Arrival in Paris: Our Hotel—“Hotel Londres and New York”: Visit to the Louvre: The Cathedral of Notre Dame: The Church of St. Geniveve: The Pantheon: Bloody Bartholomew: Its awful massacre. Our stay in Rouen was of the briefest, so we were soon full steam ahead for Paris, and Rouen was left behind.  We crossed some wonderful bridges of the rivers, or river; I think we crossed the Seine several times. On approaching the suburbs of Paris, we saw large villas and larger mansions, surrounded with lu

Paris: Palace de Concorde: Champs Elysees: The Bois de Boulogne: The extensive Boulevards: The River Seine, etc.: Leaving Paris: Arrive at Dijon: Our Hotel: Dijon, its Churches, etc.: Our journey to Chambery, etc. The Place de la Concorde.  Here we were pointed out was a place where a terrible struggle took place between the Germans and the French in 1871.  The work of devastation and ruin was only too apparent.  We drove to the Champs Elysees.  This is a most lovely place, with a broad avenue a

Our journey to and through Mont Cenis Tunnel: Passing the Customs: Our new friend Nurse Reynolds: Our scrimmage for provisions at Turin: Arrival at Genoa and Table-de-hote: Arrival at Rome and our Hotel, etc. Mountains, rivers, waterfalls, landscapes, vineyards, castles, chalets, and in some cases, so near the villages, we saw children playing on the village green, our train steaming on at a good speed, we soon found ourselves at Modane.  This is the frontier between France and Italy, and here I

Visit to the Forum and the Colosseum: Crossing the Tiber: Castle of St. Angelo: Palace of Justice: Trajan’s Column: Garibaldi’s Monument: The Appian Way: St. Peter’s: Its magnitude and magnificence: Michael Angelo’s work. Christian martyrs in the Colosseum, Rome Our first visit was to the Colosseum.  Among the many sights of Rome none give us a better idea of its ancient civilisation than the Forum and the Colosseum.  The heart of the great Roman Empire throbbed in the Forum.  Here was, at one t

Rome continued: St. Peter’s building: St. Peter’s Statue: St. Peter’s resting place: The vast Columns, Pictures, Fonts, Confessionals, etc.: The Vatican: The Professional Letter Writer: The Arch of Titus: Statue of Nero, etc. This decision, however, he never carried out, but in the year 1506, Julian II. laid the foundation of this vast church we are now about to enter.  The first architect died while the work was in its early stages.  Then Raphael, with two other architects, were appointed, and

The Church of the Trinity: St. Maria: Church of Onesemus: The Grand Corso: The British and Foreign Bible Society: Outside view of the Quirinal: Nero’s House: Leaving Rome: Scene at a wayside station: Arrival at Florence: Visit to the Cathedral. The wonderful Church called the Church of the Trinity, up a very broad staircase of some 330 steps; then a very fine piazza or square, and an obelisk, at the top of which they say is a piece of the cross on which St. Peter suffered martyrdom.  In this squ

Florence: Michael Angelo’s House: Baptistry of St. John: The Uffizi Gallery: The Tribune: A drive to the suburbs: Dante’s House: Dante’s Poems: The Gardens: Mrs. Browning’s description of Vallambrosa: Michael Angelo’s work: Galileo, his trial, etc. As we had little time for visiting other places of interest, the day being now far advanced, we determined to give our minds and bodies a rest.  So we entered a cafe for refreshment, we found them exceedingly clean and most obliging; we took what refr

Appalling catastrophe in Italy: Messina: Savonarola, the enthusiastic preacher: His defiance of the Pope: His excommunication: His cell, etc.: His martyrdom: Raphael, his genius as a painter: Some of his works: The old Protestant Cemetery: Our leaving Florence: Journey to Bologna and on to Venice. While I am here writing of the beauties of Italy, its fertile plains, its sunny skies, its lovely lakes, its great works of art and its still greater artists, a newsboy is calling out in the streets: “

Arrival at Venice: The ubiquitous Gondola: The Grand Canal: The curious water ways: Our Hotel: A snap shot of a Gondola and its freight: St. Mark’s Cathedral: Its curious history: Its wonderful Tower, and its interior adornments. I think it was the most thrilling moment of our tour, as our train left Mestra, and almost immediately we began crossing the long bridge (two-and-a-half miles long) which crosses the lagoon, we seem to be travelling right into the sea, the gentle ripple of the watery wa

The Pigeons in St. Mark’s Square: Further description of the interior: The Palace of the Doges: “The Bridge of Sighs”: The general Archives of Venice: The Church of Santa Maria dei Frari: London Polytechnic Party: Some of the slums of Venice: Our farewell. In the Piazza of St. Mark’s there may be seen, almost any time, some hundreds of pigeons.  They are very tame, we passed them so closely I think we could have picked them up in our arms.  There is an old legend that these pigeons are the safet

Arrival in Milan: Our visit to the Cathedral: Its Spires, and Turrets: Its Stained Glass Windows, Altars, Pictures, and Sculpture: The Church of St. Ambrogio: The Bera Picture Gallery: The Hospital: Leaving Milan: Arrival at Como: Lake Como. As we steamed out of this dear old city, a palace of dreams, we looked back with a lingering desire to know her better.  Across the lagoons we were soon out of waterways and amongst the mountains of Italy; scenery lovely, bewitching, enchanting.  With a cert

Lugano: The river Tessin and its bridge of ten arches: Bellinzono: Entrance to the great St. Gothard Tunnel: Andermatt Station: St. Bernard’s Hospice: The Devil’s Bridge: The Wood Cutter at Work: William Tell’s Chapel: His story: Entrance to Lucerne: Our Hotel: Our visit to the mountain top of Sonnenberg, etc. Our stay at Lugano was only for a few minutes, it looks very much like the town of Buxton, in Derbyshire, “Peakland.”  The houses are built of stone, the streets are white and clean lookin

The glacier gardens: The Lion of Lucerne: The glacier mill holes: The museum: The Bridge over the Reuss: The Cathedral: Pilatus Mountain: Leaving Lucerne: Zurich: Lake of Zurich: Zwingli, the reformer. As we entered the Glacier Gardens our eyes were at once drawn to this massive and very interesting and pathetic piece of sculpture, “The Lion of Lucerne.”  The smooth face of this quarry is about fifty feet high, and it looks to be about as wide, it is overshadowed by some very nice trees and clim

From Zurich to Basle: Arrival in Basle: Our Hotel: Our visit to the Rhine Bridge: “The Watch on the Rhine”: The Market: The Cathedral and its sculpture, etc.: Erasmus: The Museum: The Zoological gardens: Leaving Basle: Arrival at Belfort: Belfort besieged. As we journeyed from Zurich, we felt we were leaving behind us sights we might never see again.  A certain poet’s words came to my memory: “Beautiful world, Though bigots condemn thee: My tongue finds no words For the graces that gem thee! Bea

At Marseilles: Our Hotel; Meeting Mr. and Mrs. Green and Mrs. Martin: The sights of the City: The Cathedral, etc.: En route for Mentone: Toulon: Passing Nice: Cannes: Arrival at Mentone: Our Hotel: Meeting Mr. and Miss Brown: The scenery, etc.: Visit to Monte Carlo. Our visit to Marseilles was made in the earlier part of the year, also to the Riviera.  On reaching Marseilles after a long and tedious journey, we proceeded to the “Grand Hotel du Louvre et Paix,” that we had previously arranged sho

Monte Carlo: Its Casino and gardens: Leave taking at Mentone of Mr. and Miss Brown: Arrival at Cannes: Meeting Mr. and Mrs. Green: Cannes, its scenery, etc.: Visit to Grasse: Journey to Paris: London: Home, Sweet Home. It seems as if Nature had lavished her richest treasures on Monte Carlo.  Its terraces covered with palms; its orange groves and oliveyards; its massive hotels of marble; its azure sky and ever blue Mediterranean sparkling at its foot.  Then there is the Casino, “the gambling hell