St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-10-18
The Tourjee European Excursion.
A PLEASANT JAUNT THROUGH THE OLD
WORLD.
Correspondence of the Caledonian.)

Correspondence of the Caledonian)
No. 4.
On leaving Scaffhausen we left
Switzerland altogether, and travelling
on the right bank of the Rhine in the
direction of Basel, entered Rhenish
Prussia. AT Little Basel, which lies on
the opposite bank OF the Rhine from the
old Swiss city of Basel, we were maGe
aware of the fact by being subjected tn
the custom house examination, which
i'll itself. was trivial affair and detain-
ed us scarcely longer than it took to
dump all the luggage from the train to
the customs Office lin the station) and
then back again. We reached Appen-
weir, 141 I-2 miles from Schaffhausen
about one o'clock. and then shifted off
on to a branch road in order to visit
Strassburg, some Is miles distant. Our
stay in Strassburg was not as long as |
could have wished, but it gave us time
to inspect the famous cathedral and
its celebrated astronomical clock, the
architects house and st. Thomas's
church. Some of the adventurous spirits
of the party also climbed the cathedral
spire which is 465 feet high-the most
lofty in the wOrld-aI adventure which
nearly caused them to lose the train.
From Strassburg we returned to APP
penweir, and then journeyed on to Ba-
den Baden, which is one of the most an
cient and most fashiOnableo of the German
watering places. The hanishing of the
gaming tables six years ago, caused Il
temporary check to the place the same
as at Wiesbaden and Homburg. but it
was check that was needed. The city
is now all the better for it and its So
ciety is more select than before. The
COnUersatiORShaus, where the gaming
tables formerly stood, is perfect palace
The IrinkhatLe, where the water from
the hot springs is drank in the morning,
and the bath houses, are also elegant
structures. The surroundings of Baden
Baden, which is on the border of the
Black Forest, are very beautiful. We
made long excursion mainly within
the confines of the forest, visiting both
the old castle of Hohenbaden and that
of Eberstein. The former is in ruins
and the latter has been restored by the
Grand Ducal family.
Heidelberg, about Sc miles from Ba-
dem Baden was our next halting place,
and here the chief point of attraction
was the famous old castle, which occu-
pies commanding situation above the
town and the River Neckar, and which
is called one of the grandest ruins in all
Germany. Wars and time, chiefly the
former, have wrought sad havoc with
what was once n magnificent palace.
On our way fIom Heidelberg to Wies-
baden, we stopped several hours at
Frankfort to view Dannecker's beauti-
ful group 'Ariadne on the Panther -
and the other objects of interest of this
rich and beautiful city. Here we saw
the old house in the Jewish quarter
where ROthschild, the banker, was born,
and where his mother persstently lived
until her death, the house where Goethe
lived, the cathedral, the house from
which Luther preached, the Romer
(where the ancient emperOrs were
chosen and feasted), the handsome mon
umcnts to Goethe, Schiller and Gutten-
berg, the Hessian monument, the Palm
Garden, and much more. Resuming
the cars we were an hour and twenty
minutes later landed in Wiesbaden, an
other of the great German spring re-
sorts. The waters here like those at
Badan-Baden are hot, and both the
TrinkhalIe and the bathing establish
ments 1--WE might add also the beer gar
dens) are largely patronized, the first
named invariably i'll the morning. The
Kursaal, with its adjoining gardens,
and the shops in the Colonades, are
very elegant. Near the town is very
beautiful Greek Chapel, erected by the
Duke OF Nassau as mausOleum for his
first wife, Russian Princess. The
Emperor of Germany has palace here
but it is not a very imposing building.
On leaving Wiesbaden we rode in
omnibuses to >Biebrich, where the Duke
of Nassau has Il much neglected palace,
and there took steamer for the journey
down the Rhine to Cologne. The trip
was most enjoyable one, as it took lis
over the most beautiful portion of this
romantic river, so bordered with old
castles and vine-clad hills, and so teem-
ing with legends and historic lore. l
will not attempt to describe the scenery
or even to give the names of the castles
seen in that delightful days journey,
although the subject is one ON which
could write much admiringly. In the
appearance of the river itself the stran-
ger is likely to he disappointed, for the
waters are muddy, and unromantic, but
the banks are lined with the grey relics
of the past, either reduced to crumbing
and tottering ruins, or bearing in fresh
restoration the signs of new life and
greatness, or else with picturesque and
teeming vineyards, so that the eye is
quickly carried to more charming scenes.
We reached Cologne late in the after
noon, but early enough to visit the
great Cathedral and its treasury of
relics, and also the quaint old church
of St. Ursula, where the bones of the
eleven thousand martyred virgins, or