When Google sent out their fleet of cars with the nine cameras mounted on the pole and ball to capture the world street views, I think it was for someone like me! I can spend hours re-living the past just by going back to places we once lived or visited.
This evening I showed Howard how we could go back to Devon, England and drive down the country roads with the hedgerows on each side via the Google Street View maps. I found the area and pulled down the little figure to the street and voila, we were transported to Bideford!
Bideford was one of Britain's largest port in the 16th Century. We loved to amble up and down the narrow streets and along the quay where the fishing vessels, cargo and pleasure boats all sat and waited for the tide to come in. I think we did see the water on one of our visits.
It was fast "driving" through the Google Streets, but I found the quay and also The Kings Arms, where we stopped whenever we came to town.
On our last visit to this 17th century Inn, we shared a tiny table (just large enough to hold our mugs of beer) with a couple of girls in their mid twenties. The one girl told us how she'd hitched a ride to Bideford in her teens, got a job. and never left.
I tried to Google drive up and down the very steep narrow streets, but it was difficult - I kept crashing into buildings! On our real visit to Devon (about ten years ago) we spent hours walking all over this town. I found the Cemetery - this place held Howard's fascination with the age of the headstones, I think he must have read the inscription on every last one of them - I left him there while I walked around a bit and when I came back, he was writing one that fascinated him. I know I still have it somewhere.
Tomorrow, I'm going to look for The Hoop's Inn on Google - this is fun!!
2 comments:
so cool!!!!
I'm so in love with Street View too... I've posted several times about it, using old photos from various places I've lived or visited & contrasting with street view photos. This is so fun!
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