Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-08-07
Correspondence of the Herald.l
Jottings of European Travel.

ANTWERP, BELGIUM, July IA, 1873.
Dear Herald - Leaving Geneva,
whence dated my last letter, my route
lead me through the most fertile, but by
no means the most grand, portion of
Switzerland, to Basel, (Bale), the north
ern gateway out of the Alpine region,
arriving at .. M, and, must say, that
of all places have yet seen, Basel is the
least interesting, and it was with feel
| ing of sweet relief that / took the early
train on the morning of the 9Th, for Ba-
den-Baden, where I spent a few very
pleasant hours in roaming through love
" gardens, fragrant with the perfume
of ten thousand times ten thousand flow
ers, along shady avenues and broad
promenades, and lounging for moment
in sequestered arbors hid beneath festoons
of woodbines and ivy.
Baden Baden is the Saratoga of the
European world, but superior to Saratoga
in everything that ministers to love of
the pure and beautiful in nature and art
The 'conversationhaus" gambling hous-
esq, as such was suppressed in 1872, but
is still the favorite resort of thousands
of the sons and daughters of wealth who
come to drink the health-giving waters,
to sip the sparkling Rhinish wines, and
to be delighted with the grandest strains
of ochestral music.
Leaving this paradise of the sensual
pleasure-seeker, | passed through Carls-
ruhe, the capital of the Grand Duchy of
Baden, which is built in the form of an
open fan, the Ducal palace being the
central point, from which all the streets
radiate right and left. Here l saw the
''Stars and Stripes" floating from the
flagstaff of a circus, and to which paid
loyal obeisence Ito the flag, not the cir
GUS We arrived in Heidelberg late in the
evening, and | was obliged to wait until
early next morning for view of the
world renowned, ivy-clad ruined castle,
and brief survey of this University
town. Leaving by train, passed through
fertile, but otherwise flat and uninterest-
ing sections of Germany to Mayence, on
the Rhine. Here | spent the time at
my disposal in visiting the churches and
monuments erected to commemorate the
deeds of great men, prominent amongst
which is the noble bronze statue of Gut
enberg, the inventor of letter-press print
ing, who, as is claimed, completed his
invention here. There is also splendid
bronze statue of Schiller The cathedral
is very peculiar structure, rich in mon
uments, and dating from 978. From
this point tourists take the steamboats,
down the Rhine; and surely | shall
never forget the full cup of
poetry and romance which | so
| greediIy drank even to the very. dregs on
the 10th of July; for the Rhine, which,
from its source to Mayence is. void of
interest, save at the falls of Schaffhausen,
! suddenly changes to one of great beauty
and rich in romantic historic interest, and
every moment reveals some new feature
which calls forth the admiration of the
tourist; yet aside from these castellated
hills the Rhine is certainly inferior to
orr olon noble Hudson.
We reached Colognea at 5o'clock p. M,
and I lost no time in visiting its wonder
full cathedral, built in the pure gothic
style of architecture, which is 511. feet
by 231 feet. floor measure; the roof
above the nave is 100 feet, and that
above the aisles so feet high.
The hight to the ridge of the roof is $50
feet, and the two towers on the west
front when finished will be more than
500 feet from the pavement; or in other
words higher than the Congregational,
Episcopal, and Baptist spires of Rutland
combined. These towers are construct
ed of soft sandstone, wrought into the
most delicate tracery peculiar to the
gothic style, and laid with the most ex-
act mathematical precision. This great
work was commenced in 1248, and is
still unfinished; there are at present 200
men employed on the towers, and 300,-
900 thalers in the treasury towards its
completion.
Cologne is not very pleasant city;
the sanitary arrangements are very bad,
and the open sewers send forth offensive
smells, and the beer drinking and social
habits of the people contribute to the
stencil, so that I am sure that if Ameri-
can ladies could share my experience
they would hesitate before using the
sweet waters said to come from such an
unclean source, for it would take all the
scented water that Cologne has ever
made and exported to make that city
smell sweet. ~. ..-
From Cologne to Brussels is pleasant
though not remarkable journey of six
hours. We reached Brussels, the CAPT
tai of Belgium, on Friday, the 18th inst,
and was delighted with everything in
and about this fine, clean and gay CITY:
indeed it is difficult to realize that YOU
are not in Paris. The kings palace, the
ducal palace, the parliament houses, the
cathedrals, the statues and colonades, the
parks, botanic and geological gardens, the
boulevards, squares and rues are all very
very fine; the streets (rues) are all well
paved, the sidewalks excellent, the SAM
tary system perfect, and public enter
prise wide awake; intelligenceis stamped
on everybody and everything; here you
find noble men, beautiful women, and
boys and girls that would compete sharp
Il Iy with our aikee youth Dut mixed up
with all this splendor, intelligence and
progress, saw aoomen- yoked in the
same cart with dogs man and woman
yoked together and drawing load suf-
ficiently large for Rutland job wagon.
The most costly silks and Mechlin lace
were brought in sharp contact with the
most unseemly wooden clogs. I could
eheerfully spend life time in Brussels.
and which left with regret on Saturday
evening for this ancient and quaint
Flemish city of high gables, crooked
streets and fine churches. Here I spent
a quiet Sabbath, visiting the churches,
and looking upon the greatest works of
Rubens and Van Dyck. Antwerp was
the home, and contains the grave of
Rubens, the greatest of all Flemish
painters but ''though dead, he still
] lives in his numerous and immortal