A Muse Walking
In the A Muse Walking blog, I discuss my inspirations and interests on a range of topics. Travel musings to armchair philosophy will be prominent as these often feed into my fiction writing.
The Romantic Lakes a remedy for eternal angst
I have returned to Keswick in the Lake District on my second trip here. And like the first time, I know before I leave that I will return.
There is something quite distinct about this pocket of England, so different from the London metropolis in the south and the large historic cities that dot the country.
Real fiction in Verona
On a recent work trip to Italy, I was able to reflect on the power of fiction and how it can so strangely morph into a pseudo-reality. With my business done in Milan, instead of flying home, I lingered an extra day and seized the opportunity to visit Verona, a quick one hour and fifteen-minute train ride from Milan.
Magic in the desert: Siwa Oasis
A nine-hour drive west of Cairo, and a mere 50 kilometres from the Libyan border, is Siwa Oasis. Even today, its remoteness makes it a bit of trek to get to, though tour busses are becoming more frequent in the area. This isolation in the great Sand Sea of the Sahara Dessert has been woven into the history of the Oasis and shaped its destiny as much as its inhabitants have.
Venice…a place of romance and dreams with a decadent history…Or an overrated, overcrowded, and overpriced city…
When I talk to friends or fellow travelers about Venice, I tend to get these two extremes. There is either love or disdain for this city that seemingly has such a powerful hold on our imagination and creates great expectations. For even the least travelled person knows it and has an impression of what it is before ever seeing it.
A tale to rival any contemporary corporate blunder…
In Stockholm, Sweden is the impressive Vasa Museum with a wonderfully preserved ship from the Swedish Age of Empire. In the 17th and 18th century, Sweden dominated the entire Baltic Sea, and controlled much of Norway, Finland, as well as parts of Estonia and Germany.
A medieval town saved by obscurity and poverty
A feature I most enjoy on the iPhone is the one that serves up photo memories from years past with a little overlay of music. Recently, at the end of November 2023, I was provided with a few images from two years ago. In November of 2021, just before many places had fully come out of Covid, I took a wonderful little trip to Germany for some solo backpacking. I could no longer ignore certain flight deals, and I was growing somewhat stir crazy from almost two years of travel confinement.