Category Archives: Europe

London For Free

Posted on June 22, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Some of the vintage oldtimers who have been following Travel Between The Pages for many eons may recall that during the last century I made a dubious living writing travel guidebooks and newsletters. One of my better selling books was … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Europe, Tourism, Travel Writing, Writing | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

An Alternate Alice Versery

Posted on June 18, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I am continually amazed by the seemingly endless variations and spinoffs of Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland.  But even I was surprised to discover that beginning in the 1930s, Guinness beer began using Alice in Wonderland and the cast … Continue reading →

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“To walk alone in London is the greatest rest.”

Posted on June 17, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

It’s surprising to learn that London wasn’t well mapped until the 1500s, but the cartographers, topographers, and historians of the Historical Towns Trust have the decided to remedy the problem by looking back in time to create period maps.. Their … Continue reading →

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Lucifer’s Big Book

Posted on June 14, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

The Codex Gigas (or Devil’s Bible) is a large 13th-century manuscript from Bohemia, one of the historical Czech lands. Renowned for its size and its striking full-page rendition of the devil (found on page 577), it contains a number of … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Books, Europe, History, Libraries, Museums | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Life is stranger than fiction

Posted on June 10, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Forgive the pun, but in this case life is truly stranger than the fictional book above. A fascinating handwritten manuscript of the French novel  L’Étranger translated as The Outsider/The Stranger by Albert Camus has sold for €500,000 ($544,000) at auction in Paris. There is little … Continue reading →

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It’s always nineteen eighty-four somewhere

Posted on June 9, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

George Orwell’s seminal novel turns seventy-five this week. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell posed a frightening question: could people be conditioned to actually believe (rather than just pretend to believe) the lies they are told ? Here we are 75 years later … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Europe, Freedom of Speech, History, Writing | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Stumbling Through Saturday Around the Interwebs

Posted on June 8, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I am not embarrassed at all to admit that I have spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about things in the Lord of the Rings universe such as : who is in charge of trash collection; and what are … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Books, Europe, Public Transport, Tourism, Writing | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Wise Thoughts For Everyday

Posted on June 5, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Like many folks who were introduced to the writings of Leo Tolstoy through his novel War and Peace, I was, and remain, ambivalent about the Russian author. I found War and Peace a bit of a slog. However, I found Anna Karenina and The Death of … Continue reading →

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Do vampires get sea sick ?

Posted on May 30, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

On a gloomy night in July, 1893, Bram Stoker’s mysterious Count Dracula embarked on a clandestine journey from his Transylvania home aboard the ill-fated ship Demeter. Unbeknownst to the unsuspecting crew of the Demeter, a malevolent force lay hidden in … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Europe, Film, Maps, Tourism, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Murakami in the Machine or Way back Wednesday

Posted on May 29, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

In the past we’ve covered lots of book vending machine stories, but this one is surreal. The Muzu publishing house in Poland created three vending machines to dispense Polish translations of Haruki Murakami’s newest novel, Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and the Year of … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Books, Europe, Writing | Tagged , , | 5 Comments