Stories Alive! Time Shelter
Stories Alive! Time Shelter
We can help you forget...
Zemii Tours is honored to present the third in many Stories Alive! Tours. The third tour is based off of the novel Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodoniv. Published in 2020, this International Man Booker and Strega European Award-Winning novel takes you to a “clinic for the past,” located in Zürich, Switzerland.
The Story
From the backmatter: “In an apricot-colored building in Zürich, surrounded by curiously planted forget-me-nots, Gaustine has opened the first “clinic for the past,” an institution that offers an inspired treatment for Alzheimer’s sufferers: each floor reproduces a past decade in minute detail, allowing patients to transport themselves back in time to unlock what is left of their fading memories. Serving as Gaustine’s assistant, the narrator is tasked with collecting the flotsam and jetsam of the past, from 1960s furniture and 1940s shirt buttons to nostalgic scents and even wisps of afternoon light. But as the charade becomes more convincing, an increasing number of healthy people seek out the clinic to escape from the dead-end of their daily lives—a development that results in an unexpected conundrum when the past begins to invade the present. Through sharply satirical, labyrinth-like vignettes reminiscent of Italo Calvino and Franz Kafka, the narrator recounts in breathtaking prose just how he became entrenched in a plot to stop time itself.”
Gaustine not only treats patients, but simultaneously has the opportunity to view the history of 20th Century Europe through the eyes of his patients. Having not experienced communism first hand, he explores the trauma of these broken individuals while exploring the nostalgia felt by those who had experienced the mental programming provided at the time. This of course creates conflicting memories, one of familiar comfort paired with trauma. Gaustine provides these familiar spaces with affection, but he is not disillusioned as to what they represent. The story takes an unexpected turn when the popularity of his clinic attracts not only non-traumatized individuals from across the continent, but entire governments decide to implement the idea.
The Author
Time Shelter is the third book written by Bulgarian author, Georgi Gospodoniv. This is the first time a Bulgarian author has won the Man Booker International Prize. Having been raised in a post-communist community, he learned how people had to endure the previous regime. As common in many current and former communist dictatorships, citizens have to learn to speak in code to endure their experience. This frequently found its way through making jokes. “Under communism, the future is always certain; it’s the past that keeps changing.” This was his favorite joke heard in 1980’s Romania. If you have a spare 8 minutes, I recommend watching this interview with Georgi Gospodoniv to learn more about him and his motivation behind writing this story.
Romania knows a thing or two about crazy dictators (see our Dracula Tour to learn about the world’s heaviest parliament building designed to ensure the whole world knew that their dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, was the most important one on the planet. Take a peak at this video about the history of the Palace of Parliament in Romania).
Why A Tour?
Although the tour isn’t designed to recreate 20th Century Europe, it is designed to help people currently swimming in conflicting narratives and chronically stressful experiences with modern day life. I mean, right now. No one can deny that the world has not been the same since 2020. The goal of this tour is to make you experience RIGHT NOW for the duration of the entire tour. What better setting than Switzerland (the home of the “clinic for the past” in the novel) and its magnificent nature, serene environments, and peaceful population to help you step “away” from the world and rediscover yourself. Instead of running to the past to hold onto something comforting. Find comfort in the right now. Maybe you will leave the tour having renewed focus and center. This can only spill over into your daily life. Who knows, your newfound calm may even be contagious!
Speaking of changes since 2020… I have my own personal experience with post-communist nations both prior to 2020 and after. I have personally visited a huge swath of communist nations across Europe, Asia, and a few in Central and South Americas. I can personally attest to the common behavior patterns, the narratives they frequently hear, and I saw the grandiose and bizarre constructions of their crazed former leaders. (Thousands of bunkers anyone? Oh hey there Albania!). I distinctly remember very starkly the pro-Russia narratives being shoved at Serbians when we were there in the winter of 2020. Now, when I watch the narratives of various countries, including my own, I see the patterns.
I think this book is something that would benefit anyone living in our modern reality of conflicting information. All I can say is that there were definitely people in these post-communist countries making comments about how they missed their former communist days. I don’t know if those were planted or real. I also know that trauma survivors have Stockholm Syndrome. Abusers always mix comfort and love with pain and fear. It’s a deadly mix to confuse people and make them easier to manipulate and control. In case you are curious how this cycle works, you can also explore my book “RootEd: How Trauma Impacts Learning and Society” right here on this very Substack. I do have a few chapters available for free. My focus was how it matters the way we speak to children as parents and teachers since normalized trauma, in my observation, is what creates a population that is predisposed to manipulation.
I also wanted to share that we all had different experiences during COVID. Mine was in martial law lockdown Albania. No one was allowed to leave their house for three straight months. One person per household was allowed to go to the store each day, after getting permission from the government the previous day. All shopping had to be completed within an hour. My children didn’t go outside for three straight months. No cars were allowed to drive in the entire country except a rare few for essential businesses. Almost all businesses were closed. Tanks were literally roaming the streets to enforce compliance. The government did provide rations and funding to those stuck at home. I wouldn’t say it was substantial, but that was what I witnessed. This was also when I finished writing my book “RootEd.”
The Tour
Discover the tranquility of Switzerland as the setting for the "Clinic for the past" in Time Shelter. Stay in 5-Star hotels where you will be taken on a rejuvenating tour of the region. No need to reminisce about another time, simply bask in the now as you divulge in the splendors of regional wines and cuisines, paired with luxurious spas and luscious tours.
The tour covers a lot of territory in Switzerland. You begin your tour in Zürich, which will serve as your “entrance and exit” to and from the “clinic of right now.” From there, you will be taking trains through glorious mountain ranges. You will have a spa stay at the Chedi Andermatt to being your transformation. This will be followed by a luxury train ride to Zermatt on the Glacier Express Train. In Zermatt, a town without cars, you will be left to roam the charming streets, the glorious nature trails, and take a gondola to the top of the Matterhorn. Next, you will go to Interlaken and take a private tour to the top of the Jungfraujoch, known as “the top of Europe.” Oh, and you get to walk through an ice tunnel (see the photo below).
The only cure for nostalgia is making right now your peace. Our goal with this tour is to meet all of your physical needs, paired with comfort, shock to the system (hot spas and ice cold mountain tops), as well as more nature than you know what to do with. Transporting you into a culture you don’t know, you can’t speak the language, and you don’t know the foods forces you to live in the moment and cherish every second. I’ve been traveling for 7 straight years and I have to say, there is bliss in not knowing what anyone is saying around you, staring at everything in stores like you are 5 years old, and being constantly amazed by everything you see.
