2017-08-21

【Aiden in English】

        Today, mom and I entered France. No, Germany. Ehhhh... France. Maybe Germ- no, no. Definitely France. By now, after two world wars, everyone in the city of Strasbourg is tired of switching back and forth between the countries. Luckily, both countries use euros, so whatever nation Strasbourg now falls under will use the same currency.

        Being one of the largest cities in the romantic Rhine, Strasbourg is the hot spot where Germany meets France, blending cultures in great effect. It absolutely offered a bit of variation versus other stops this trip. Location of the European Quarter, home to many institutions of the European Union and the Council of Europe, many expensive neighborhoods could be found in this area. The Petite France district of the old town took immense pride in its history and gave off a picturesque "Paris" vibe. As usual, every narrow street was laid out in cobblestones, making the walks even more treacherous. Along with lots of obstacles and distractions, including bikers racing by and pickpockets, Strasbourg was not a cakewalk.

        We toured the main plaza where the largest basilica of the city, the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg or Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg came into the sight magnificently. A small side-note: every town on the Rhine has a large church of some sort in the center. They are given out specific names, but no one calls them by name. They're all simply referred to as 'the Cathedral'. In this case, the cathedral is the tallest structure built in the 12^th century. Standing at 466-foot/142-meter tall, it loomed over the city and marked the highest medieval architecture in Europe. Strasbourg had no skyscrapers anywhere near the old town. Therefore, nothing was blocking the cathedral's main tower for miles. Essentially, one standing at any edge of the old town could see its spire in clear sight. Like a needle sticking in the sky, it kind of looked lonely. As if to taunt its boring life, architects decided to place an enormous astronomical clock at the south transept, symbolizing the passages of life in front of Jesus. The constant ticking every hour and the music of the stages of life, the ornate clock is designed beautifully. Always ticking, ticking away. Each day, a full rotation occurs within the clock, producing a circle of life. From the morning, cycle after cycle of life after life goes by, hinting god's eternity.

        The second half of the day was spent in the Mercedes-Benz assembly line located in Rastatt, Germany. More than 3 million Mercedes have been built here since the plant opened in 1992. This was my first time ever in a manufacturing facility, and I was glad it's for the best. No, I'm not saying Mercedes is the 'best'. It's just their slogan.

        After watching a very biased introductory video to show, we went into the plant to see how luxury it is made. Inside, no pictures were allowed to respect its proprietaries. Apparently, there is some important secret that the company doesn't want to get out, yet Google has plenty of images lying around. The process was a complex ring throughout the complex, using complex machines and robots to slowly piece by piece assemble a complex puzzle, involving manual labor to check and tend to complex problems and insert finer tasks. The tour took us above the process in a pathway hanging from the ceiling. Directly beside us was a chain of moving carts rigged to a track system transporting pieces of the cars for insertion. Down below, machines were fed parts from conveyor belts like a buffet line, adding them one by one to approaching car skeletons. I could pretty much follow the process step by step until the end, where I lost track of the path the cars took. It's not like I'm going to remember the building of a car anyways.

        Eventually, I finished the tour and saw perfect looking Mercedes GLS550's rolling out of a dark tunnel, shiny and ready to be destroyed in a drunk driving accident by a spoiled underage American kid in a bet with his friends for ten dollars that his friends stole from his wallet three days ago while he was hungover.

【紅霞譯文】

        今天我和媽媽進入法國境內，不對，德國，呃……法國，也許德…，不對、不對，肯定是法國。自兩次世界大戰結束以後到目前為止，斯特拉斯堡市的民眾對反覆更換國籍麻木不仁，幸虧兩國全都使用歐元，無論斯特拉斯堡歸屬哪個國家至少貨幣一致。

        作為浪漫萊茵河上最大的城市之一，斯特拉斯堡可謂德國遇見法國的熱點地方，雙邊文化密切交融，絕對要比之前所到各處更有特色，不僅歐洲區是歐盟許多機構和歐委會所在地，以至於很多居民區房價昂貴，而且老城的小法蘭西區歷史底蘊深厚，到處散發着“巴黎”氣息。不出所料，這裡每條狹窄的巷子胡同均由鵝卵石鋪就而成，走在路面禁不住深一腳淺一腳，街上出現不少路障及分散精力的玩意，加之騎單車者和扒手也愛湊熱鬧，因此遊覽斯特拉斯堡並非輕而易舉的事情。

        我們來到主要廣場參觀，本市最為雄偉的聖殿──斯特拉斯堡聖母大教堂即刻映入眼帘，附帶提示一下：萊茵河上每座城中心無不建有規模可觀的教會，並且冠以特殊字號，但沒有一個直呼其名，歸根結底都是“大教堂”，而眼前這座稱雄於十二世紀的大教堂高達466英尺/142米，獨居歐洲中世紀榜首。斯特拉斯堡老城附近沒有任何摩天大樓，因此即使方圓幾里路外大教堂主塔仍然依稀可見，說實在的，無論身處老城何方，人們都能看清高懸其上的鐘樓，它宛若尖針直插雲霄，顯得有點行單影孤。也許對乏味景觀嗤之以鼻，建築師們決定於南耳堂加蓋大天文鐘，用以象徵上帝指定的生命之路，每個小時在音樂不停地伴奏下它展示人生各個階段，時光循序漸進，生命周而復始，從早晨起不斷輪迴，暗示上帝永恆。

        下午我們趕回德國參觀位於拉施塔特的梅賽德斯─奔馳組裝線，新廠自從1992年投入生產以來已製造300多萬輛奔馳汽車，這是我首次親臨生產基地，有幸見識天下無雙的高端產品，我可沒說奔馳是“最棒的”，剛才那詞不過借用廠家標語口號而已。

        看完頗有爭議的視頻之後，我們深入車間實地考察高端奢飾品究竟是怎樣打造出來的，因為技術專利，內部一概謝絕拍照，顯然公司不想外泄某些重要機密，好在谷歌網站上提供大量備用圖片。組裝過程是全套複雜的流水工藝，一環扣着一環，利用精密機器和智能機器人把零件一個個安置在盤枝錯節的迷宮裡面，採取人工檢查手段以求針對特殊問題找出合理解決辦法。我們沿着倒掛在天花板上的通道行進，身邊生產線排滿等候安裝的車輛，腳下零件先通過一個像自助餐傳送線似的運輸帶遞給安裝機，然後再被放進空殼車身，我從頭至尾幾乎一步不落地走完整個流程，末了沒太經意車的去向，反正我也記不住車庫地點。

        參觀終於結束，我看到一輛標緻的奔馳越野型GLS550款正從黑色過道疾馳而出，油光鋥亮，馬上要被寵壞的美國未成年酒駕者撞毀，他正跟手中握有10塊大洋的哥們打賭，而這10塊美金恰是三天前那幫狐朋狗友趁他喝得酩酊大醉從其錢包里偷來的。

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2015: Forbidden City, Beijing(北京紫禁城)

2014: YMCA Camp─Dodgeball-3(基督教青年會夏令營─躲避球之三)

Crosslinks(相關博文):

France(出遊法國)

Germany(出遊德國)

Europe(歐洲掠影)