Tour snapshot

    Travel is all about the street foodthese days, and why not? It's fresh, fast, cheap and a great way to crack intothe local scene. Join this Hanoi tour to source the best street eats frommarkets, food carts, street cafes and otherhard-to-find-but-totally-worth-the-effort secret spots.

    Highlights

    Sample delicious Vietnamese cuisine justlike the locals do — on the street

    Stroll through hidden alleyways andbustling markets of Hanoi's charming old quarter

    Learn more about Hanoi's unique foodculture

    Try local specialties with influencesfrom French and Chinese cuisine

    Take in a spectacular night view of HoanKiem lake from a secret cafe

    Scheduledetails

Duration: 2.5 hours

Meeting point: Sacombank ATM Machine –No. 1 Dong Xuan street (front entrance of Dong Xuan Market, Corner of Dong XuanSt with Cau Dong St)

Starting time: 5. 00 PM

Ending point: Café Pho Co – 11 Hang GaiSt, Hoan Kiem

In a Station of the Metro

    The apparition of these faces in the crowd;Petals on a wet, black bough.

    This is the only Ezra Pound poem that many people will read in their lives. Why? One obvious reason is that it's just two lines long. The poem, which can be understood as “A man sees a bunch of faces in the subway and thinks they look like flowers on a tree branch,” is an exercise in shortness. Pound wrote it after having a spiritual experience in a Paris metro (subway) station.

    In 1916, the US poet originally thought he could best describe his vision in a painting. Unfortunately, he wasn't a painter. So he wrote a thirty-line poem, which he didn't like. He dropped the long version in the waste bin. Six months later, he wrote a shorter poem, but didn't like that one either. Finally, a full year after the experience, he had been reading short Japanese poems called haikus, and he figured he would try this style. The result, which was published in 1913, is one of the most famous and influential works in modern poetry.

    This poem is one of the monuments (纪念物) of the 20th-century artistic movement known as “Imagism”. Basically, Pound and his friends thought that images (意象) weren't just decoration: they were the highest form of speech. By finding the right image, the poet can express the true, spiritual reality of a thing, which is more important than using a bunch of adjectives to describe its physical appearance. Thus, “In a Station of the Metro” is a poem that consists of one image expressed with absolute (绝对的) exactness and nothing else.

    To the imagists, the best way to describe an experience is not to use more and more words; the best way is to find exactly the right words. Have you ever told a beloved one that “words can't express” how much you love them? Well, Pound would say that you're just being lazy. In his view, words can express anything, even if it takes an entire year to find the right ones.

    Food serves as a form of communication in two basic ways. Sharing bread or other foods is a common human tradition that can promote unity and trust. Food can also have a special meaning, and play an important role in a family or culture's celebrations or traditions. The foods we eat—and when and how we eat them—are often unique to a particular culture or may even differ between rural(郊区的) and urban(市区的) areas within one country.

    Sharing bread, whether during a special occasion(时刻) or at the family dinner table, is a common symbol of togetherness. Many cultures also celebrate birthdays and marriages with cakes that are cut and shared among the guests. Early forms of cake were simply a kind of bread, so this tradition has its roots in the custom of sharing bread.

    Food also plays an important role in many New Year celebrations. In the southern United States, pieces of corn bread stand for blocks of gold for prosperity(兴旺) in the New Year. In Greece, people share a special cake called vasilopita. A coin is put into the cake, which signifies(预示) success in the New Year for the person who receives it.

    Many cultures have ceremonies to celebrate the birth of a child, and food can play a significant role. In China, when a baby is one month old, families name and welcome their child in a celebration that includes giving red-colored eggs to guests. In many cultures, round foods such as grapes, bread, and moon cakes are eaten at welcome celebrations to represent family unity.

    Nutrition(营养) is necessary for life, so it is not surprising that food is such an important part of different cultures around the world.

    If you can speak English，you know a lot of English words. You can read，speak and understand. But there is another kind of language you need to know——the language of the body，a part of what is called non-verbal communication. All over the world，people “talk” with their eyes. When Japanese people meet，they put their hands together. What do American and British do?

    Americans are more informal than the British. They like to be friendly. They use first name，they ask questions and they talk easily about themselves. When they sit down，they like to relax in their chairs and make themselves comfortable.

    British people are more quiet. They take more time to make friends. They like to know you before they ask you home.

    When British and American people meet someone for the first time，they shake hands. They do not usually shake hands with people they know well. Women sometimes kiss their women friends，and men kiss women friends （on one cheek only）.When a man meets a man friend，he just smiles，and says “Hello”. Men do not kiss each other. Even fathers and sons do not often kiss each other.

    Charlie studied in a famous college for four years. He studied hard and did well in all his subjects. He hoped to become a good teacher. This year he left the college and began to work in a middle school. He likes his students and is strict with them. He does his best to make his classes lively and interesting.

    One day he carefully explained a chemical reaction to the students of Grade 2 in the chemistry lab.

    “Be careful, everyone,” he said loudly. “Before I make the experiment, there're twenty five atoms of carbon (碳原子), but after I finish it, there're twenty four atoms of carbon left!”

He stopped to watch the classroom and hoped his students would go on explaining it. But the young men looked at each other and nobody answered him. He had to ask,

    “What happens? What makes the atom lost?”

    The classroom was very quiet and none of the students looked at their teacher.

    “Who can tell us where it has gone?”

    Suddenly a soft voice came from the back row, “We did not see anybody leave the lab!”

    The opening times of Vienna's museums, shops, Tourist Info Vienna, etc

    Tourist Info

    1st district, city centre

    Albertinaplatz, corner of Maysedergasse

    Daily from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm

    Vienna International Airport Arrival Hall

    Daily from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm

    Museums

    Most of Vienna's museums are open daily. Some are closed once a week, often either on Monday or Tuesday. The daily opening times vary from museum to museum, but you can generally assume that a museum will be open between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm. Some of the large museums offer art lovers one late evening per week and stay open until 8:00 pm or 9:00 pm.

    Shops

    In Vienna, shops are usually open from Monday to Friday from 9:00 am to 6:30 pm and on Saturday until 5:00 pm or 6:00 pm. Some shopping centers are open until 8:00 pm or 9:00 pm from Monday to Friday.

    Banks

    Most banks in Vienna are open from Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 12:30 pm and from 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm, and until 5:30 pm on Thursdays. In the city center almost all banks are open over lunchtime.

    Restaurants and hot food

    Most restaurants in the city center are open daily. Hot food is generally offered from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm and from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm. Some restaurants, often outside the city center, are closed on one day each week, sometimes on Sundays as well.