Was sagst du? 樣樣都德

After spending time in Cologne and Düsseldorf , it was time for 2 weeks of work in my old lab in Munich. Time flew by really quickly and soon I was on my way to Lisbon for 4 days of holiday. I chose Lisbon because I wanted to visit an old friend whom I haven’t seen for more than 2 years and who seems to keep drifting about in the world. The other reason was to see for myself how similar Lisbon is to Macau, a former colony of Portugal. 遊過 科隆 和 杜塞爾多夫 後，又回到慕尼黑老地方公幹做實驗，兩星期時間過得真快，之後便到葡萄牙里斯本遊玩四天。我到里斯本的原因，一來是為了探一個兩年多沒見、四處飄泊的朋友，二來很想探究一下澳門和里斯本有多相似。 Macau is famed for its colonial-era flair and it is indeed possible to find some similar architecture and streetscape in Lisbon. However, the differences are so much greater that, one day when I asked a waiter who actually travels to Hong Kong and Macau every year the question how similar it is between Macau and Lisbon, he said not at all! 常言道澳門保留了很多殖民地的歷史色彩，澳門倒真的有一兩分像里斯本，但很多方面分別就大了，我在里斯本有天吃午飯時跟一個侍應閒聊，他每年都到香港和澳門一次學功夫，我問他澳門像不像里斯本，他說一點也不像！ Lisbo...

The Rhine flows from the south to the north in north-western Germany, and links Cologne to the other city of Düsseldorf 40 km to the north. These two cities have the Rhine as a common thread and are actually not too far apart, but culturally they can be rather distant. Traditionally they tended to view each other with disdain and maintain a strong cultural boundary in between. They speak completely different dialects, and the famous Cologne beer Kölsch is nowhere to be seen in Düsseldorf. Some of my Munich colleagues even said that the motorway signs in either city would not show directions to the other, but I haven’t had time to check if it were indeed true! Most interestingly, the lay-outs of the two cities are mirror images of each other; while the Old Town of Cologne lies on the west of the Rhine and the eastern river bank is a promenade, Düsseldorf is the opposite with the Old Town on the east and some meadows on the western river bank. Perhaps this is how both places sought to di...