Books – Page 3 – silverfox175

Why do trains have such a fascination? After reading From Russia with Love I knew that one day I would travel by train through Eastern Europe, if not along the same line as Mr Bond, but some where in Eastern Europe.

Murder on the Orient Express – could I afford to travel with Agatha Christie as she keeps us on the straight and narrow, or should I just buy the DVD ?

Perhaps it should be, Stamboul  Train, which runs from Ostend to Istanbul with Graham Green at the controls.

It is not just trains that held my attention, via books, but also the names of the cities through which we pass.

Funeral in Berlin by Len Deighton

I wonder if the main character would recognise Berlin’s mainline station today?

If we move on from trains to cities we must use railway stations, which bring back memories of railway stations in films –

Brief Encounter had a number of station scenes.

Remember Rick in the rain on the railway station in Paris as the German entered the city?

How about Burt Lancaster in ‘The Train’, trying to save French paintings in 1944, and the number of stations that his train passed through in an effort to fool the Germans?

For me black & white has more ‘depth’ to the scene.

As our train ran from Prague to Budapest I couldn’t help but photograph ‘romantic’ stations.

Breclav

Bratislava

Doesn’t this station reek of spies and all things connected with the 1950’s?

Leaving Bratislava – you can just see the front of our train.

Nove Zamky – can you hear the Russian tanks?

Veroce

Unknown, does anybody recognise this station ?

A four night stay in Budapest and we were off again,

Our train arriving to take us to Vienna.

Vienna, the home of Graham Green’s, The Third Man, which is another book to bring back a reason to travel by train in Eastern Europe.

Farewell Budapest

Gyor our first stop

Each of the stations mentioned have histories that would fill a library – battles fought, ruled by the armies of Sweden, France, Turkey, Mongols, Russians, Austrians, Germans to name a few. Coming from a country that has not suffered invaders for over a thousand years it is hard to comprehend.

Approaching Vienna as we passed large marshaling yards.

Four nights in Vienna and we are off again to Frankfurt.

 Seven hours, but in comfort.

 

Facing forward for the top one and facing backwards for the other.

Inside we had a four individual chairs and a table – plenty of room for four adults. We could hear what was going on, but we were still private. Not that there was a lot of noise, just quiet chatter.

Leaving Vienna

Wien Westbahhof

   

Linz

A town that has a history that will take generations to forget
Adolf Hitler spent his youth here before moving on to Vienna – he considered Linz to be his home town.

Adolf Eichmann also spent his youth here.

On the other side of the coin many victims of Nazism have been remembered by Linz citizen in the naming of various streets. Simon Wiesenthal founded his Jewish document centre in Linz.

  Our final station, before Frankfurt, was Nurnberg. I couldn’t help taking pictures of this city’s railways station. Growing up in the aftermath of WW2, with tales of the trials and executions of war criminals in this city, one felt as if we all knew of the city, even though none of us had visited the city.

  The accused at the trials.

Frankfurt station, which brings to mind Elvis

Have you noticed that travelers write about travels, and the main people who read about those who travel, are those who are travelling? Even foodie blogs write about travels – because many have pictures of food from various countries through which the writer has traveled – not a complaint, because I love to read about other people’s food & travels. My wife’s hobby is cooking, so she collects recipes from around the world, and my hobby is eating, and this makes for a perfect combination! The seed of travel for me was sown when I was a boy after the war listening to my father’s travels during WW 2. I followed him to sea; he was Royal Navy, I joined the merchant navy. Combining a love of the sea, with the love of books in my youth, my favourite authors, were C.S Forester, the Hornblower series, First Edition Cover – 1937

Somerset Maugham short stories of life in the Far East –

The Casuarina Tree The Gentleman in the Parlour Eric Newby travel writer, describing his voyage at 18 years of age in 1938. Joseph Conrad’s novels – such as Rudyard Kipling’s stories & poems of Burma and India. – Rudyard is the name of a man-made lake in Staffordshire, UK, and Rudyard Kipling was named after this lake because his parents met there in 1863. Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay (now Mumbai). I first went to Burma (as it was then) in 1965 /6 and it hadn’t changed that much when I visited for a holiday in 2012. Street cafes in Rangoon 2012

I never did make it to Mandalay!

In my late teens I moved on to Jack Kerouac’s – On The Road – a must read for many a teenager. As one grows older travel books still have a fascination, but for me I seem to be looking back over my shoulder thanks to Gavin Young’s two books Slow Boat to China (Pub 1984) Slow Boat to China

A great book to read while my memories of China where still sharp &  Slow Boats Home (Pub 1986) when ships where still ships, and not floating warehouses.

Slow Boat Home

The two books below are travel books, but they’re not . . . they are about a boy living in Singapore and going to school in England – it is the author’s memoirs. For me, they are real memories of traveling fifty years ago.

   

Both books bring back ‘yesterday’ of life in Singapore & Malaya.
Davison’s memories are not so far back that they are history for for me, because I can remember much of this author’s life experiences in Singapore & Malaya (for me it was Malaysia, but it hadn’t changed that much ).

You can always combine cooking and travel if you try. I bought my wife a Christmas present in 2014

mainly as a present for her, but also for me, because I also wanted to read this book.

The author Ann Mah, travels around France for a year cooking and eating . . . what more could you want?

Last week I received information that a local author of The Sleepwalker Legacy would be available at our small shopping strip to sign his latest book. I introduced myself to him and we chatted about writing and publishing in general. When he realised that I’d also had a book published he suggested that we should swap books, which we did, and I am now reading his, and hopefully he is reading mine!

Beside writing I love reading. I am quite unable to pass a second hand book shop, just in case they have something of interest. On the way to a restaurant for lunch last Saturday I called in to a wine shop for some Christmas drink. On leaving the wine shop surprise, surprise there was a secondhand book shop next door. A quick look around, because I didn’t want to be late for lunch, and I ended up with Daniel Silva’s – The Heist. It’ll go well alongside Portrait of a Spy, The Defector, The Secret Servant & The Unlikely Spy.