The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-11-24
TRAVELS ABROAD.
Director John A. Walker Writes
Of His Third European
Trip.

AAkg
Mr.. John A. Walker. ydce-president of
the Dixon. Crucible Company, has written
a delight. letter about his third Euro
pean trip taken last summer, and during
which he visited six countries-England
Holland. Belgium, Germany, Switzerland
and France-and spent some time in sew
enteen cities of renown, spreading out his
baggage seven times before seven differ
ent customs authorities. The money ex-
pense Of the trip was not unreasonable,
but the fourteen days grudged on the ship
cost nearly as much as the twenty-four
days spent on land. The railways on the
average are much less comfortable than
the same grade of an American railway.
The little coaches are a distress. The con-
ductor cannot be seen except at a stop
station, and then he Is fully occupied
with other business. Each railway train
entering London, for instance, makes a
full stop somewhere between one n two
miles outside of the city for the sole and
only purpose Of enabling the conductor
to go through the coaches and collect the
tickets. Drinking water is not easily ac-
cessible, and toilet conveniences are few
and far between. High extra prices of
course buy everything that one wants,
but 7 am comparing the average CORE
spending systems of America and other
countries.
Excluding large hotels in the cities, both
at home and abroad, the tourist hotels
OF Europe are much the more comfort
able. Comparing the summer hotels in
the White Mountains and the Catskills,
for instance, which similar ones in Switz-
erland and Germany, the advantage is
largely with the European hotels, the
table has a greater variety, the cooking
Is better, and the service. as far as wait
ers are concerned, infinitely better. /
spent a day or two in London, which
had all of its old charm. Piccadilly, the
Strand, Fleet street, Ludgate Hill, with
their never ending crowds and their in
Vulnerable hansoms and omnibuses, are
a perennial delight.
l crossed the North Sea in a nights
sail via Harwich, arriving in the morn
ing at Antwerp. 1t was Corpus Christi
sunday, and the attendants at the vari-
themselves into the gaily decorated
streets. The cathedral at Antwerp con-
tains Rubens' masterpiece, The Descent
from the Cross.
Amsterdam interested me more than
either Brussels or Antwerp. I approached
II through the windmill district, and, as
it We're, dropped into a new world. The
language changed, the signs were all new
and inexplicable. Every name Is a tumble
OF co~nsonants, ] and K being favorite
and appearing in unpronounceable juxta-
position on almost every sign
The trip grew and grew in interest, and
cuiminated one lovely June evening al
Goescheunen where our party turned to
cross the Swiss Alps by the Furka Pass,
Goescheunen is simply a mountain raiI-
q station and a cluster of tourist hotels
Fourteen hours distant by coach through
TIE snow and over the sometime perilous
pass-which at the top Is 5000 feet high
lay another similar cluster of hotels. this
little Swiss village of Breig. This was
our objective point.
We climbed by long zigzags the Ions
stretches, while the view-everywhere ex-
traordinary-grew in solemn grandeur
The valley was now invisible, the streams
and lakes were far out of sight, the ser.
pentine roads even had disappeared over
/ the saddle of the pass; before us were bill
lows on bnlows-countlesS billows-oi
snow-capped peaks, partially disclosed by
the dissoiving of the angry clouds. The
whole scene was fierce, masculine, threat
ening and weird to the very extreme.
Midway appeared the apparition of the
Rhone glacter-the finert glacier view il
Europe In many places the road was
cut through fifteen feet of snow, in other
1t wound around the shoulder of the peaks
skirting the precipice, where the broad
wheels ran only two or three inches from
the edge, where in places there was an
almost sheer descent of 1000 feet. Beine
the first coach over for the season and
for nearly eighteen months, our comine
was an event, and the occasion at many
stopping places an ovation. When the
driver reached Breig he wos a good sub.
1ect for a temperance lecturer. The Rig
was approached via Zurich and over the
zuger Zee to Arth, then Arth Goldau and
from thence by railway up Rig which is
the scenic spot of Switzerland, of Europe
The Bernese Oberland IS in full view
Here are 100 miles of snow-capped noun
tain, including the Jungfrau. Finster-Aar-
horn, Monch Efger, Weisshorn, Wetter.
horn, all glorified in dazzling whiteness
We had a perfect sunset view, and one
equally perfect at sunrise.
The next day we spent on Lake Iu-
zerne. The blue green water and the
surrounding snow mountains max this
the most notable lake I saw.
Another day found the party at Ter
matt, but in the clouds. Here there was
a serious disappointment, as this vicinity
is ~unrivaled for views.
Another impulse took me to Baden.
Baden, While yet another drew me tC
Heidelberg and the Black Forest. Tht
railway ride through the forest is the
best railway ride of my life.
Heidelberg is a place where one should
stay. Its position Is simply lovely. and
its old. old interest is fascinating.
visited its notable castle, a perfectly glo-
rious old ruin, and high up on the hill
where h valley of the Neckar is seer
| to perfection.
A day at Lausanne with a peek inside
| of Chillon Castle, another at Geneva anf
a day at their great exposition n &
long, tedious ride over the worst railway
known in civilized country, by the Paris
and Geneva express, and. / was in the
| capital of France. In 1894 / saw every.
| thing in Paris, but with a tinge of dis.
| appointment. This time Paris Jumped
exactly to our humor.'
The gay streets, the big stores, the gal
| leries, the promenades, the outdoor life
the Bots de Boulogne, all glowed with &
| peculiar welcome, and then London again
~" araare SO for savan 49, 800 49,