M40間諜米格魯的秘密日誌

前幾天在西班牙逛街時，看到一個包包外型還挺好看的，價錢是稍微貴了一點，但是勉強還可接受。正打不定主意到底要不要下手的時候，順口問了售貨小姐一句：
“請問這個包包是哪裏做的？”

其實我的意思是，這個包包的生産地在哪一個國家？大概是我的西班牙文太爛的緣故，售貨員以爲我要問的是：這個包包是哪一個國家的牌子？

“意大利！”她說。

在意大利逛街原本應該是一件遐意的事，不過這幾年來，因爲那幾個主要景點大城市觀光客爆多的緣故，大多數市中心的商家都變得超級市儈，一副要買不買隨便你的態度，所以爲了不讓自己花錢還得看人臉色，再加上威尼斯這些地方賣的幾乎都是一些只有觀光客才會買的東西，了無新意，現在如果想去意大利買東西，都是選擇去一些比較不那麽觀光化的城市，不但店員服務好很多，有個性的新秀設計師工作室和賣一些獨立品牌的小店也多很多，逛起街來也比較有意思。

我發現，意大利人不論男女，都是很注重裝扮的民族(說難聽一點就是外貌協會）。所以如果想要在意大利逛街時，受到店員有禮貌的待遇，一定要注意下列幾點：

1. 人要衣裝，佛要金裝：請穿的像樣一點再出門。不需要滿身名牌（這樣子他們反而認爲你是俗氣暴發戶），但是一定要整齊有時尚感。就算是穿球鞋也要穿得有格調。

For many years, I had used Lancaster's Lily Nectar & Iris Florentina Alcohol-free Softening Perfecting Toner until someone told me that Lancaster used vivisection (animal-testing) to test their cosmetic products. Since my favourite breed of dog is beagle, and beagles are often used for animal-testing because they are docile, uniform in size and easy to handle, I decided to give up on facial toners manufactured by well-known cosmetic firms and turn to organic products instead.

The problem with organic products is, they are usually very expensive and not all of them are suitable for my skin. Given the lack of reasonably priced alternatives, I resorted to using French thermal water sprays as facial toners ...

This lasted for a while until I was introduced to 100% pure rose water (rose hydrosol) produced in the region of Isparta, Turkey, while on holidays there. Turkish 100% pure rose water is obtained by distilling the petals of rose damascena and by separating the resultant essential rose oil from the hydrosol. 100% pure rose water is colourless and has a very  light yet pleasant natural smell that reminds me of freshly cut roses with a greenish, leafy note.

100% natural rose water from Isparta are usually packaged in cheap-looking translucent plastic bottles. But they should not be judged by their looks only. They might not look pretty on the outside, but these 100% pure rose  hydrosols are of very good quality, and prices are very reasonable. I personally think that it is nonsense to spend 15 or 20 euros on a small bottle  (i.e. around 100ml) of beautifully packaged so-called 'rose water'' from one of the well-known brands such as Jurlique , Kiehl's or Crabtree & Evelyn. More often than not, these well-known brands will charge you exorbitant prices for their rose water toners just because they add a few drops of essential oils or rose fragrance into their concoctions. In some cases, these 'rosewater toners' are not made from 100% pure rose water at all, but are mixed with paraben-based additives and other preservatives to prolong their shelf life. 

有一個德國朋友曾經不解的問我:'為什麼亞洲觀光客到歐洲,都喜歡去參觀城堡?為什麼德國城堡那麼多,他們非去參觀新天鵝堡不可?新天鵝堡有什麼好看的?許多的德國人從來也沒想過要去參觀新天鵝堡.'他還加了一句:'新天鵝堡根本不代表德國的文化.'
另一個比利時朋友也曾經說過,要讓亞洲觀光客高興似乎很簡單:行程裡面多排幾個城堡讓他們拍照就可以了.