上传了照片，写一篇entry, 这次英伦之旅就算有了完整的交待，我终于能够甘心地结束幻觉离开梦境回归现实。

大致行程安排如下：

Sat：oxford

Sun: cambridge

Mon-Wed: London

Thu-Fri: Edinburgh

Sat: London again...

Sun: fly back to philly...

 牛津剑桥的魅力自不待说，光是历史，文化和学术的积淀就倾倒世人，我就不一一阐述了。不过两天以来的最高潮的莫过于摇桨于康河上。原以为徐志摩的《再别康桥》神话了康河剑桥，但亲自荡舟其中后发现其实不假。每一座经过的桥都有她自己的故事，河岸边的每一栋房子都有她自己的传说。Bridge of Sighs原本是威尼斯的，是即将被关入监狱的犯人入狱前的最后一段路，所以他们都不免哀叹这是他们最后一次见证威尼斯的美景了，因而得次名。后来，牛津剑桥都有了自己的叹息桥，据说考砸了的学生们都常去那里唉声叹气。不过英国的学生考不好确实该沮丧一下，因为他们每门课一年只考一次，平时的作业, project都不怎么算分，所以一年一度的期末大考就占了很大比例，如果考砸了整门课就废了，和美国或者新加坡continual assessment的方式很不一样。Queen's College的Mathematical Bridge据说本来是不费一螺一钉，完全靠精确的几何构造计算受力的方式搭建而成。结果后来有人不信，把整座桥拆了验证这一点，结果再也搭建不回去了，只好依靠螺丝钉的帮助重新建了桥。所以现在大家看到的就是浑身是螺丝钉的桥。康河沿路经过的都是剑桥最令人景仰的college，King’s college, Queen’s College, Trinity College etc etc…所谓的college其实最主要是一个住宿单位，每个学生住在college提供的房子里。至于学习，学生们到全牛津或者全剑桥统一的教室上大课，然后review session or tutorial则由每个college自己开办。

伦敦和纽约其实有神似之处，都是国际都市，同是金融中心，同样是博物馆，戏剧院荟萃。不同的是，在伦敦，museums are free, but entering cathedrals or chapels are not. This is the exact opposite in NYC. 第二，伦敦的地铁错综复杂程度比纽约更胜一筹，并且“深不可测”，要坐老长老长的天梯一样的escalator才能钻回地面。更好笑的是，伦敦地铁时常会开着开着半途戛然而止，然后全车熄灯，然后又重新亮灯一切恢复正常。对于第一次坐地铁的人而言，一定有一种大祸临头的感觉。在伦敦，去了Big Ben, Westminster, Trafalgar Square, British Museum, Tate Modern, St Paul’s Cathedral, Tower of London, Buckingham’s Palace, Windsor Castle, Eton College, Greenwich, watched musical Les Miserables, etc. 最爱London Tower的那个滑稽的guide. He told the Americans in the crowd: The long history of London Tower could have been yours, if you have paid taxes…He told the Australians in the group: Australians are filthy rich, cos even animals have pockets! He called people like him peanut-eaters because: in ancient times, the guards of Tower of London were fed beef and thus called “beef-eaters” by outsiders. But now they could only be called peanut-eaters because they were paid peanuts (=paid very little). He also said that, the prisoners to be executed usually had to pay the executer for rendering the “service” of severing their heads from their bodies, and thus the “severance fee”…最爱温莎城堡，透着帝国不凡的气度和贵族的气质，尤其是那些丰富得让人触目惊心的收藏和奢侈无度的皇宫装饰。Windsor castle has been the royal residence for hundreds of years till today. So how do you know if the Queen is in or not? There is a flag on top of one of the buildings, if the British national flag is mounted, then Queen is elsewhere. If, however, a royal yellow flag is mounted, then Queen is in the castle. The Queen happened to be in the castle when I visited, but I never got to see Her Majesty though...  

最后去了爱丁堡，典型的英国城市，典雅，古朴，宁静，天空永远是灰白色的，时不时惆怅地落几滴细雨，街头巷尾飘扬的是哀伤温婉的风笛声。去了Edinburgh Castle, 在高高的山坡上独自矗立，有一种英雄陌路的悲壮感。去了highland tour, 见识了苏格兰美妙绝伦的高地，见识了沧桑的古堡，见识了穿着花格子裙子吹着风笛口音奇怪的苏格兰男子，见识了出“水怪“的尼斯湖，。Loch Ness can hold more water than the total of all waters of England and Wales and is 30 meters deeper than the deepest of North Sea. But for a lake of such capacity, Loch Ness is surprisingly unproductive, being the living place for just a dozen different species of fish, because of its lack of minerals in the water, which in turn sustain little micro-organisms, which means little fish can survive in the water.

9天的马不停蹄的旅行，让我疲惫不堪，几欲破产，但却大长见识，如饮醍醐。要隆重感谢郭睿和龚挺，用他们的魅力吸引了大批老同学前来聚餐，让我也结识了一批剑桥牛津LSE, Imperial的英才俊杰。感谢honghao和lisha提供的住宿，让我住得舒服还省了银子。

当然，魅力无限的英国并不完美，现在让我来小节一下英国的三大缺点：

糟糕的天气：都五月中旬了，却还冷风飕飕阴雨绵绵，终日难见阳光。据说每年英国只炎热短短的一个月，而偏偏英国的大多数地方都没有空调，比如地铁，譬如每个家庭，所以那一个月就格外燥热难熬，热死者无数。但其余时间英国又阴冷交加， 阴晴不定，这天气脾气还真怪！英国人自嘲道：at least this weather is interesting, and full of surprises!

饮食的地狱：大家都听过French cuisine, Italian food, Chinese food, Korean food, Japanese food, Greek food, but has anyone ever heard of “English cuisine” before? Exactly, for budget eaters, England has the lousiest food ever in the world! Anything bordering on delicious is bloody expensive!

高不可及的生活费：一个sandwich 2.5-3 pounds, 1 CD for 20 pounds etc… these coupled with high tax rates make UK a bad place to save money indeed! 所以很多ibanker都不愿意在英国office工作，因为昂贵的生活费和高税率。英国税高是有原因的，想想吧，英国看医生是免费的，只要在英国呆满一年以上的外国人都享有这个权力。英国的学校是免费的，就连上牛津剑桥本国人也一年只交1000多英镑。而美国呢？医疗费是最为昂贵的了，而大学学费更是很多家庭的难题，一年40000多美元呀～