Saturday in England with Gutenberg

¨ Journey over all the universe in a map, without the expense and fatigue of traveling, without suffering the inconveniences of heat, cold, hunger and thirst.
00000000000000000000000 Miguel de Cervantes
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Oh yes, he was right Miguel de Cervantes – but I have to admit that there are times when I wish I could leave my comfortable blue chair and see things for myself. Reading, or more correct, looking in "Eng-land, Picturesque and Descriptive, A Reminiscence of Foreign Travel" by Joel Cook made my wander-foot itch. This book from 1882, and with 500 illustrations was one of yesterday's find at Gutenberg.
I'd love to travel all over England with this book in one hand, my camera in the other trying to find the motives and captive them with my camera.
I did it in a very small scale yesterday, I searched for photos on the web, of places pictured in the book. But I found only a few new photos taken from the same (roughly) place as the drawings. The one above of Abingdon Abbey was one of them. And here is the more than 100 years old picture in the book 0

ENTRANCE TO ABINGDON ABBEY

0It looks pretty much the same, even if the roof has changed and they have added a sculpture between the windows.
It's probably easier to find buildings and compare them with old pictures, than the right spot on a heath or the right bend in a river – a landscape change so much even without malls and highways.
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THE STRID

THAMES HEAD

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This picture of Thames Head looks quite different than today's view of the same place.
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The windows looks a bit different here – but I guess necessary maintenance has changed the look of many old buildings. Different times and different ideals shows, the question about how faithful you should be when restoring old houses always comes up – faithful to how it looks when you start to restore, or faithful to what it looked like when it was built...

GATEWAY JESUS COLLEGE.
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If you have time, and you need plenty of time, take a look at the book. I'm sure it must be extra interesting for those of you who live in England – I'm sure you'll find places you recognize. I did, and I haven't traveled a lot in England.

THE DOONE VALLEY