We had a difficult journey through a wet and thorny darkness, and wanted only sleep when we arrived at our destination. It was a tall brick tower with a glum dank entrance hall and bare floorboarded bedrooms above. We assorted ourselves quickly and retired for the night. Before getting into the damp and lumpy bed, I opened the lattice window and looked out and up: stars and more stars, the casual greeting of the quotidian unknowable universe. But on looking down, I was surprised but not astonished to see the same: where there should be dark pastureland, more and more stars, further and further, surrounding our sleeping-place.
In the morning it became clear: the fields round about were flooded, and I had witnessed the reflection of the sky; but all the same I retained the feeling of the night before: that our tower was a fragile brick space station, slowly rotating among the galaxies.

- from Voyages et Pelerinages, Alain Carrefour, trans. Magnus Milne