Note: First published in the Atlantic, June 1941. Translated by Vladimir Nabokov and Peter Pertzov.

Synopsis: An expatriate Russian living in Berlin wins a ticket for a pleasure excursion which he would rather not take, but he is obliged to do so by the 'Bureau of Pleasantrips.' The German tourists on the trip bully and torment him incessantly. At one point he sees an enchanting, otherworldly castle in a lake and books a lifetime stay in the inn nearby, but the other tourists forcibly return him to Berlin.