Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-29
GENEVA AND BERNE.
Old World Cities Pleasingly De-
scribed and Compared With
Towns in America.
SOMETHING TO SEE EVERYWHERE,
Rev. George Hodges Points Out How the
Hotels of Europe SurpaSs Those of
the United States.
A PARTY OF PITTSBURGERS ABROAD
whose Behavior Was Not Calculated to Impress
Foreigners Fsvurably.
SOMETHING TO SEE EVERYWHERE.
A PARTY OF PITTSBURGERS ABROAD
whoss Behavior Was not Calculated to Impress
Foreigners Fsyurably.
WRITTEN FOR THR D1sPATcH.1

Ine Oiu w Orlu mas Ine advantage ONeI tne
new, or else there would be no reason for all
this long journey. One does not set the sepa-
ration of 5000 miles of water between him
and his home for nothing. Something, OF
course, is undoubtedly askew in the judg-
ment OF the American traveller who can see
Europe and not grow every day more thank
tul that he lives in America; and that
patriotic congratulation ought to be am
phasized in the case OF one who has the
felicity to live in PIttsburg. And it is.
And vet that legendary Partisan is not al
together to be commended who, being per-
suaded TO visit Florence, returned after a
hasty glance, confirmed in his opinion that
for one who had the advantage OF residing
IN Paris it was waste time to look outside
her gates. There are some good things out
side OF Paris-perhaps enough to balance
the bad things which are inside OF Paris.
And even Pittsburg is not the world. There
Is good deal of country or this planet
which is not drained by the Allegheny and
the Monongahela rivers.
Some things are better over here. There
is wealth OF art here, for instance, which
as vet we can only envy. BY and by when
Ir. Carnegie'S fine plans are realized and
We have our great gallery, with Its annual
income of good pictures we, too, can boast
ourselves There is no reason why Pitts
burg should not be an American Munich
one Of these davs. Nobody passes Munich
by in making the grand tour; but the glory
o. the town is Just in its great art galleries.
And these are modern constructions and
collections, made possible by princely gifts
ofmonev. For even pictures can be bought
with money.
THE BEAUTIES OF MUNICH.
Munich is 4 very handsome city. The
streets are wide, and the buildiDgs-set
with their backs against the sidewalks-are
solid and stately And if you watch in the
right place, YOU may even have the supreme
satisfaction OF seeing real live king. But
nobody would stop II Munich if it were not
FOR the attraction of its pictures and statues.
The Glyptothek and the old and the new
PinakOthek make Munich famous.
The hotels are better over here The
pilgrim gets to be 4 connOiSSeur in the matter
of hotels. liable d'hote," which is prac-
ticallv unknown with us, is universal and
benefceHt institution on this side. Bed
rooms are made homelike by an entire ab-
Seuce of the conventional in the furniture.
You know before YOU open the door of YOUR
room in an American hotel just what you
will find there. You can almost predict the
figure of the carpet. The furniture looks as
iflt were made by machinery. But a con-
tinental hotel is like great private man
sion. The hotel aspect is hidden. There is
no ''office." That is unknown outside of
Paris. The halls have domestic and in
Yiting look. The rooms are pleasant, quiet
cham bers, set out with CHEEKY colors, and
teeling. And the attention which you get
gives YOU the sensation of being marquis
or a lord duke, without any OF the discom-
forts of those un-Amerlcan conditions The
hotel clerk, who overawes the guest at the
American hotel, is absent. The proprietor
meets you at the door with profound bow.
Beside him is that indispensable adjunct of
the continental hotel, the PORTER, who acts
rs interpreter in case YOU are unaequainted
with the language of the country. The
walters at the table are invariably bright,
courteous and good looking
YOUNG MEN IN DRESS COATS
who await your order as if you were Haroun
al Raschid himself While the head waiter
is a maternal looking, dignifed tunctionary,
whom you might readily mistake for the
Archbishop Of Canterbury, 1 have seen but
two noblemen in these lands of titles One
was a Neapolitau prince at the Hotel Ma
tional al Lucerne. They had a company of
Neapolitan singers to perform before His
EXcellency. They sang most atrociously,
their voices being ever louder than their
dresses, and the Prince, who clapped bis
hands in a feeble and perfunctory way after
each song, was looking very bored. The
other notable was the Marquis of Ripon,
who owns the magnificent estate o. Studley
Royal, upon which stands the majestic ruin
of Fountain Abiey-the finest and most
beautiful monastic ruin in the world. He
ana the good Marchioness were at the abbey
one rainy afternoon when | had the good
fortune to be there also. There was little
picnic going on-a school picnic Of poor
children with their teachers. Thev had
gathered in from the rain under the shelter
OF the old GOrmitory crypt where the old
monks used to walk. And the Marquis
had fiddler to play for the little ones to
dance. 1t was singularly graceful and at
tractive scene. The small children did not
appear to be in any great awe of the noble
Marquis. And the Marquis, who was
dressed in a tweed suit. with knickerbockers
and brown stockings, seemed a plain, pleas
ant and indeed jovial man. He was not
half so digniti d as the walters at the Hotel
de PEurope at Innsbruck.
Another advantage which these old lards
have over ours is in the interest which attaches
to the cities and In the picturesqueness of
the cities themselves. Wherever you go
there is something TO see. And every town
is different from every other town. The
American Town consists of some streets, of
stores (Which they call SHOPS" over here)
and a good many monotonous streets OF
dwelling houses, and a number of manu-
factories, and perhaps some little natural
beauty Of situation. But
THE EUROPEAN TOWN
possesses what Matthew Arnold called dis
tinctiOn. 1t has a long history. 1t pro-
vokes the Imagination. Its shop-windows
show wares which you have never seen
before. Its streets are pictureseuely twisted,
and its houses are of an architecture pc
culiarly their own. Every railway station
is the open door into a surprise. Travelling
in Europe may have its fatigues and its dis
comforts, but 1t is never monotonous. What |
difference, for example, between the two
Swiss towns Of Interlaken and Berne! They |
lie but few miles apart, and yet they are |
as unlike as poetry and prose, as Carlyle |
and Iennvson. Berne is the queerest old |
town that one could wish to see The first |
thing which you notice is the fountains. |
There is a fountain in Berne on almost |
every street. On one fountain is knight |
in armor; on another are the arms
of Switzerland; on another a big
stone bear. The most remarkable
fountain has upon it the statue of the ogre
who eats small children. The ogre is repre-.
sented in the act OF merrily devouring one
or two plump infants. He has bag bv his
side, out OF which peep the heads of sew
eral other unhaDpy bows and girls saved nm |
for supper. Men and horses drink in a
friendly way together at the fountains, and.
when ] saw the OGRE half dozen women
.-.ra LmaiLE nncuninL ,-ith thnir ..u.;I. |