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Jottings In Europe

Jottings In Europe image
Parent Issue
Day
24
Month
December
Year
1875
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Vienna, üct. 28th, 187.). In our last letter we bid "good-by" ,o Oopenhagen, and now resume our wanderings back to Hamburg for which, ity wa had return tickets. For coinjanions in our coupe we had two intelligent Danes, oue of whom was 1111 "Oibrd gradúate, and is uow a professor in ;he royal college at Roeskilde, about O milea froui Kjobenhavn, (as the Janes spell it), and of course Uis Eugish was good, as were his affabüity and good nature also. Our trip back was attended with no tnishap. The Balie was quite unrufllod, mach to our surjrise, for the wind had been most sug jestively strong in the city all the time we were there, and about 10 A. M. of Jctober 16 we were again at Hamburg. 11 weather, which to the traveler is mueh the same as ill luck, still followed us, and though it did not pour, it rained, and in consequonce of this we abandoned the intention of Btaying over here a day or two and proceaded at once to see what we could during ,he few hours at our disposal. Hainlurg, though lying so far up the Elbe, s reached by the largest steamerswhen the tide is in, and has become one of the most considerable oommercial cities of Surope, being also one of the chief joints from which euiigrants embark or the Statea. Dating from the time of Uharlemagne, and one of the first promoters of the famous Hanseatic league n the 13th century, its influence has always deen active and salutary. It now ïas a population of about 225,000, and s certainly a well built and good looking city. This is especially true of that jortion lying about the Binner Alster, a imall artificial lake, upon whose glassy 3osom a beautiful steamer of small size is constantly plying for the transport of passeugers. Here, as in so many other continental cities, the old fortifications, illy suited to their original purposes in our day, have been levelod and the wide cirouit of viluable space ;hus converted into delightful promenades. As some respite from the rain outside we spent an hour in the Kunsthalle, looking at the collections there of pictures, sculptures, and engravings, but found it scarcely worthy a city of so much wealth and antiquity. Some of the casta of celebrated antiques were excellent, but the value of the paintïngs was much diminished to the straner from the fact that upon the brass tablet conspicuously affixed to each and where the artist's name should have appeared, the name of the donor or present owner only, was iuscribed, with the exact date of the donation, etc. The Bourse afforded us an enjoyinent at the tiour of 2 p M., quite astonishing. Standing in the gallery of the immense hall we loolfed " upon perhaps 3,000 of the leading business men of all departments, each of them intent upon the discussion of matters seemingly of great moment, but noteven the smallest iutelligible word could we catch, all voices andconversation below was merged couipletely in one vast, intensified hum, reseoibling more than aught else, the pitiless pelting of some terrino storm upon a metallic roof overhead, or some colossal human bee hive. The finest church is that of St. Nicholas with its fine tower. The church of St. Michael also has a, tower of 432 feet in height, not quite so high as that of the former. Time did not permit us to visit the noted Botanie and Zoological garden. At 9 P. II. we took our seats for the long ride, as it turned out, direct to Vienna. Our tickets were good for a week, and as the route took us through Berlin and Dresden we had expected to stop off' a day or two at each, but the rainy, foggy, dismal, weather did not cease, and having pretty thoroughly seen these places in 1873 we passed them by, It was in the early morning when we left Berlin, and during the day we had a chance to review our acquaintance with the neat culture of Germán farm lands, and with the uniform courtesy of railroad officials, - once fonly during that long ride were we annoyed, and then partly by our own oversight in not insisting upon having seats in a non-smoking car ; but it was only for about an hour or two, when we were gratified to see the offenders alight and receive a kiss on both cheeks from the friends awaiting him, suoh is the usual greeting of warm friends of both sexes. As we reached Dresden we could not help thinking and speaking of the boys now at Leipsic, whom we would have gladly ly taken by the hand with the warm grasp of transatlantic ardor, but it was impossible. The railroad ride from Dresden for over sixty miles follows up the Elbe valley and affords a fine view of much of the picturesque scenery of Saxon Switzerland, and as we passed the Bastie, Koenigstein, Lillienstein, and other spots made familiar to us by our pedestrian tour two years ago, it revived with intense vividnese the pleasant memoirs of Italy in 1873. After passiug Tetschen the valley becomes much wider, and the signs of a more thriving husbandry were substituted for the inexhaustible quarries just passed, with their characteriatic zigzag paths, up which the laborers scale the steep ascents and the slippery narrow tracks, down which quarribd blocks are by their own gravity made to deposit themselves at the very side of the vessels on which they are to be laden. The Elbe valley for miles presented a landscape apparently oue half at least occupied by the endless succession of plum orchards, whichextended up the hilly slopes and expanded over the moie level portions in equal luxuriance ; every tree fairly groaning uuder its purple burthen, though artfully sustained by props and rope supports innumerable Of course the markets and street corners of every city and village afford ampie corroboration of this iuexhaustible profusión, and in eonsequence we are regaling ourselves daily upon the plums grapes, and roasted chestnuts of the land. The yellow and light autumn tints of the deciduous trees as they displayed their topmost foliage from the dense mass of firs which covered the steeper hillsides, singularly beautiful looked in the distance like a boundless expanse of rich tapestry or mosaic. Yet the effect was neither so varied nor pleasing and gorgeous as the brillian hues and aflame oolors of our own American forests. The . Elbe above Dresden is navigated by no river eraf of any size ; the small passenger steaniers ply upward as far as Radnitz but the rafts of tiraber being floatet down are always visible, and the quantity thus transported from the vast forests oí' Bohemia and the more distan sources of this river must b enormously large. The valley and hillsides near Liitmeritz and vicinity are extensively devoted to grape culture and produce very choice wine. This is about hal way bet ween Dresden and Prague. The Mittlegrund route which we had taken taken leaves the latter city some distance at our right, and thfere was no particularly striking features along the remaining portion of the roai till we came in sight of the distant hills along the Danube, and approached Vienna Ou our right rose Klosternenberg, Kahlenberg, Leopoldberg, with their aammits crowned with church, chateau as monasttiry, to be perhaps the tempting incentive to excursión after arriving a the Austrian Capital, which we reachec at 8 A. M. Our huut for lodgings was pursued undor difficulties. It seems to be a custom here to rent rooms by the quarter, from Nov. lBt or 15th, anc not for a shortcr period unless to ingle gentlemen, for whose acconimodatiou the provisión would appear to be ampie, and a direot encouragement o the ooii tin uanco of au unnatural solitariness. We sucoeeded, ïowover, to our porfeot satisfaction at a Iotel Garin, not two hundred feet frora tho crowded and fashionable Kingstrasse, and yet quito tree trom its noisy disturbance at night, and before dusk we were installed and at home for a month sbould we choose to remain so long, in a suite of three convenient rooms, well furnished, and the most ootnfortable of ieds, for an equivlent of fifty dollars. And now what about the famous city, ;he Paris of Middle liurope, twioe in ;he pousossion of Napoleon I., after the 'urious fiiilit at Austerlitz, in 1805, and that of Wagrain in 1809 ; under Charlemagne in the 8th eentury ; under the itomans in the time of Marcus Aurelius who is said to have died hero, and always playing au important but seldotn supreme part in continental history P Lts population is about 700,000, of which only botween 50 and 60,000 are in tho old city proper, showing at once the s;reat preponderance of the newer portions over the old, and the most impressive and beautiful portion of the whole, is upon either side and along the Kingsi rasse, a spacious street 70 feet wide and with equally commodious sidewalka, which, connecting with the Quaistrasse, enciroles the older and central portion of the oity, following the co urse of the old fortifications, demolished in 1858. The street cars-3tel-wagon8, and cabs that constantly run along this circuit and branch off in the older and newer portions, at an aveeage fare of five cents (except in cabs), make it easy to reaoh every desirable point. But what crooked streets, and passages through courts, inveigle the new corner into their labyrinths. Austria is one of the strongholds of Catholicism, only 25,000 of Protestants, Jews and Groeks belonging to a different faith, out of over half a million. Thnre is also a palpable exhibition upon the streets, in the oafes, and indeed everywhere, of the presence in the city of a vast military force in addition to the arrny of policemeu almost equally omnipresent. Araong the first general inipressions we have received is that the male population of this great city live in the cafes and restaurants. It seems as if a porson might be set down in any street of any quarter and without moving he could see from one to half a dozen of these mauifestly indispensable conveniences. At the hotels no one íb expected to take his meals there, but generally in the restaurant attached or elsewhere. If a person wishes to meet a f riend or even to spend the evaning the appointment is made at sonie desiguated cafe, where after taking seats at one of the dozens of small marble topped tables, and calling cpffee and buns, or cigars and the day's papers, one can remain chatting, reading, or looking on for the entire evening, nor is the proprietor offended - custom has made it proper. Another universal practico prevails as we have learned, which exercises a genial restraint upon the temptation to keep late hours in his singular phase of social life. It is this : At ten o'clook all outer or street doors are closed, and to obtaiu admittance after that hour the porter is entitled by general assent to a fee of about five cents (ten kreutzers), and to avoid this inevitable tax without an equivalent, cafes and streets are almost -completely deserted, except by the concert and theater going people who oannot avoid the penalty. Since our landing at Glasgow on the 6th of this month, we have had but two really sunshiny dayB, and with those exceptions havo scarcely seen the sun at all, yet it has but seldom rained hard, but rather a sort of dismal, soaky, damp, and drizzly weather, has covered the earth with its pall. Of speoial objects of interest here we have visited several, some of which we shall see again in order to correct the confusión that the first visit to a large collection is apt to have. Fortunately we had a good day for our visit to Schoubrunn, one of the many royal palaces and parks. It was completed by Maria Theresa in 1775, by whom indeed so muoh has been done to develop the empire and to make Austria worthy of respect that almost any other half dozen worthies could be spared from its annals with less loss than her single name. The chateau itself is quite extensive, extending about the three sides of a spacious court, of the late Italian style, with but little exterior ornamentation, and of the almost universal cream color prevailing here. It is situated at the base of an encircling amphitheatre of hills, between which and the palace are spread out the extensive gardens, laid out after the French style, in a series of wide and narrow, long avenues, bordered by hedges and trees trimmed upon the sidea f acing the avenues, so that not a twig or leaf projected six inches within a mathematically straight line, the tops being also cropped to au absolutely uniform height. Most of these avenues, half a mile in length, were covered with trees a foot in diameter and forty feet high, trimmed with shears in this manner. This is the so-called French style, and while there is something quite beautiful and impressive in a single avenue of this kind, yet it becomes oppressively stiff, formal and precise, when made to prevail over the ever graceful aisles formed by the natural interlacing of branches overhead. Upon the hill slopes and beyond, the grand forest trees were not thus put in straight jackets and were delightfully rural. The Glorietta, an extensive and lofty collonade, partly open and in part enclosed, forms an imposing feature upon the summit of the hill direotly in the rear of the palace. It was erected by the great empress as a sort of Triumphal Arch upon an immense scale, though not cominemorative of any special event so far as the inscriptions inform us. The view from its top commands a wide extent, embracing the city. Of the artificial ruins, Obelisk and " Beautiful Spring," after which the chateau is named we have no special words of praise. But this letter is long enough. Yours truly, J. M.W. The trial of Gen. Babcock at St. Louis, has been set down for January llth, 1876, in the United States Court. " Crooked whisky." The publisher of the Detroit JCvening New has been held for trial on the criminal prosecution for libel, brought by Judge Keilly. " Jordán is a hard road to travel," for the sensational journalist.

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Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus