教堂東窗事 傻傻我不知

今早無聊，找來一張舊旅遊照片做臉書的大頭貼照。

由曾堯留言。

何以選這張？一看就明白，只因它明明是教堂的一面窗子，經剪裁後卻看似囧，有趣極了！



朋友留言問：你去過那兒的音樂會嗎？

囧

只能坦白招供：壓根兒忘了那兒是什麼地方。（我只知，取自2008歐遊的倫敦相簿）

朋友說，那應該是倫敦的St. Martin-in-the-Fields教堂。

我記起來了！那次的確參觀了St. Martin-in-the-Fields教堂！St. Martin-in-the-Fields其實對我有特別意義：當年初聽古典音樂，朋友介紹我聽了好些由Neville Marriner指揮的，Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields彈奏的Mozart和Vivaldi樂曲。

朋友又說，那兒經常舉辦免費午間音樂會，她也曾去聽過呢。


所謂，每天知多一點點，還以為今天已達標了。誰知不然！


接著。另一朋友留言，讚窗上那橢圓和線條很典雅。

囧

再度覺得自己很無知。急忙搜尋網上資料，幸好不太難找。

- The Guardian: A new window on St Martin's past
- Modus Operandi: St Martin-in-the-Fields East Window

原來當年教堂翻新，選中伊朗出生的女藝術家Shirazeh Houshiary，跟她的建築師丈夫Pip Horne合作，為東窗裝置了這新穎的暗色鋼條加半透明玻璃設計，取代原有的彩色花窗玻璃（幾年後兩人再裝置東窗下的祭壇）。我的照片，攝於落成那年（2008年）的10月，可我對此舊教堂新東窗事毫不知情！

朋友認為，窗上那橢圓型，可解讀為女性主義設計。你認為呢？

London then, Beijing now

由曾堯留言。

［東北西西南法］ 建築：摩登倫敦

倫敦金融區City of London，摩登建築林立，且陸續有來，跟古老建築搶眼球：

Gherkin 腌黄瓜 （哈，坐看右看都不像）


Lloyd's 勞合社 （也有人稱它為Inside-out，內露外）




Cheesegrater 芝士刨 | Walkie Talkie 對講機

河對岸，有新落成高大而（個人認為）不威猛的：

The Shard 碎片大廈

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The Cheesegrater, the Walkie-Talkie and the Gherkin: Amazing aerial pictures show how London's skyline has changed over 18 spectacular months (Mail Online)

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後記：Walkie Talkie不只好看，還好大殺傷力！

由曾堯留言。

男友的用途

［東北西西南法］ 我是阿仙奴死忠迷 我去朝聖

到了倫敦，無論如何要去阿仙奴新球場朝聖！










參拜：一願打出漂亮足球，二願打出漂漂亮亮足球，三願打出比漂漂亮亮還要漂亮足球...

［東北西西南法］ 倫敦街頭 超級環保人力車

倫敦街頭奇景：超級環保人力車。一人掌馱，六人腳踏，空閒時談天喝酒吃三文治！

這種人力車，比單車慢得多了。上圖本來尾隨的單車很快就爬頭“絕塵而去”（而我坐的巴士一直很安分地跟在後面）。慢雖慢，這部超級環保人力車勉強足以應付倫敦市中心的繁忙交通。換在其他地方行走，可能會阻塞交通。

看腳踏者的年齡和打扮，估計是研究員之類。找來較年輕強壯的，速度理應快一些。






（後記：做了一點功課，原來這是倫敦新的環保觀光玩意，叫Pedibus！幾條觀光路線任君選擇。究竟貼了錢是買難受還是享受，試試便知！）

書之殺人迷宮？

我這個人，很掃興。



看到這個為London 2012 Festival裝置的aMAZEme大型書之迷宮，第一反應是：

不要搞出人命！書牆倒下來，不是開玩笑，會壓死人的！
愛書人應該都知道那發生在香港的悲劇吧！

文中提到，節目完結後，歡迎大眾取走那25萬本新舊書籍。那表示書本只是層層堆放，沒有加入強固元素。如上圖所示堆放到超過人的高度，書牆堅固度為何，能抵受意外的強烈碰撞（譬如小孩亂跑）嗎？我不知道，希望創作人跟主辦單位已有周詳考慮吧。

越似特務越能掩飾身份

08年攝於英國倫敦Downing Street入口前

Trip planning: London Heathrow → Milan Linate

London Heathrow

CX flight from Hong Kong arrives at Terminal 3 of London's Heathrow Airport (16:00), while the Alitalia flight to Milan departs from Terminal 2 (18:50).

# Many other airlines also fly to Milan out of London's Stansted, Gatwick, Luton and City airports. I think the hassle (time- and money-wise) of rushing from one airport to the next for the connecting flight is just not worth it.



"On arrival in Terminal 3 follow the signs for Flight Connections Terminal 1 & 2. Board the transfer bus to the Flight Connection Centre, which will take approximately 20 minutes. There you will go through security. Walk across the Flight Connection Centre where at the far end you will see two escalators, take the right hand one down to the departure level of Terminal 1, and the follow the sign to either the Terminal 1 gates or to Terminal 2."

"If you are transferring through Heathrow to an international or UK connecting flight, you can have baggage tagged through to the final destination." There is no need to clear immigration in the UK.

"If your bags are NOT checked through you will need to go out through T3 security and then transfer to T2 landside. Once you have your bags, go through the green "nothing to declare" line and follow the signs to T2, which is through a tunnel and takes about 10 minutes of walking."

Milan Linate

At Milan's Linate Airport, "StarFly" coaches connect to the Central Station on the 5th and 35th minutes of the hour, from 6am until midnight. Ticket is €3 each.

There is also a Bus 73 (running until midnight) going to Piazza S.Babila, the city centre. Ticket is €1 each.

--- Buses from Linate ---

Otherwise, take a taxi to go direct to the hotel. Should cost less than 20 Euro excluding supplements.

# Milan is served by 3 airports. Malpensa is the international gateway, with bus and dedicated rail (Malpensa Express) links to the city. Linate is closer to the city and mainly used for domestic and short-haul international flights. Bus links only. Budget airlines tend to use Orio al Serio Airport in nearby Bergamo. Bus links only (unless you go first to Bergamo city, then travel by train to Milan).