I’ve taken a break from blogging for the past month or so as I’ve been travelling around Europe. Although I had every intention of keeping up with my writing and reading while I was away, my ambitions faded under the hot Mediterranean sun. And I didn’t really care.
The whole experience reaffirmed those awfully cliché memes that I often see on the internet about travel being good for the spirit. It’s refreshing to emerge oneself in different cultures, to hear foreign languages, and have the chance to reflect on how my small home town of Perth fits into the larger tapestry of the planet. It reminds us that the Earth is incredibly vast, yet so vulnerable.
Travelling certainly sparks the imagination. Staying in southern Bavaria, I could see how the Alps have inspired generations of writers, from Thomas Mann to Mary Shelley. There are places in the world where reality merges with the imagination. Ideas inhabit the scenery. The sublime both challenges and expands the mind.
So here are a couple of photos from my adventures, as a tribute to the restorative power of the imagination.
I’m planning on some big changes to my blog in the next couple of months. I’m very grateful to those of you who regularly read my blog, from the wonderful readers around the world whom I’ve never met, to my good friends who often chat to me about my updates. I’m looking forward to getting stuck back into the world of science fiction, books, and movies!
Andrew R. Cameron 