇的知識。往日實驗室生活的點點滴滴，卻在時間洪流裡沉澱下來，化為生命中一串美麗的回憶...... 
   

    Toronto是加拿大第一大城，位於Lake Ontario畔，地標就是CN Tower〈加拿大國家電視塔〉！整個Toronto給我印象最深刻的就是一片冰天雪地，而且即使已經是三月了，天氣還是非常的冷！這真和Chicago有得拼，可能都位居五大湖畔，緯度高加上wind chills，冬天溫度竟可降到攝氏零下二十多 度！那種凍的體驗，只能用"bitterly cold"兩個字來形容！面對長達半年的雪季，真是苦不堪言！不過發現Toronto候車亭的玻璃帷幕都盡量密封，地底下也配置熱水管以散發地熱... 這些都較Chicago先進許多！

    三個多鐘頭後 ，在飄著繽紛小雪的夜晚，安抵Rhinebeck小鎮Kate家！因白天跑了許多行程，早已勞累不堪，安頓好後倒頭就睡了。 第二天就是周一，未來幾天Kate也都得上班，因此計劃由伯父母陪同，造訪附近Hudson Vallley著名的歷史小鎮......

   1989Spring break──在Northwestern University第一個長達10天的假期──趕緊跟學校旅行社訂了機票和火車票，並在好友Vivien的建議與陪同下，到Macy's添購一件時髦的粉紅色厚大衣，準備去美東拜訪在 New York upstate的大學同學Kate及Toronto的表哥。

沒來由的昏暗   三月料峭，微微光色   映照在空蕩的早晨車站