| yi님의 프로필西行漫记사진블로그리스트 |  도구  도움말 |
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西行漫记我想在天空里飞腾穿梭 享受难得的刺激，请暂时忽略我身体的安危 关怀我心灵对自由的渴求 11월 13일 儿时的记忆！落雨不怕,落雪也不怕~缘于mitbbs上一篇怀念70年代生的帖子 http://www.mitbbs.com/article_t/LES/48316.html
我和好友讨论起了花仙子和她的主题歌，我以为是我印象最深刻的那首粤语儿歌“落雨不怕，落雪也不怕，就算寒冷大风雪落下。。。” 结果被朋友一顿狂匾，才知道这首不是花仙子的主题歌，网上google了一下，在别人的blog找到了完整的歌词，这首原来是咪咪流浪记的主题歌。小时候很多好看的动画片，记得最深的就是这首歌还有蓝精灵里的“。。。打败了格格物~~~”。。。
星仔走天涯（粤语）
落雨不怕
落雪也不怕
就算寒冷大风雪落下
能够见到他
可以日日见到他面
如何大风雪也不怕
我要我要找我爸爸
去到哪里也要找我爸爸
我嘅好爸爸没找到
若你见到他就叫他回家
10월 1일 记忆刷新不知不觉我们的美国婚礼也已经过了2个多礼拜了，这场9个月的漫漫征程一结束，我似乎像卸了气的皮球一样把所有关于婚礼的事情统统抛到了脑后，本来要写个婚礼总结+感悟的，却迟迟没有动笔（认识我的都知道我这毛病了
 ），终于我家某人赶在我的前面，在一个forum上写了一个很详细的vendor review~ 往事如历历在目般。对于没法来参加我们婚礼的朋友，对于那些迟到的错过了最重要的仪式的家伙，也许你们会感兴趣知道一些“内幕”，只是不要被那么多的英语单词给吓倒了~~~I'm stealing the new wife’s login to post not-so-brief synopsis from our recent wedding at Colonial Dames and vendor review as she is busy doing other writing…（注：还在酝酿。。。） We were really overwhelmed planning our wedding as neither of us had family in the area to help and we hadn't really attended many weddings. To make matters worse, I lived 7 hours away so I quickly added tens of thousands of miles to my car to visit all of the vendors she wanted to visit. I do have to admit that MrsChinaJade（注:ChinaJade is my forum ID ） did do a wonderful job finding ideas for decorating and didn’t kill me for being the grumpy budget czar!（注：赤裸裸的拍mp）Location (Colonial Dames of America): We hunted LONG and HARD to find a location to hold the wedding since we didn’t know what we really wanted. We did want a single location to hold both the wedding and banquet, but also a place where we could get the "outdoor" feel for the wedding ceremony. We started in the Poconos and found several lovely B&Bs, such as French Manor, Bischwind, The Lodge at Mountain Springs Lake to name a few. However, some of our (lazy) friends felt 2 hours was WAY too far to drive. So we started to look closer towards Philly around the Bethlehem area. Again we found a few places that would work okay. We really liked Green Pond Country Club, but they did not have a Saturday night available around the dates we wanted. Yet still, some of our friends felt it was still too far away (they even felt that more than 30-45 minutes was WAY too far  ) （注：也许有人说过1个小时有点远，但是绝对没有抱怨30-40分钟）. So we started to look "IN" Philly. We again found lots of places: Knowlton Mansion, Glen Foerd Mansion, Valley Green Inn, Bartram's Garden, Penn Museum, Joseph Ambler Inn, and Cairnwood Mansion. Each of the places had one problem or another, such as; Glen Foerd (CRAZY $ minimums for the number of guests, plus not very good "flow" between dining & dancing areas), Valley Green Inn (not really a "private" wedding location), Cairnwood (out of our price range, and not well suited for 80ish guest during an indoor banquet), Joseph Ambler Inn (kind of ugly "standard" banquet area), etc... We were really getting depressed in finding a location, thankfully we found this post! We saw many ppl praising this "CD" location and it took us awhile to figure out that "CD" meant Colonial Dames. It took us a little time to actually FIND Colonial Dames on the 2 block long Latimer Street, but after meeting with Adrianna it fit most of our criteria. It had a small garden area for the wedding (okay, the grass needs a little help, but it IS in the middle of the city), a nice area with character on the first floor for appetizers which could substitute for a "oh fudge it’s raining" location, and a nice banquet area on the second floor that was nearly perfect for our 85 expected guests. Thankfully, MrsChinaJade asked Adrianna if there was a Saturday available in September. Adrianna responded "No, but I haven't heard from the couple that wanted Sat. Sept 13th, let me call them to verify". Amazingly, Adrianna called back an hour later saying that the couple didn't want the date anymore, would we want it? HECK YES! I really can't believe how lucky we got getting this location!!! Anyways, a few days before the wedding it did end up raining.   。 MrsChinaJade kept calling me "can we use outside, can we use outside?" It ended up that the ground was WAY too soft to walk on in the garden (especially in her high heels), so we did end up moving the wedding to the first floor area and ChinaJade had her GRAND entrance walking down the stairs to the "alter". Adrianna was VERY helpful, extremely flexible to our needs, and suggested many of the vendors we selected. You really can’t ask for a more pleasant location.Ceremony (Journeys of the Heart): Since neither of us were religious, we didn't really know where to start to find someone to do the ceremony. We ended up seeing a post suggesting "Journeys of the Heart" for the ceremony. I was a bit skeptical, but we met with Irene Fulton. She was a very nice lady, had a good sense of humor, and was very organized. She gave us many different options for blessings, openings, etc, which was VERY helpful for us since we just had to pick'em. The ceremony went perfectly and would highly recommend her to other couples! We had many compliments from our guest just how nice the ceremony was done. Caterer (Shackamaxon): One of the BEST things about CD is the ability to choose our own caterer and buy your own alcohol. After talking to many and doing two tastings with Shackamaxon and Manna Catering, we ended up working with Paul @ Shackamaxon. Paul was OUTSTANDING to work with during the planning process. The tasting went fantastic, as we tried to select different options for our chicken dish. For the wedding, they showed up on time, got setup quickly, and Paul was there the whole time to ensure everything went smoothly. It was really nice that Shackamaxon had done MANY events at CD, as they just knew what worked and what didn't. Their staff was also very good, joked with the guests, and ensured that everything went smoothly. We even worked with the bartender to make our "signature drink" martini just "perfect". We had 2 dishes, a chicken dish and a combination dish of Steak & Scallops. At the banquet, the chicken dish was nice and juicy and tender. The steak & Scallops dish wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as the tasting (a little on the dry side and not enough sauce). （注：听我推荐点了牛排的同志们，对不住了 ，不过大家记住的不是the taste of food, right?）However, it was better than many "banquet" dishes we had eaten at other weddings or professional banquets. The only minor issue we had was that for some reason the guest got lead up to the banquet room earlier than expected, so they ended up sitting upstairs for a bit before our "entrance". We would defiantly recommend working with Shackamaxon, good food, good staff, and reliable without breaking the bank!Flowers (Flowers by Mary Elizabeth): I let the lady handle the "flowery things", other than me rolling my eyes saying "how much is THAT going to cost?" She ended up selecting "Flowers by Mary Elizabeth" from one of the recommendations of Adrianna. Mary was very responsive, and worked hard to find the "look" that MrsChinaJade wanted and within our budget. The only "issue" that we had on the wedding day was that Mary was not able to come as she had another wedding, so she sent one of her assistants. With the change in location due to the rain, the assistant really didn't have a CLUE what to do (and called MrsChinaJade in a panic). Thankfully, my brother is an engineer and we were able to make a few hangers so the assistant could hang the garland over the doors instead of the planned outdoor area. However, the center pieces and other flowers and decorations used in the banquet were all very beautiful. The bouquets for the bridesmaids and MrsChinaJade were all very nicely done. We would recommend Mary Elizabeth with the caveat that SHE is available. DJ (Adam @ ph#): We looked at several DJs and were SHOCKED just how expensive they were. Most of them cost $1000 or more without ANY lights and for “only” 4 hours. We ended up using a DJ that one of our friends had used at their wedding. We were concerned about using that DJ as our friends wedding was quite boring. We at first thought it was due to the DJ, but we later realized it was just the personality of the ppl at the wedding and due to the fact it was an "afternoon" wedding banquet. We got even more concerned about using him as it often took him a day or two to respond to our calls or emails. However, when we met with him he was very organized, professional, and helped us select music for the ceremony & banquet. He was also willing to setup a simple second system on the first floor for the ceremony without extra fees that many of the DJs wanted to charge. We were also a little concerned about having a "boring" wedding, so we wanted the DJ to be a little more active and try to get our guest out of their chairs to dance, etc. HE DID A FANTASTIC JOB, just the perfect mix of active and passive DJing! We also got a lot of compliments how fun things were and how good the DJ was. We joked after the wedding we shouldn't have been stressing over the DJ, but the florist! haha. （注：唯一点我觉得遗憾的地方是他砍掉了我们的open to public toast...） Photographer (Susan Stripling): Since I was picky about the photography, I was the one that was assigned to talk to the photographers. I have NO CLUE how many photographers I talked to but MrsChinaJade just kept telling me more and more names and if one of the photographers we contacted wasn't available they sent us even more names. YIKES! However, we were totally SHOCKED how expensive some of the so-so photographers were  . We ended up completely blowing our budget for the photographer. Once we resigned ourselves to paying a lot more, we were finally able to narrow it down to a couple of photographers. After getting into a friendly debate with one of the photographers (Cliff Mautner) regarding digital copies of all of the photographs, he suggested Susan Stripling since she was in the process of relocating to the Philadelphia area from Florida. It was a hard decision between Susan Stripling & Sarah DiCicco. MrsChinaJade liked Sarah DiCicco better, but she didn't offer a photo album but offered more time and a print of all of the photos. I liked Susan's use of light better, and she included a photo album. We ended up picking Susan and she was a COMPLETE JOY to work with and AMAZING photographs. I would highly recommend her if she fits your budget and photographic style. If you want to see some of her work from our wedding, visit http://www.susanstriplingblog.com and scroll down to Sept 13th.I guess that is all i can write...now where is my wife? MrChinaJade 8월 26일 新鲜出炉我回来了，不容易啊，最后一次签证终于有惊无险，顺利地回来了~ 让这边好多好友担心了，在此磕头谢罪，你们的pray worked
 这次回国的两周堪称疯狂，连我这个超人都差点被累垮了，看看我们的行程就可见一斑：
香港3天
广州2天
湖南4天
西安3天
湖南1天
广州香港1天
新鲜出炉的俺们的中国婚礼上的照片~ 其他照片还要点时间慢慢批处理~
11월 1일 07万圣节的surprise~Halloween, 大人小孩的狂欢节日，有创意的人大显身手的时候，本来跟我毫无相关的一个日子，却因为4年前糊里糊涂的跟某人第一次去了一个意大利餐厅吃了一顿晚饭，而成了我们的一个纪念日。去年的万圣节我们去了那个餐厅旧地重游，可惜也没找到当时点的那道主菜了。今年，很不巧是一个周三，大家两地分开的这么远，某人说他要去准备一点糖果，以备邻居的小孩来trickNtreat，我就打算继续去我的gym，这一天应该是跟别的任何一个weekday没有什么区别了。傍晚的时候上了yoga和cardio的课以后，我又在办公室待了一会，发现miss了某人两个电话，于是打过去，只听到那头好像很depressed的声音，估计又是一个busy&messy work day，于是问他买到了糖没有，他说已经买了正准备回家呢~
我朝着家里走，发现roomate神奇失踪了，她刚刚跟我一起yoga来着，现在家里一片漆黑。
 走到我房门口，居然贴了一张小纸条写着：第一反应是roomate在跟我玩游戏，不过越看越觉得像某人的字
 ，汗~ 于是冲到床边，看到一套2007的纪念硬币，从04年开始每年都收到他送的一套纪念币。这个时候我还天真地以为是某人收买了我roomate让她放在我房间里的，总觉得不太可能吧，星期三从那么远赶过来？不过游戏还没有结束，但是这种简单的捉迷藏游戏就会让我抓头皮，似乎小看了我的智商，毕竟也是从小玩捉迷藏看侦探长大的  。。。打开硬币，果然有另外一张卡片写着：
虽然没看明白这底下画的是啥（看着有点像羊皮卷哈），不过还是一下就想到了衣橱，打开一看，果然一件酒红色的dress赫然眼前，还是jcrew的，我心里那个激动阿，喜欢jcrew的筒子们一定很明白嘀。dress上又一张卡片：
这个简直是考验我的英语嘛~始终不确定clatter是啥意思。。。不过那时候思维确实有点慢，竟然没看出来底下那个图是什么（你们猜呢？）。于是我左右对照第二张卡片和这一张，总觉得似乎还有一双鞋藏在哪里。。。于是继续找衣柜，鞋柜，我的房间，我roomate的房间，未果。我真的开始抓头皮了。
实在是煎熬，于是给某人打电话，没有接。然后给roomate打电话，（想着她应该是参与者，不然不会神秘失踪）也没人接。
 线索就这么断了，我于是臭美的开始试dress，还挺fit 。臭美了好一阵子，忽然想起我似乎还没有猜到谜底，于是再打电话，这次某人终于接了电话，我说我看到dress了，可是下面的线索呢？（哎，我真失败），他只能提示我让我看下面的图片像什么，其实我开始没有仔细看，现在看看好想像一个新鲜出路的面包~ “噢，oven?” 他不肯回答，说自己去找。我傻乎乎的真的打开oven看，啥都没有，又看了冰箱厨房的橱柜，阿哈，最后终于看到微波炉了，瞧我这zt，竟然没有想到~ 打开一看，哈哈，大家猜是啥？。。。
。。。
。。。
一个VS的纸袋子
 ，里面一套黑色的内衣~ 最后一张卡片了：SIGH...我应该要猜到的，应该要猜到的~~~一切都在意料之外，却似乎又在预感之中啊。那是我们第一次dating的那家意大利餐厅。花了大半个小时把自己收拾妥当了，才急匆匆的出门了~ 那个餐厅的地址在我脑子里记忆模糊，虽然去过3-4次，可是从来没有自己开车去过。啊。。。不管了，一边开一边找感觉吧~
终于在47街我果断的拐进了一个停车场，那个意大利餐厅就在停车场的深处拐角的地方。氤氲的万圣节的彩灯让小小的餐厅越发显得温馨。跟第一次来的时候感觉一样，时光似乎倒转了4年。我向餐厅走去，等着我的是什么呢？
。。。
"first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes somebody with the baby carriage...newly engaged!" favorite quote from Rodney~
2월 28일 雁过留声（好久没有更新了，居然差点忘了怎么添加新entry）
 几天过去了，心中的那份感动和激动始终难平。同样的一个舞台，给我留下回忆的还有两年前的beyond的演唱会，都是一直陪伴我成长的声音。相较于我前两次听演唱会的体验，这次学友唱了好多“新歌”，以至于至少一半的歌我没听过或者说不出歌名。以前王菲和beyond的演唱会，每一首歌前奏一响，我就已经知道是什么歌了，而且都能跟着哼唱。这次不同，他近期自己写了好多的歌，给他的两个女儿，给他的妻子。。。感叹于他有勇气能不怕冷场把这些新歌拿到演唱会来唱，同时也被他的真挚感动。如果说我喜爱的王菲和beyond他们整场只用歌声跟我们交流，那么张学友和歌迷交流的方式却是全方位的，从精心设计的舞台效果，到他真诚的音乐旁白，还有他很随意的一些举动以及招牌式的憨笑（一瞬间让我联想到了东邪西毒里的洪七）。因为他之前得了感冒，嗓音有些失真，他趁着歌曲之间间隙的几秒钟，嚼几口苹果，润润嗓子，这个举动让我暗自惊讶。好一个真实的他！
最早听到的学友的歌应该是每天爱你多一些，无寻什么无求什么，突破天地，但求夜深~~ 后来就被他的所有粤语歌吸引，夕阳醉了，遥远的她，情已逝，穿过你的黑发我的手，甚至在音律上有些怪的smile again, 玛丽亚。在那张我最早拥有的他的粤语磁带中，我竟然找不到一首我不喜欢的。即使后来他又有了无数张百金专辑，我最喜欢他的一些歌始终都是些在主打歌曲的光芒后面幽幽的散发清香的小曲，旧情绵绵，秋意浓，花花公子，楚歌，太多太多了。我对他这次的选歌有些失望，但是转念一想，他唱过的歌实在太多了，他已经努力的向我们展示了他的全部。结尾部分的雪狼狐的舞台剧选段好美，洁白的雪和鲜艳的玫瑰，还有爱是永恒的激扬旋律。。。我的情绪在慢慢升华。在大家encore之后，他又换了一套衣服唱着我真的受伤了缓缓而出，我们纷纷冲到了舞台的前面，发现150$的位置确实更值（嘿嘿）。最后半个小时的老歌，歌迷对他依依不舍，他对歌迷涓涓回报，即使嗓音哑了，又有何谓？ 8월 25일 美好伤感@维罗纳在维罗纳美好的一天开始于街头偶遇的一个bakery里一杯漂亮的卡布吉诺咖啡。 这个城市因为罗密欧和朱丽叶美丽的爱情故事而闻名，并且有着迄今为止保留的最完善的古罗马竞技场（Arena），而且又古为今用把竞技场置办成了天然的室外歌剧院。这样，追寻着爱情和音乐的足迹，我们进入了这个小城。一道城墙把小城的岁月划分为了现代和古代。刚下火车看到的是一个现代的维罗纳，绕过这个城墙后，展现在我们眼前的是一个古色古香的老城，而且这个老城也曾是历史上的军事重镇，因为它北临阿尔卑斯山脉，西接米兰，东靠威尼斯，南达罗马，有着天然的地理优势。
环绕老城的阿迪戈河以及河畔的老桥，中世纪古堡和城墙。 随着地图，我们来到了一座城堡（Castelvecchio），它是公爵Cangrande二世在位的二十年间（1355-1375）建立起来的，古堡最有名的就是它的一个巨长的逃跑通道，它跨越了阿迪戈河直通城外。据说是因为当时公爵统治下的苛捐杂税太重，维罗纳人民怨声载道，所以公爵为了预防某天天下大乱全民起义而造的。后来，坐在从意大利去德国的overnight火车上，我们看了一个电影“A Little Romance”（情定日落桥），当看到电影的主人公也利用这个逃跑通道骑着自行车从维罗纳城中逃出的时候，那种兴奋的感觉就甭提了：这个地方我们才去过！
从城堡出来，继续往前走不远，就到了城市的中心地带——布拉广场（Piazza Bra）。与之相应的便是维罗纳的古罗马竞技场，它是罗马城的那个竞技场的缩小版，风格一致，但是听说罗马的那个竞技场已经很残破了。
即使只是缩小版，走进竞技场，展现在眼前的还是一个宏伟无比的建筑，人相比之下显得渺小。 整个竞技场成了一个巨大的室外歌剧院，而每年在这里举行的夏季歌剧节也是享誉全球。站在看台上，我想象着仲夏夜晚华灯初上，坐在2000多年历史的大理石台阶上，欣赏着百年不朽的经典歌剧，那将是怎样一种爽快！可惜我们去得不巧，正好那天没有演出。而我背后的这个布景是为了2天后要即将上映的卡门而设的，这是个很亚洲风格的布景，有竹林，日式的小屋和榻榻米式的坐席，右手边还有如来佛的石雕，加上这个歌剧的导演的名字是个典型的亚洲人的名字，所以我纳闷：难道卡门是一部亚洲歌剧么？回来之后四处查找卡门这部音乐剧的资料，发现它是一部法语歌剧，故事是发生在西班牙的，而里面也有我们熟悉的一曲西班牙斗牛士风格的卡门舞曲。至于为什么会是亚洲风格的布景，让我百思不得其解。 而这里放映的歌剧中最有名的一出是讲述埃及的一个爱情故事的——阿依达。在入口处也有从20世界初期一直到最近的阿依达剧照的对比，舞台布景从简陋到豪华，照片从黑白到彩色，著名的高音演唱家一代又一代，而爱的主题却是永恒的，也许这就是经典吧。 站在竞技场的最高处往外看，层叠的房屋似乎在诉说着拥挤的故事。还有那屋顶上的楼梯和花园即使在没有人的时候也有掩饰不住的浪漫情调。
除了竞技场，转了几个弯，游人便又陡的多了起来，直觉告诉我，朱丽叶故居到了。著名的“爱墙”上写满了人们对于爱情的美好愿望。这也是为什么这里能收到如此多游客的青睐吧，谁不渴望爱和被爱呢？谁不追求幸福呢？
进去以后，首先映入眼帘的就是爬满了常青藤的墙壁，和那个经典的阳台。院子很小，挤满了游人。院内有一尊朱丽叶的铜像婷婷玉立着，游人们纷纷排着队上去和她合影，大家都把手放在他的右乳房上，一开始我觉得不能理解和鄙视，所以我只是把手挽在了她的手腕，后来听到一个导游的解说才知道，原来传说摸一摸朱丽叶的右乳房就会得到爱的祝福和好运。 几个block之外便是罗密欧的故居，这里大门紧密，门庭冷落，看来罗密欧并不像朱丽叶那样被大家宠爱和崇拜着。 我们继续在这座小城中穿行，不久便到了河边看到了维罗纳最古老的桥（Ponte Pietra），而对面又是另一番风景。我们爬上了城外的城堡，登高望远，远眺维罗那城的全景。城堡周围到处可见年轻恋人们在偶偶私语，感叹这里不愧为名副其实的爱都。
再次回到老城中穿街走巷，他哥哥一看到网吧便钻了进去，不知道他的巴塞罗那女网友是否给他回信了。我和daisy便在附近的咖啡座坐下来等他，顺便点了提拉米苏和white wine。想不到维罗纳到处都充满了偶遇的惊喜。提拉米苏中咖啡的香味以及口感浓郁醉人，入口即化，美妙无比。。。 在香草广场（Piazza delle Erbe），我们开始寻找心仪的餐馆，在每天的暴走之后再坐下来品尝几道正宗的意大利菜，是我最享受的事情。我们正在研究第一家店外的菜单时，一个貌似店长的老头走出来抛下一句: we have the best food，然后又不经意的去招待别的顾客。他看到我们还站在原地，于是出来blablabla的说了几道菜名，说你们肯定会喜欢的，还看着我说：我们饭店在这里已经20多年了，估计比你的年纪都大。我们几个开心的笑了，我想这是一个典型的意大利绅士，不经意中他就已经博取了我们的欢心。后来我们又去转了一圈比较各个餐馆，始终还是觉得第一家的感觉最好。于是我们便回到了那家，老头看到我们说：我就知道你们会回来的。那份淡然和自信我喜欢。我们并且接受了他的建议，点了他推荐的三道菜。 坐间闲谈中，daisy提起刚才在一个church里面我点了一支蜡烛但是却没有投币，我狡辩说因为我只是点着玩的，并没有许愿。正说着，突然他哥哥便好像感觉很不舒服似的拿起餐巾捂着嘴，我以为他是喝了酒再加上一天下来太累了想吐。后来他站了起来，在路边来回踱着步。我很不解的看着daisy，他说可能是因为妈妈。这时候他哥哥又坐下来了，我才看清楚他的眼睛里充满了泪水，而他显然也想尽量压抑这突如其来的感情潮水，但是却又掩饰不住的哽咽。于是他在桌上的一张小纸上写下这样一行字：我刚才在教堂给妈妈许了一个愿。这时候daisy和我恍然大悟，一种强烈悲伤的情绪涌上了我的心头，我见到daisy和他哥哥的眼睛中都充满了泪水沉默着，我才意识到，作为一个外人，我真的不可能了解到失去母亲的事实给他们造成了多深的创痛。一时间三个人都沉默了，一个小小的插曲给我们的维罗纳之行标上了伤感的注脚。 他哥哥渐渐恢复了平静。我们的菜也上来了。果然，我们没有信错我们的直觉没有信错那个店长。三道菜的果然都非常非常的好吃，其中Spaghetti with clams （意大利面加蛤蜊）是我吃过的味道最好的Spaghetti，里面的面条几乎被我抢光了，而他们两却情有独钟Fried Calamaries（脆皮鱿鱼），说这是他们吃过的最好吃的炸鱿鱼。另外一个Fish fillet（鱼排）也很不错。 最后配上两道home-made的甜点，不失为维罗纳之行的一个精致的结尾。
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