I started to learn European literature in my second year in the university, and the course of "History of European Literature" was one of my favorite courses then.
I read all of the books on the long long list of my Western Literature professor had done for us , from Greek Mythology, Homer's Epic, Renaissance, Classicism in the 17th century , Enlightenment in the 18th century until the Russian Literature in the 19th Century... and I saw almost all of the movies which the school had played (as a undergraduate of department of Chinese language and literature, to see movies were just one of our courses) ...so that quickly my vision from 1.5 dropped down 0.5 or lower and I have been wearing glasses since there... :-)
However, I have never been sorry for it because just for the lot of reading and movie watching, I have touched those greatest writers and artists in the human history and opened my eyes, even about 20 years later, although I had worked in Chinese financial and securities industry for many years, as soon as I saw a set of books Complete Works of Shakespeare in a business travel, I bought it at once for I really too enjoyed his Tragedy and Comedy and the first movie I saw in the college was Hamlet...
So, after 8 years of extremely hard working in Financial and Securities industry in Shenzhen, when I decided to give myself the first vacation in 2000, without any hesitation, I chose to go to Europe.
During the travel in 8 courtiers and 16 cities, except learning the local cultures, I got 2 big gains:
First, I touched Christianity first time and what I was curious below laid the foundation for me to become a Christian in 13 years in America:
1. Why are the best and the most beautiful architectures churches?
2. Why are there bibles in all of the 16 hotels I have lived?
3. Why did the bells of the churches I first heard on the European land could bring me so much peaceful and comfortable feelings?
So that when I came back to China, in Hong Kong, I bought my first Bible, and in 2013, I was baptized in the US and became a Christian.
Second, on one of airplanes from China to Paris, an experience that missed to take the photo of the sunrise just because of a short hesitation inspired me to do something I truly wanted to do. Therefore, during the European travel, I made an agreement with a group of American graduates of Oregon State University in the USA: They wrote and record a set of series of books. I edited the frame and translate them into Chinese and organized people to check my translation and tried to publish it in China.
Then, after working in my free time for 2 years, in Oct, 2002, the first E-bridge Cross-cultural and Comprehensive Art Series
-- Together with Me, Learn American English (by talking about American arts, mainly movies and music) with 0.93 million words and 4 books and 4 CDs by Jinan University Press.
With a grateful heart, I do appreciate the travel in the Europe and I do appreciate the great culture and civilization of European people have created and brought to us.
So, today, when my web site is upgrading, I would like to transfer what I had written in 2000 during / after my European travel here and would like to hear your good comments and directions.
Have you been to Europe? Do you enjoy their culture and arts?
Sincerely
Shirley Yiping Zhang
Dec 28, 2019 in the USA
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My Europe Travel Diary(016): Sailing on the Rhine Out of all the rivers that I saw in Europe, the Rhine was the longest and the widest. It runs 1320 km from the northern Alps in Switzerland, through Austria, France and Germany and drains into the North Sea near Rotterdam in the Netherlands. It was raining a little when I got on the boat but the weather soon changed, becoming sunny. Perhaps because I had got wet in Cologne, I had caught a slight cold and stayed in the cabin, and only went on deck when I heard people’s excitement when there was a beautiful view. The river was so wide that we could really see only the mountains in the distance; the houses and the castles were so far away that they appeared to be tiny. Most of the castles are on the slopes of the mountains and are khaki in color and have spires. Of all the countries that ...
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My Europe Travel Diary(016): Sailing on the Rhine Out of all the rivers that I saw in Europe, the Rhine was the longest and the widest. It runs 1320 km from the northern Alps in Switzerland, through Austria, France and Germany and drains into the North Sea near Rotterdam in the Netherlands. It was raining a little when I got on the boat but the weather soon changed, becoming sunny. Perhaps because I had got wet in Cologne, I had caught a slight cold and stayed in the cabin, and only went on deck when I heard people’s excitement when there was a beautiful view. The river was so wide that we could really see only the mountains in the distance; the houses and the castles were so far away that they appeared to be tiny. Most of the castles are on the slopes of the mountains and are khaki in color and have spires. Of all the countries that ...
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My European Travel Diary (015): Cologne Capriccio, Ancient Civilisation and Modern Culture Cologne is the first city that I visited in Germany. Cologne University and the great church in Cologne were built in 1388 and 1248 respectively and the city is proud of them. The interesting thing is that it took 532 years to complete the great church, from 1248 to 1880. It is said that this is a world record for the longest time to build a church. Also it is as famous as Notre Dame de Paris for its Gothic architecture. The Great Church in Cologne is so high that I had to go back beyond the gateway to the square, and then back further still to get it all in the picture. It was raining and there was a strong wind, so much so that I couldn’t open my umbrella, so I gave up trying to keep myself dry and just tried to protect the camera lens. ...
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My European Travel Diary (013): The Low Lying Land, Amsterdam Amsterdam has another name, The Low Lying Land. Water is the most important feature of the city and many things are related to it. Perhaps, because there is more water on the great Dutch plane, it seemed that this plane, which we crossed on the way to Amsterdam from Brussels, was wetter, more oily, greener, and there seemed to be more cows on it. This made me think of the Dutch milk in the supermarkets in China. It is said that the Dutch are the tallest people in the world because they drink the most milk, now in our city more and more young parents like their children to drink milk from Holland, and it can be bought in any supermarket. When I passed through the suburbs of the city I saw more water, and today, when I flipped through my pictures of Amsterdam, I felt that many of them ...
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My Europe Travel Diary (012): Brussels I arrived in Brussels, the capital of Belgium at dusk on the 29th Sept. 2000. It is said that Brussels is the “capital of Europe” because the headquarters of the European Union are there, and there are about fifteen thousand diplomats permanently resident there. There are more diplomats in Brussels than in any other city in Europe. When travelling from Luxembourg to Belgium there is also a vast plain. The view is very similar to that when travelling from France to Luxembourg except that there are more cows and sheep. The blue sky, the green land, the white cows and the sheep formed a series of beautiful pictures, one after another. My first view of Brussels was of a few modern skyscrapers next to other buildings, mostly of classical architecture; this gave me a feeling of mystery about the place. When I came to what Victor Hugo described as “the most beautiful square in ...
