Traveling to Europe during the past few weeks was an exhausting journey, but I enjoyed a revealing experience at the same time. Particularly it revealed the feeling of scarcity that is distinct from its physical reality. I learn a lot from the enthusiastic discussion about the mindset presented in the Psychonomic Society Meeting in Granada, to aspirational everyday solutions of the ordinary people curated by Alejandro Aravena in Venice Architecture Biennale. However, it is my futile attempt to capture the elusive Matterhorn and the wait for the top of the mountain not covered in clouds (when Jason and I spent 3 rainy days in Zermatt, Switzerland) that really taught us where the feeling of scarcity comes from.
We cannot take the ubiquitous images of perfect Matterhorn on the Web for granted. Does it matter if someone else already demonstrates the possibility or presents a perfect solution? How much do we need to accomplish? It is a mindset! It changes how we (well, at least I) think of a “perfect image” and it definitely affects what we pay attention to and how we weigh our choices.
We do appreciate the real experience of “searching” and “waiting” in real life. I can speak with great confidence, ‘this is not Matterhorn’ when I see the beautifully printed image of Summit of the Matterhorn on a postcard.
那裡不是馬特洪峯！
六月初我們坐火車從義大利來到瑞士南部和義大利交界的小城 Zermatt，那裡坐落了阿爾卑斯山脈群中最著名的馬特洪峯（Matterhorn)，她的高度大約4500公尺，並不是阿爾卑斯山脈裡最高的峯，卻是最後一個被征服的主要山峯（1865），主要就是因為她四面錐體的陡峭造型，讓很多登山客怯步。當然現在附近已經建立很多登山健行步道，可惜的是，我們這次前兩天都是雨天，大霧，湖岸邊也還有很厚的積雪無法健行。
本來在城裡天氣好時，無論身在哪裡總能隨時見到，順手拍到的獨特山峰，這次却忸怩作態，再加上做工的起重機擋住視線，即使坐纜車上山（Trockener Steg) 也很難看到她的真面目。等到了第三天清晨，我們搭第一班高山火車 (Gornergrat Hahn) 到了3100公尺的瞭望站，她若隱若現地出現了幾十秒鐘，又被飄來濃濃的雲霧掩蓋了⋯
原本出現在明信片上最典型的景象和我們這次實際捕捉到的大不相同。也許不是完美的側影，但我們更珍惜這次「追尋」和「等待」的真實經驗，我們可以理直氣壯看著精美印刷的明信片說「那裡不是馬特洪峯！」
Categories: Spur
