2012-12-21 
【Aiden in English】
In Chinese proverb, an hour in the morning is worth two in the evening. To me, it's always pleasant to start a new day with a scrumptious breakfast. I had fried eggs and toasted bread with strawberry juice. The eggs with white bread looked plain but yummy. The juice tasted fresh and very berry. As we loaded up our luggage and checked out, I made a French silent farewell to the hotel and the great city of Santiago.
When the tour group finally met together, we started out in a garden city called Vina Del Mar on the Pacific coast. A nickname was given to it as Vineyard by the Sea due to a Colonial hacienda whose vineyards faced the ocean. The Flower Clock made the entire city bloom.
There we paid a visit to a tiny Fonck Museum where it provided the best insight into the ancestral history of its inhabitants and natural sciences. A giant Moai stood at the gate not only symbolically to the city but to the nation because he was the only one outside Easter Island. It reminded us how great we made our pilgrimage to his hometown a few days ago. The exhibition on the 2nd floor held a complete collection of arthropods and animals which we would find their footprints while we traveled in Chile in the following week. Some poisonous insects were kept in cages carefully. When I passed through this section, I made a quiet oath never to sit on the floor before dusting it.
Outside the entrance to Palacio Carrasco municipal library as Cultural Capital, the sculpture of "La Defensa" by Auguste Rodin was declared as a National Historic Monument. A flag of culture in China hung on the top. Currently, it was under renovation. Therefore, we couldn't even take a look inside.
An earthquake struck the city severely in Feb 2010. A visible crack was left in the facade of Palacio Vergara of Fine Arts Museum and its recovery was still on track after nearly three years. Nearby Vergara Amphitheater hosted the Vina Del Mar Intl. Song Festival every summer and Elton John will perform "Rocket Man" in 2013.
Away from downtown, Renaca Beach laid beautiful and wide expanses of sand looking out to the Pacific. However, the water remained cold and the Humboldt Current constantly welled up until it from the ocean floor. We'd rather stay offshore. Interestingly, the same current also accounted for the marvelous seafood. This was one of the reasons why we came here.
At lunch, the BBQ beef steak I ordered seemed too tough to chew. I doubted even a chainsaw would be able to cut it. But I was amazed to have almond chocolate ice cream with a strawberry smoothie served for my dessert. The ice cream gave me tons of brain freeze and the smoothie tasted similar to sour-patch juice. Mom had her own entree and also tried Pastel de Chocio served in a traditional earthenware bowl from a newly met friend across our table. She did not get used to ground meat topped with corn puree and baked because it tasted too much sugar.
In the afternoon, we drove to its twin city Valparaiso and bought the tickets to Nobel Literature Laureate Pablo Neruda's house- la Sabastiana where it transformed into a museum in memory of the famous Chilean poet. "Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair" was on display. This wooden house was located on the side of the steep hill and looked out over the Pacific Ocean. Pablo designed the interior on his own and his 2nd artist's wife painted all the pictures. Green ink color often popped on his poems as his personal symbol for will and hope with his poetry. He liked to invite friends over and enjoyed hearing any new jokes, although he wasn't a very good joke teller. Indeed he would laugh and giggle even when the joke wasn't so funny.
After climbing back on our tour bus, my mom gave the driver a tip of $11 US dollars. It meant a lot to him because $1 US dollar converted to $500 Chilean pesos. So $11 dollars were equal to 5,500 pesos! The driver tended to drop us off at the hotel in the middle of the steep hill. But the street was too narrow for the bus to go through and the slope appeared sharp enough for us to hike. By the time we arrived there, my legs felt on fire! I thought I was climbing Mount Everest. As soon as I got to my boutique room, I hopped onto the bed and tried to think about when I slept in a proper bed last time.
【红霞译文】
中国有句谚语：“一日之计在于晨”。对我而言，称心如意的早餐永远是每天良好开端的标志，炒鸡蛋夹烤面包看起来极其平常，吃起来口感不错，草莓汁味道新鲜可口。吃罢早餐，我们打点行李准备结账离开酒店，此时我默默道别酒店和首府圣地亚哥。 只待旅行团集结完毕，我们立刻朝海滨葡萄园城驶去，这座城市最早因一殖民庄园主的葡萄园面向太平洋而被称作“海上葡萄园”，市中心的“花草时钟”可以印证。 神秘博物馆小巧玲珑，为我们了解智利土著祖先生活史和自然科学打开了窗口，馆外摩艾石像是唯一远离复活节岛而落户智利大陆的真品国宝，一看到它，我们禁不住回想起前不久朝拜其故居文化的愉快场景；二楼展厅有从全国采集的节肢动物和哺乳动物整套标本，相信在未来一周所到之处，我们将会实地探访这些动物的足迹，鉴于有些具毒的昆虫被小心存放在密封的盒子里，我暗下决心，今后如若再经过此类地方一定不能随便席地而坐。
素有“文化之家”美誉的圣栎庄园市图书馆门前矗立着英雄国家纪念碑，这是法国著名雕塑家罗丹的作品，楼顶屋檐下大幅标语张贴着“中国文化”字样，可惜图书馆正处在维修阶段，谢绝参观，不然真应该进去看个究竟。 2010年2月地震严重破坏了海滨葡萄园城建筑，高山花园艺术博物馆深受其害，时过将近三年，正面墙上的裂缝至今尚未修复，附近高山花园圆形露天剧场每年夏季都要举行规模盛大的国际歌咏比赛，2013年英国乐坛常青树艾尔顿•约翰将亲临现场演唱《火箭人》。 离开闹市区走近太平洋，蝌蚪沙滩像一条宽大白色玉带，优雅地镶嵌在一眼望不到边的海岸线上，洪堡洋流从南极冰川流经南美西部海岸，使得当地的海水凉得寒心海风刮得刺骨，而我们情愿躲到风吹不到水打不着的人间天堂，溜溜弯儿，压压马路，晒晒太阳。有趣的是海洋生物反倒逆太平洋寒流而入，带来丰盛的水产资源，吸引了天下游客来此大快朵颐生猛海鲜。
午餐上我点来火烤牛排，没想到肉质硬得根本嚼不动，即使钢锯铁锉恐怕难以将它切开，好在我有杏仁巧克力冰激凌和草莓冰沙做后盾，虽然冰激凌害得我脑袋发僵，但冰沙酷得我味觉发嗲。妈妈吃完自己的主餐不算，还惦记周围别人盘中智利名菜佳肴，当尝过邻桌“肉末玉米脆饼沙锅”之后，她竟耐受不住高糖含量配方。 下午时分，我们随车来到姊妹城瓦尔帕莱索──西班牙语中的“天堂谷地”，首先拜访了诺贝尔文学奖获得者智利诗人巴勃罗•聂鲁达(意指“谦虚诗人”)的教士故居，现已改成博物馆供游人参观，他的著名诗集《二十首情诗和一支绝望的歌》陈列其中，这个木楼依山傍海，内部全部由诗人设计，其第二位艺术家妻子作画，绿色诗迹记录了他对理想的追求和对诗歌的热爱。诗人好客，喜欢聆听朋友讲笑话，虽然自己并不擅长插科打诨，但却欣赏各种品味的趣闻轶事。 我们终于看完景点返回旅游大巴上。这时妈妈递给司机$11美元小费，对他来说非常可观，因为按国际货币交换时价，$1美元可以折算智利现金$500比索，所以他总共收到$5,500比索外快！司机原打算送我们直接去酒店，但街道太窄，大巴根本过不去，再加上坡路又陡，我们只能一点一点向前蠕动。胜利到达酒店时，我两腿酸软脚底冒火！真以为自己刚刚从喜马拉雅山凯旋而归；等我一踏进精致房间，我连滚带爬扑上床去，好像很久没有睡过囫囵觉了。 夜被击碎
而蓝色的星在远处颤抖 晚风在天空中回旋歌唱
──谦虚诗人《今夜我可以写》
Today in History(历史上的今天):
2010: 月全食(Total Lunar Eclipse)
2009: 新西兰圣水地热仙境(Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland, NZ) 2009: 新西兰第二湖市——硫磺之城(Rotorua the Sulphur City, NZ) 
Vina Del Mar, the 4th Largest City in Chile (海滨葡萄园城·智利第四大城市) 
Rugged Coast (崎岖海岸线) 
Tornamesa Centro de Escalada (转盘攀岩中心) 
Flower Clock (花钟) 
Valparaiso Sporting Club (天堂谷体育俱乐部) 
Ross Castle (骏马城堡)
Palace Vergara or Fine Arts Museum (高山花园宫美术博物馆) 
Handcrafts @ Vergara Park (高山花园公园·手工艺品 12-21-2012) 
Quinta Vergara Amphitheater, Home to the Viña del Mar Intl Song Festival (高山花园庄园圆形露天剧场·国际歌曲节所在地 12-21-2012) 
Palacio Carrasco (圣栎宫市立图书馆 12-21-2012) 
Statue of Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna @ Palacio Carrasco (圣栎宫市立图书馆—智利作家雕塑) 
Fonck Museum (神秘博物馆) 
Archaeology @ Fonck Museum (神秘博物馆·考古学 12-21-2012) 
Insects @ Fonck Museum (神秘博物馆·昆虫馆 12-21-2012) 
Hotel of Hispano (西班牙酒店) 
Apartment Bldg (公寓楼) 
University Federico Santa Maria (圣母技术大学) 
Clapboard Townhouses (板房联栋楼)
High-Rise Blds by the Shore (海边高层建筑) 
Los Pomairinos (航海者餐厅) 
String Garlic Faux @ Los Pomairinos (航海者餐厅·蒜辫装潢 12-21-2012) 
Charango @ Los Pomairinos (航海者餐厅·安第斯五弦琴) 
Plaza Parroquia (教区广场 12-21-2012) 
Our Lady of Agony Church (圣母教堂) 
Cormorant Column (鸬鹚柱) 
Playa Cochoa (绿画眉海滩 12-21-2012) 
Roca Oceanica NP (大洋岩国家公园)
Pedestrians (街上行人) 
Thomas Somerscales (英国海洋艺术家街 12-21-2012） 
Hotel Casa Thomas Somerscales in Valparaiso (天堂谷—英国海洋艺术家之家 12-21-2012) 
Lounge @ Somerscales Boutique Hotel, Valparaiso (天堂谷·英国海洋艺术家民宿酒店 12-21-2012) 
Colorful Building in Valparaiso (天堂谷·楼房异彩 12-21-2012) 
Steep Rolling Street (上坡不见天下坡前滚翻) 
La Sebastiana (诗人故居) Crosslinks(相关博文): Chile(出游智利)
South America(漂流南美洲)
小学四年级(4th Grade) |
