Isaac Chun Hai Fung
Newsletter 2002
Issue 05
8th July, 2002.
Central European Highlights B:
Innsbruck
Innsbruck is the third famous cities of Austria, after Vienna and Salzburg. It is located in the valley of River Inn in the Alps, and thus it is a very good starting point to reach
the mountains which run across at both the northern and the southern end of the
city. It took us about two hours to get there from Munich by train.
I went there last
weekend with two Hong
Kong friends from
Cambridge, Anson and John, who are also brothers in
Christ in the Cantonese-speaking fellowship in Cambridge. We had a great time in such a beautiful
town. The feelings and experience of mine are somehow different from the ones
when I travel alone.
Innsbruck is a city of Alpine scenery. I think the
most exciting thing in Innsbruck is to ride on cable cars to get to the
mountaintop of Hafelekarpitze, which is 2334m above
the sea level. Passing through the typical Alpine forest of gymnosperms, we
arrived at a mountain top of bare rocks, with little vegetation. I imagined
that it would look much better if it was in winter, when the whole mountain
range was in white.
This is really
what I recommend Innsbruck for. You can reach a mountaintop in the Alps without leaving a city, which is big enough to
support an airport. Besides the Swiss cities, Innsbruck is the
place for the Alps. With the convenience of proper youth
hostels and international rail network at hand, you can enjoy the fantastic
scenery of the Alpine Mountains with a relative ease.
Innsbruck is also a city of history. Being the
capital of the state (called Land in German) of Tirol of modern Austria, it was once an Imperial city of the
Habsburgs. During the reign of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (crowned
Emperor in 1507), it was made the "heart of the German Empire" with
an Imperial Palace (the Hofburg) built for the
Empress, and the famous Golden Roof built as a court balcony on the main façade
of the former citadel in the city centre. Even in later days, it was still an
important city whether it was under the rule of the Archduke of Tirol or the
direct administration of the Viennese Court.
You cannot leave
such a historical city without visiting the museums. One interesting thing that
I remember in the Museum of Maximilian I was the use of infra-red technology.
Usually in the well-facilitated museums in Europe, you are provided with an audio tour. A cassette or
CD player in the form of a walkie-talkie, it tells you the story behind a
particular exhibit when you key in the proper number. However, in this museum,
it was the first time ever I did not need to key in anything into the audio
tour. A headphone with an infra-red sensor, it will automatically switch to the
relevant explanation when you stand in front of the infra-red emitter above an
exhibit. This is really a good idea especially in the video room where a video
about the life of the Emperor is on show. People listening to different
languages can watch the video simultaneously. You can leave whenever you like
with the headphone on your head with you. I think that it is more convenient
than the conventional way of having a headphone below your seat and the cable
connecting it. The only draw back is that you have to make sure you stand
within the angle of the infra-red emission to pick up the signal.
Well, this is a
short description of our two-day journey to Innsbruck. The train journey between Munich and Innsbruck is also worth your money for the beautiful
landscape when the train goes through the Alpine Mountains. Munich is such a transport hub that you can reach
many famous cities in Central
Europe by train
in several hours. Innsbruck is certainly one of my recommendations if
you can stay in Munich or Vienna for more than just a couple of days.
Dear friends,
which place do you think will be the next Central European Highlight?
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Table of Contents of
‘Central European Highlights’
馮儁熙
二零零二年通訊第五號
二零零二年七月八日
中歐拔萃 乙
茵斯布魯克
茵斯布魯克是繼維也納和薩爾斯堡後奧地利第三個馳名的城市。它位於阿爾卑斯山脈裡的茵河谷中，因此如欲登上在城南北兩端之山麓，這是個極佳的起點。我們由慕尼黑乘火車至此，大約花兩個小時。
上週末與兩位劍橋的香港朋友Anson和John同遊此地，他們都是劍橋的粵語團契的主內弟兄。我們在如斯優美的小鎮裡樂而忘返。結伴而行的感覺與經驗與獨自旅遊的是有些不同的。
茵斯布魯克乃阿爾卑斯山景之城也。我想，在茵斯布魯克最刺激的事莫過於乘吊車登上海拔2334米高Hafelekarpitze山頂。穿過阿爾卑斯山典型的裸子植物森林，我們抵達了光禿禿的山頂，那兒甚少植被。我想像，當冬天整條山脈皆一片雪白時，山景也許更美。
這正是我推薦茵斯布魯克的地方。你可登阿爾卑斯山巔而不用離開城市，而且這城市大得可以維持一個機場。除了瑞士的城市以外，茵斯布魯克真是賞阿爾卑斯山之處。有正規青年旅舍與國際鐵路網之便，要欣賞阿爾卑斯山的壯麗景觀便輕而易舉。
茵斯布魯克也是歷史名城。今日作為現代奧地利Tirol州（「州」在德文是Land）的首府，它是昔日哈普斯堡皇室的皇城。在1507年加冕為神聖羅馬皇帝的馬克西米利安一世（Maximilian I）任內，它成為了「日耳曼帝國的心臟」，那裡有一座為皇后而建的皇宮（何夫堡Hofburg）和在市中心從前的城樓的正面的皇室陽台──有名的金頂（Golden Roof）。即或在後來的日子，無論是在Tirol大公爵的統治下還是維也納皇廷的直接管理下，它仍是一個重要的城市。
在離開如斯一個歷史名城之前，總不能不參觀當地的博物館。我記得在馬克西米利安一世博物館裡一件有趣的東西，就是紅外線科技的應用。通常在歐洲那些設備完善的博物館裡，都會為你提供耳機導賞服務。當你把正確號碼輸入那部步談機（walkie-talkie）似的磁帶或光碟機，它就把某一展品的來龍去脈告訴你。但我是在這博物館裡，首次不用自己輸入任何號碼。當你走到某展品上方的紅外線發射器前面的時候，附有紅外線感應器的雙耳式耳機便會自動轉換至有關的解說。此真是個好主意！特別是在那播放錄影帶介紹皇帝生平的房間裡，聽不同語言人也可以同時看錄影片。你帶著你的耳機可以隨時離開，我想這樣比傳統的把耳機放在椅子下，有電線相連的方式，方便多了。唯一的缺點是你要站在紅外線發射的角度之內，才能收到信號。
好了，這就是我們茵斯布魯克兩天遊的簡述。來往慕尼黑與茵斯布魯克的火車穿越阿爾卑斯山脈，其間所見的風景已值回票價。慕尼黑是一個交通樞紐，你由此乘火車前往中歐不少名城只需幾個小時。若果你可以停留在慕尼黑或維也納超過兩三天的話，茵斯布魯克肯定是我推薦前往的目的地之一。
親愛的朋友，你想下一個「中歐拔萃」會是哪兒？
原著為英文，中譯本完成於二零零六年四月二十三日
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