A Few Thoughts About Time Travel
By Thad
I’m sure we have all thought about time travel at one point or another. Right now there is a good bit of media attention to how much the movie “Back to the Future 2” got correct about the year 2015. And time travel has been a fixture of science fiction books and movies for years.
by Elisa Rolle via WikiMedia Commons
While a lot of time travel looks to the future, my favorite time travel is to the past. I really enjoyed the books “Time and Again” and “From Time to Time” by Jack Finney. Mr. Finney wrote a number of books that were turned into movies. The most famous of these is “The Body Snatchers” which has been turned into several “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” films.
But the reason that I like Mr. Finney’s time travel novels is his time traveler, Simon Morley, does not use the conventional time machine to travel. Instead Mr. Morley who is taking part in a secret government experiment moves into New York City’s Dakota Apartments and steeps himself in the history and culture of 1882 and with self- hypnosis is able to go back in time.
“From Time to Time” is a sequel where Morley returns to the world of the 1880’s to correct some of the changes he caused during his first trips back in time. Both books are great reads for any time travel enthusiast.
I don’t think a time machine has been invented as of today and if one is invented in the future I am not aware of any time travelers who have visited us. I know that Doctor Who visits us in his TARDIS fairly often, but he seems to turn up mostly in the U.K.
When I read a recent Tripsided article about traveling to Morocco, I noticed a paragraph about a visit to some ancient Roman ruins. The writer speaks of picturing in his mind’s eye, legions of Roman soldiers and citizens occupying the area. It made me think of the time travels I have taken in my mind as I visited many historic places both here and abroad.
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The early days of the United States is brought to life when you visit Williamsburg. There is the authentic replica 1800s town of Westville in Lumpkin, Georgia which gives you the feeling of returning to the days of old in my home state. The streets of Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina give us visions of the past.
Any time one visits a Civil War battlefield that has been preserved; one has the visions of the past and the horrors of that war of brother against brother. A trip to the Smithsonian Museum or any other museum here or abroad is a visit to the past.
The cities of Europe are alive with the past. We may feel a touch of the past in the cities of New York, Washington and Philadelphia, but the past is truly alive in the wonderful old homes and streets of London, Paris, Bruges and Amsterdam.
So I offer you the chance to step back in time. Visit the cities, battlefields and museums that are alive with history. You will truly find yourself to be a time traveler.
Next: Magnificent Morocco, Part 2