The Cold War may be over, but the shadow of espionage still flourishes in romantic corners of Europe.
Chris Wallace
I love spy stories.
Their characters seem to be privy to great secrets about the world.
The Charles Bridge, in Prague.Credit:Chris Wallace
I would also take photographs along the way.
My trip began in Paris, asSmileys Peopledoes.
The last week in September was cool, and the light was like mercury on the sandstone buildings.
From left: A roadster in Vienna; a liaison outside the Centre Pompidou, in Paris.Chris Wallace
Which is kind of like real life, I suppose.
On the train to Prague, the East-West fault lines felt even more dramatic.
Central Europe has long been a kind of liminal space, a fringe between empires.
A postwar office building on the Kurfürstendamm, in Berlin.Chris Wallace
Propagandists on both sides of the Cold War framed the conflict as a black-and-white war of ideas.
If this was a pilgrimage, what spiritual purpose did it serve?
And what in the world was I supposed to be photographing again?
From left: A streetcar in Prague; a view from the Fisherman’s Bastian across the Danube, in Budapest.Chris Wallace
Toward the end of the journey, my second-guessing snowballed into a crisis of conscience.
Partly in escapist mode, partly on LinkedIn.
And perhaps this trip was an attempt to consolidate the two.
If I made it to the other side, where might I find myself?
Well, in Budapest, as it happens: the backdrop for so many spy movies.
To travel as if on a mission.
To be the main character in our own adventure.
A version of this story first appeared in the November 2024 issue ofTravel + Leisureunder the headline Spy Chronicles.
