Our hundred days in Europe

by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Excerpt from Our Hundred Days in EuropeAfter an interval of more than fifty years I propose taking a second look at some parts of Europe. It is a Rip Van Winkle experiment which I am promising myself. The changes wrought by half a century in the countries I visited amount almost to a transformation. I left the England of William the Fourth, of the Duke of Wellington, of Sir Robert Peel; the France of Louis Philippe, of Marshal Soult, of Thiers, of Guizot. I went from Manchester to Liverpool by the new railroad, the only one I saw in Europe. I looked upon England from the box of a stage-coach, upon France from the coupe of a diligence, upon Italy from the cushion of a carrozza. The broken windows of Apsley House were still boarded up when I was in London.

Genres: Nonfiction

329 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1887

About the author

American physician Oliver Wendell Holmes, Senior, a professor of anatomy and physiology at Harvard from 1847 to 1882 and father of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Junior, wrote humorous conversational pieces, including The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858).

This professional nevertheless achieved fame, regard, and knowledge among the best poets of the 19th century. Holmes nevertheless wrote numerous medical treatises, essays, novels, memoirs, and table-talk books.

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really admire a person like Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. —an old fashioned polymath. He even smiles in nearly every photograph. How many 19th century photos show their subjects smiling? Did Conan Doyle have O. W. Holmes Sr. in mind when creating his own Sherlock Holmes?

This “travel” book is a little hard to figure out. He combines thoughts of a trip made to England, Scotland and France that he had made early in life just before studying medicine in Paris and a trip to the very same locations as an eminent scientist, poet and writer in old age. It’s really not a travelogue. In an afterword he says it’s meant to please people he knows, many of whom he mentions in this book. Although he spends months visiting every stately home, church, racing event, dinner, and garden in sight, his memories of the trip focus on celebrity after celebrity he meets on his journey. He’s not bragging, they came to him for the most part.

I’m impressed but can’t say it’s absolutely fascinating.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of course this was very well written. But also a bore for me. Even the author wrote that only those who were very interested in him would find any interest in it. I had just read a bio on his son which I enjoyed so picked this up . Even Jr. thought his fathers writing was a bit boring. But remember it was well written