Old buildings

This is an outdoor picture of the pub we visited a month ago. I love old buildings, whether they are pubs like this one, churches, houses (like the Victorian house I was sharing in Liverpool), or simply new businesses in an ancient place. I thought about it yesterday when I was walking around, that this is something I really appreciate about Europe in general and England in particular: they have plenty of old places, old buildings, old architecture, wherever you are. In America, you don't have that feeling of walking with history just by looking at the architecture around you. A century old house is almost an antiquity and often out of price, or it is crumbling and about to be demolished. Architectural patrimony is a relatively new concept to the new world, while in the old one it is integrated in the psyche. This is the feeling I had when I walked around anyway.

I guess this wide eyed, naïve attitude I have towards European architecture betrays my status of outsider. And since I know nothing about architecture and its history, these observations are the ones of a complete amateur, most likely full of clichés and false perceptions. When I go back to Québec and spend time in Montreal and Quebec City, I will look around for old buildings (might be easier in Quebec City), see if I am more perceptiver to their presence.