It was a lovely spring afternoon and the young writer Jules Verne was strolling in the public gardens of Paris.
Distracted as he was, he tripped on a rock, lost his balance and…
… fell flat on the ground. While he was wondering if there was somebody to help him get out of this embarrassing situation...
... suddenly the earth started moving and under his feet an abyss opened up. Poor Verne was sinking into the depths of the earth, deeper and deeper, into a fall that seemed endless!
Fortunately the incredible fall ended, and the young man found himself in a fantastic place with stalactites, tunnels and caves whose walls gleamed with quartz and diamonds...
He had reached the centre of the Earth!
Having walked for several hours in a narrow and dark tunnel, Verne arrived at a cave bathed with light and heard a sound like waves crashing on the shore… but there couldn’t be a sea in the centre of the Earth!
What a surprise he felt, when he realised that not only had he found a coast, but a beach that was covered by a forest of giant mushrooms, 40 meters high as well!
When he recovered from the shock and surprise, Verne began to feel hot and could not resist that wonderful, strange sea.
In a minute Verne reached an underwater world, inhabited by myriads of fish of all species and other creatures, that moved through algae and sea anemones.
Suddenly, he saw from afar some strange human figures in diving suits that seemed to move towards him. He stepped back in horror…
... but the men waved to him to come closer and he had to obey. He was taken to a thing that looked like a giant metal whale whose beacon was illuminating the seabed.
It was Nautilus, Captain Nemo’s submarine!
Verne was getting more and more astonished by his extraordinary voyage, but he was literally stunned by Nautilus and even more by Captain Nemo, who lived as a hermit in the depths of the ocean.
Nemo was an engineer with a vast knowledge who showed Verne all the wonders of the deep.
Suddenly Nautilus emerged on the surface of the sea…
... but the submarine, in an incredible way, continued to rise, as if it was some kind of metallic balloon, higher and higher, beyond the clouds...
... beyond the atmosphere, reaching the space that glowed with the stars!
Verne couldn’t believe what was happening!
He was in space! No way! …and that whitish thing with the irregular outline shining far away, could not have been anything else but…
... the Moon! Verne thought he would faint with excitement when he saw from the porthole the surface of the moon, with its craters so close to him that he wanted to reach out his hands and touch them!
After having orbited the Moon, Nautilus started its travel back to Earth and when Verne re-entered the atmosphere he left the submarine and boarded a hot-air balloon.
The young writer fell into the clouds and enjoyed watching the games of the sun’s rays.
After visiting many places and villages, Verne realised that an arrow had pierced the balloon. Really worried about the situation he leaned over the basket and saw…
... a group of Sioux warriors, who had attacked a train while the travellers were trying desperately to save themselves… Right at the climax of the battle…
...the balloon deflated and started falling towards the battlefield! The poor young man dropped all the available ballast but the balloon wouldn’t be lifted any higher and just before crashing into the ground…
… Verne woke up screaming! So, it had only been a dream! A strange dream! Suddenly the young man realised that everything he had dreamt of could inspire him to write surreal adventure novels but with a dose of truth!
So, still wearing his pyjamas, he started writing in the faint light of the lantern.
That’s how the book series “Extraordinary Voyagesthat made Jules Verne one of the most famous writers in history, was born!
