Falling in love with a city, like falling in love with somebody, must have some reason.
I have been to many different countries and cities, yet 'Prague' will always be the answer coming out most bluntly whenever my friends ask:'If you could pick only one city to visit again, which would you choose?' In his book The Book of Laughter and Forgetting Milan Kundera writes,'Heading back to Prague is not for a small mind, digging out the memory requires courage.'
Prague is only a city name until you come close to her. Only when you are in Prague will this abstract sound take on a truly vivid and clear shape, once in a while, sharing with you some of her deepest treasures. She doesn't just belong to Milan Kundera, Kafka, Mozart, Zubin Mehta - Those lives and sould once so intimately interwoven with this city. This moment, she belongs to you. You can embrace her having all the romances and stories kept between you and her.
To a beauty, the cruelest thing is a mirror right after she's awakened in the early morning. Yet for most cities, morning is the time to see them at their best.
The first day I arrived in Prague, a full 30 hours' lack of sleep only put me in bed for 4 hours. I rushed out of my apartment heading directly to the cherished Charles Bridges which I have come across so many times in movies.
The city is still a dreamscape, streets spotted with few pedestrians, clanking cable cars pass by on cobbled roads. Prague's cable car is a world-renowed landmark of this city, and the drivers are surprisingly kind . Seeing you holding your camera from afar,they'll slow down so as not to disturb your shot.
The eagerness and curiosity in my eye has revealed my visitor's identity; one security officer at the American Consul below my apartment greeted my good morning. I love this early morning, I love this Prague only scarcely dotted with visitors. On the Charles Bridges, pigeons are the only visitors looking for breakfast. Far in the distance, watching the wide and calm Vltava flowing beneath, 'Good morning, Prague!' I whisper.
Walking through streets and lanes to the Jewish Quarter for a coffee at Kafka Cafe has become a daily routine. The more leisurely life is, the heavier the sense of and impending departure. I haven't had enough of your morning loveliness, and I will always look forward for one more glimpse of your mysteriousness at night.
I have never forgotten you, and hope you will always remember me, too.
译文:
早安，布拉格
就像爱上一个人，爱上一座城市，并非无缘无故。
我去过很多不同国家和城市，每每有人问及，“在那么多城市中，倘若让你挑选一处故地重游，你会选哪里？”，我总是毫不犹豫脱口而出：“布拉格。”米兰·昆德拉在《笑忘录》中这样写道，“重返布拉格需要勇气，记忆，同样需要勇气。”
布拉格，一座城市的名字而已，但只有当你走进她，这个抽象的的声音才会正真灵动清晰，才会偶尔呈现她深处的珍藏之美。她不仅仅属于米兰·昆德拉，卡夫卡，莫扎特，祖宾·梅塔——他们的灵魂曾与这个城市亲密羁绊。今时此刻，你同样可以与之相拥，与之尽享二人世界的罗曼情节。
对一个美女来说，最残酷的事情莫过于在清晨给她一面镜子。而对大多数城市来说，清晨，往往是饱览风景的绝佳时机。
抵达布拉格的第一天，因为整整30个小时没有睡觉，我居然只睡了四个小时就起来了。我急匆匆地走出公寓，直奔查理大桥——我曾在电影里见到无数次的查理大桥。
城市还睡意朦胧，路上行人寥寥。电车叮叮当当地开过鹅卵石铺满的接到。布拉格的有轨电车也是这座城市著名的标志性风景。出人意料的是，电车司机很是友善，远远地看到你把着照相机镜头，他们会放慢车速缓缓驶过你闪动的镜头。
我急切又略带好奇的目光将自己游客的身份暴露无遗；路过公寓楼下的美国领事馆，保安对我道了一声“早安”。我爱这清晨，这游人尚还稀少的布拉格。查理大桥上，觅食的鸽子是仅有的游人，远处的瓦尔塔河缓缓深流，宽广而静谧，我轻声说，“早安，布拉格！”
每天穿街走巷去犹太区的卡夫卡喝杯咖啡，已经成了每日的必修课。日子越是闲适，对于即将到来的告别就越加不舍。我还没有看够你清晨的美丽，也永远不会看够你夜里的神秘。
布拉格，我从未忘却你，但愿，你也会永远记得我。
