From the Oak to the Olive - Travel Memoir by Julia Ward Howe

Free US/UK Kindle Classic

From the Oak to the Olive A Plain record of a Pleasant Journey  is an 1868 travel memoir by American abolitionist Julia Ward Howe.  (She wrote the words to the famous Civil War anthem, "Battle Hymn of the Republic.") (US Edition)  (UK Edition) 

Now here is a bid of odd advice.  Skip the short introduction titled "Preliminaries."  It is so mannered and off-putting, that I am sure many don't read past it.  It is really not at all like the book.  Here is a familiar scene for anyone who has visited St. Paul's:

St. Paul's is clearly organized for the extortion of shillings and sixpences. So much for seeing the bell, clock, and whispering gallery; so much for the crypt. You are pressed, too, at every turn, to purchase guide-books, each more authentic than the last. There, as elsewhere, we go about spilling our small change at every step, and wondering where it will all end.

The book starts with a steamer voyage, which she claims will be too familiar to the reader to describe.  Who knew that out of print and forgotten books would outlive their authors by a hundred years? (Wikipedia is not even aware this book exists and that is unusual when they profile the author.)

Howe travels about the UK, then to France, Italy, and Greece.  Yes, it appears to be the Grand Tour!

It is a litter borne tour from this extract:

Our vexation against our guides had long ago cooled into a quiet good will. Relinquishing the fiery journey , which might have been prolonged some hours further, we paid the rather heavy fee. The second carrier of the litter demanded a few extra pence, reminding us that at our first arrival he had brushed the dust from our dresses with a zeal which then appeared mysterious, but whose object was now clear.

Here she is on Venice:

Venice, which I seek to hold fast, is already a thing of yesterday.

Yes, that is Venice . ..

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