So far as my small experience goes, the most wonderful arrival in the world is at Venice; but you should time it after dark.

Venice is so unlike anything else on earth that the first impact of it must be a marvelous experience at any hour; but after dark it is magical. You may have been reading books about Venice all your life; you may have seen innumerable pictures of the glories of the city; but no book and no picture can prepare you for the enchantment¹ of this arrival.

To step out of the glitter and bustle² of the station----rather weary and jaded³ with the long journey from Milan----straight on to the landing stage against which the water of the Grand Canal is lapping, to step on board a gondola⁵ and to go gliding⁶ down the dark, broad, silent highway, with dim-lit, ghostly palaces on either hand; not till memory forsakes⁷ you will you forget this experience.

The strange silence, broken only by the measured dip of the oar⁴ and the soft plashing of the water against your cleaving⁸ prow⁹, and the occasional hoarse¹⁰ cries of the gondoliers as you pass another of these black, funeral barges¹¹; the few and feeble lamps, giving you momentary¹² glimpses of balconies and finely carven arches; the sudden intensification¹³ of the silence and the darkness as you abruptly¹⁴ leave the Grand Canal and slip along one of the narrower waterways, always with tall houses on both sides of you, and above you a clear sky of stars, stars reflected tremblingly on the black waters----thousands of tourists must have tried to describe all this, but the magic and the mystery and the beauty of it defy human speech.

And the spell is heightened by the consciousness that this is Venic; at the back of your mind is all that you have read about the strange history of this city, once the richest and most brilliant and most powerful in Europe, later fallen upon evil days of decay and subjection to a forein power, now beginning to lift her head again as one of the great seaports¹⁵ of Italy.

我到过的地方不多，而到威尼斯的感觉最为奇妙，若是在夜晚，则更为奇妙。

与尘世间其它地方不同的是，不是你随时造访都可以立刻迷上其美妙的风采，惟有在夜晚，她才妩媚而奇幻。关于她的书，孩提时代，你就也许读过；描绘她的画，光彩淋漓，你也赏过无数。但是看过书也好，赏过画也罢，踏上她的身躯，你都得照样被她迷住。

从米兰长途跋涉来到这里，到达时车站灯火辉煌，我拖着疲惫无比的身躯挤出了熙熙攘攘的人群。径直来到码头上，只听大运河的水拍打着岸边，演奏着美妙的旋律。坐上威尼斯的小艇，在夜色中穿梭，河道宽阔，四周寂静，两旁的宫殿灯火点点，神神秘秘。此情此景，若非失忆，你怎能忘记。四周静得出奇，只听见船桨嘎吱嘎吱的轻吟，溅起的水花在船头轻唱；不时有黑色船只经过，又闻船夫沙哑的寒暄声。岸上的路灯依稀可见，寥寥无几，却也能让你匆匆瞥见建筑的阳台，和那精雕细刻的拱门。小船从大运河突然飘向窄水道，夜色更深，周围更静。左右高楼时现，仰望夜空，繁星点点，清晰可见，倒映在暗淡水面的星星，随波起舞。不知多少文人墨客皆欲描绘此景，但却苦于辞藻有限，世俗的语言无法将它的迷幻之美一一描绘。

这里可是威尼斯啊，想到这里我就愈加感受到这里的迷人。我脑海里顿时浮现出书中讲述的关于威尼斯的传奇故事。在昔日的欧洲，威尼斯富足辉煌到了极点，国力盛极一时，然而在历史长河中经历了惨淡的衰败，沦为外国殖民地。而今她再一次苏醒过来，昂首阔步，成为意大利首屈一指的海港城市。