Isaac Chun Hai
Fung
Newsletter 2002
Issue 04
Central European Highlights A:
Travelling
on a double-decker regional express train, it was a 45-minute journey to reach
"Wo ist die Touristeninformation?"
One of the very few sentences which I can say in German, it will somehow be
very useful if you try to ask someone in English, but they reply, "Sorry,
I don't speak English," immediately after you say "Excuse me."
It
was also annoying when I tried to buy a meal in McDonald's. There was then a
promotion of something called "Korea Champion", a set menu of a
special Korean-style burger (?) with chips and soft drink. When I pointed to
the picture above the counters, and said, "Eins,"
(One) he thought that I only wanted
the burger without the rest of the menu. "Euro 2.65," the cashier
machine reads. I made a great effort to explain in English, but he just could
not understand. In the end, I put up my fingers: four, three, and then five.
"Aha," he said, because the "Korean" set menu costs 4.35
Euro.
I
entered an old church with an impressive interior design in Baroque and Rococo
style. After walking around appreciating its interior and the arts within, I
asked the churchwarden, "Can I take photographs?" No response. He
could not understand English, I guessed. Trying to make use of what I have
learnt so far, "Kann ich…."
(Oh, I still have not learnt the German verb of "taking
photographs"!) Holding my camera up, I continued, "….foto?!" With a smile on his face, he nodded.
Later,
he came to me and gave me a postcard, which was a photo of a sculpture in the
church.
"How much does it cost?" I wondered. Again,
he did not understand. A phase which I should have come across in the
elementary textbook in German, but unfortunately, I forgot.
Being creative,
"Euro?" I asked, scratching my head.
"Nein, frei," (No, free.) he said.
"Vielen Dank," (Thank you very much) I replied, amazed.
It was the Lutheran Church of St. Anna.
To
my disappointment, museums do no better. I visited a museum next to the Dom, one of the two Catholic cathedrals
in the city, dedicated to religious arts. All the explanations of the exhibits
were in German. OK, that's usual. Here came a nice demonstrator, who was a bit
old, wearing a suit. He seemed to me a senior member of the staff. He was
explaining the architectural history of the Dom to two old German ladies. A
very knowledgeable guy, at least it was my impression, he tried to explain a
lot to me. The only problem was that he could not speak English. Everything he
said was in German. I could only understand one or two words. Even if I asked
in English, his reply was always in German.
At
the end of the day, it was the younger generation who is more fluent in
English. I talked to another staff member at the counter before I left.
"Why is there no literature in English available
at all?" I asked, pointing to the shelf of booklets and pamphlets, in
which, to my disappointment, there was not even a guidebook or leaflet
introducing the museum in English.
"It is not worth an effort to translate all these
into English."
"Why?"
"Because we don't have many tourists from
overseas. Most of the visitors are German. And also because the museum is
linked with the Church… Catholic…, not everyone likes to visit."
"OK," I said, "Perhaps one day when my
German gets better, I will then be able to understand what the explanations
are."
Nonetheless,
I
like visiting churches, and there are quite a few old churches with impressive
architecture and interior design. To my surprise, there are two Catholic
cathedrals there, the Dom, and the Basilica of St. Ulrich and Afra. (There is usually only one cathedral in a European
city, if there is any. Other exceptions that I can think of are
To
me, it is a cultural and spiritual journey to travel alone in
Back to Table of
Contents of Central European Highlights
馮儁熙
通訊二零零二年第四號
二零零二年六月三十日
中歐拔萃 甲
奧斯堡
乘坐一輛雙層區域快速火車，花四十五分鐘就從慕尼黑到達奧斯堡。奧斯堡是一個拜仁[i]小鎮，人口二十六萬左右，憩美安寧，沒有大城市如慕尼黑般的繁華喧鬧。昨天我花了一整天待在那裡。這是我這暑假首趟中歐歷奇。
“Wo ist die Touristeninformation?”（「哪裡是旅客資訊中心？」）是我僅會說的幾句德語，有時候也會派上用場：如果當你用英語問路說：「不好意思……」但人家立即回答說：「對不起，但我不會說英語。」
另一惱人的場景是當我試圖在麥當勞買一個套餐的時候，那兒在推廣一個叫甚麼「韓國冠軍」的套餐，有韓式漢堡、薯條和汽水。當我指著櫃台上的照片說：「Eins(一)」的時候，他以為我只是單買漢堡，不買套餐。「2.65歐元」，收銀機上如是顯示。我費勁地用英語解釋，但他就是不能明白。到最後，我用手指表達：四、三、五。「啊哈！」他說，因為韓國套餐值四歐元三十五分。
我走進一間內部以華麗的巴洛克與洛可可式設計的老教堂去。當我在裡面走了一圈，欣賞了它的內部和其中的藝術品後，我〔用英語〕問教堂的管理員：「我可以拍照嗎？」沒有反應。我猜想他可能不會英語。試圖用我已學了的一點點，我問： “Kann ich….” （噢，我還沒有學「拍照」這個動詞在德語是怎麼說！）提起我的照相機，我接續道： “….foto?!” 面上掛著笑容，他點頭。
過後，他走來給我一張明信片，上面是教堂裡的一個雕塑。
「請問多少塊？」我用英語問道。再次，他不明白。有一句話我應該在德語的基礎教程上看過的，但不幸的，我忘了。
帶點創意，我搔著頭問： “Euro?”
“Nein,
frei,” （不，免費）他道。
“Vielen Dank,” （非常多謝）我驚訝地答道。這是路德會聖安娜堂。
博物館不見得好一點，我有點失望。我參觀城裡兩座天主教主教座堂之一的Dom旁邊的專門展覽宗教藝術的博物館。所有的展品介紹都是用德文寫的。好，好平常的。然後來了一個很有善的解說員，蠻老的，穿著西裝，看來好像是博物館的高級職員。他向兩位德國老太太解釋Dom的建築史。很有學問的（起碼我如是覺得）他試圖向我解釋很多。唯一問題是他不會說英語。他講的是每一句話都是德語，我只聽得懂一兩個字。就算我以英語發問，他還是用德語回答。
始終是年青一輩的英語流利些。臨離開前，我與櫃台前另一個職員聊天。
「為什麼完全沒有英文資料提供的呢？」我以英語問道，指著那放著小書和小冊子的架上，令我失望的連一本介紹博物館的導遊書或單張也沒有。
「不值得花精力去把它們全翻譯成英文。」
「為什麼？」
「因為我們沒有很多海外訪客。大多數的訪客都是德國人。再而，因為博物館跟教會……天主教……有連繫，不是人人都愛參觀。」
「好的，」我說，「也許有一天我的德文水平提高了，我就會看得懂那些介紹吧。」
然而，奧斯堡是一個很優美的小鎮。市政廳裡有一個全用真金嵌鑲內部的大廳，叫「金廳」(Golden Saal)。這裡也有世上第一個福利住宅區。Feggerei 創立於一五一六年，是為窮苦的天主教徒市民而設的，其名字是原於其創始人富豪傅雅各(Jokab Fugger the
Rich)。時至今日，那裡的一套公寓的年租金仍舊是四世紀前一樣──一枚「萊茵河弗羅林」(Rhinesh Florin)，相當於少於一歐元的價值。
我喜歡參觀教堂，而在這裡有好幾座教堂的建築與內部設計都令我印象深刻。令我驚訝的是，這裡有兩座天主教主教座堂(cathedral，一般譯作大教堂)──Dom和Basilica of St. Ulrich and Afra。（一般來說，一個歐洲城市如果有主教座堂的話，也就只有一座。我想到的例外有倫敦，格拉斯哥和Norwich。）這兩座教堂都很宏偉。即或是更正教（基督新教）路德會的教堂也很吸引。聖安娜和聖Ulrich兩座路德會教堂的內部裝飾都是洛可可和巴洛克風格的。
於我而言，在歐洲獨自旅行是一個文化和靈性的旅程，尋找歷代基督徒在世生活所留下來給我的靈性遺產。我所祈盼的是這些藝術和建築不單是過去留下來的珍貴遺產，更是一個有活力的基督徒群體的活生生的信仰的持續的象徵，繼往開來。
奧斯堡是我遊中歐一系列精彩的目的地的第一站。希望在不久的將來有更多東西與你們分享。再會。
原著為英文，中譯本完成於二零零六年四月二十二日