The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-09-02
IN THE LAND OF THE CZAR.
Scenes and Incidents of Travel From
Private Letter.

Scenes and Incidents of Travel From
a Private Letter.
A lady resident in Raleigh has re-
ceived letter from friend in st. Pc
tersburg Russia, from which the follow
ing extract is permitted:
Hotel de France,
st. Petersburg, Russia,
August 10, 1898.
London was a delight; we had beauti-
full weather and to see all the places and
things that / have read about since
was child was charming. Westminster
Abbey was the most impressive place
that | have ever been in. We went to
service there in the afternoon and to hear
the amens sung by the choir was worth
the trip to Europe. From London we
had Il very pleasant journey to New
Castle. where we embarked for Bergen,
Norway / have always considered my
self an extremely good sailor, but
L succumbed to the North Sea. / had
twenty-six hours Of it, The captain took
shelter among the islands and we were
five hours late getting in.
In Norway from Bergen to North
Cape and back to Frandkjun. we We're
sixteen days on the water. You cannot
past description. the narrow deep fjords
and the marvellous rocky snow-clad noun
tains towering above us with tiny little
farms perched on their sides, We're ex-
quisite. We were extremely fortunate
in seeing the midnight sun, thing that
does not follow by any means. There
were people on the boat with us who had
been there three times and had not gotten
Il view of tilt is an extremely weird feel
ing to see it rs bright at twelve O'Clock
at night as it is at midday. The sun
slowly sinks to about Il foot above the
horizon and there it remains for about
an hour when it slowly begins the as
cent. just at twelve there are four guns
fred from the ship and to hear the echo
reyerberating among the mountains is
magnificent We fell quite i'll love with
the Norwegian people, they are so honest
and polite 1t is strange the amount of
English that is spoken among them.
English people are very fond of Norway
and 20 there great deal, which may
account for it.
Christiana we found quite an at
tractive little city, which seemed quite
large one to us after being so long
in the heart of the country.
Stockholm we enjoyed in many ways:
it is a delightful city and so beautifully
kept. There are exquisite parks with
handsome bronze statues. The city Is
built on islands but they are so large and
there are such handsome bridges that the
fact is not particularly noticeable except
to highten the beauty Of the place. | was
simply in love with Stockholm and some
day / certainly hope to go back.
We stopped a day at Helsingfors in
Finland, when we came TO Russia. 1t
is n very pretty town with fine cathe-
drals. 1t was raining quite hard so we
were somewhat hampered by that We
went back to the Uleoberg, our boat,
never supposing for a moment that it
would be anything but smooth sailing
to Petersburg. 1t did not take us long
to disabuse our minds, however. In the
Gulf of Finland we really encountered n
terrible gale. The ship fairly writhed
in agony and so did the passengers. The
CAPTAIN was forced to put back, the first
time he had done such a thing in years,
he said. We were twelve hours late in
getting into Petersburg so consequently
we have had to work hard to make mp
for the time that we lost. We passed the
fortresses of Cronstadt supposed 70
he the most wonderful defenses III the
world. 1t would be brave ileet that
would attempt to cross the terrlflc cross
fire which could be poured upon them.
1t was beautiful coming up the Neva
when we got the first glimpse of Feters-
burg. The sun was flashing upon hun
dred gold towers, piers and domes.
Petersburg is beautiful city and one
is more impressed by the lavish display
of wealth than anything else. The Iconds
or paintings of the Savior and different
saints are deliberately decorated with the
most exquisite jewels. At st. lsaacs
one of the most beautiful churches here
there are ten columns of maIachite and
two OF lapis lazuli, the latter is more
expensive than gold. Also the mosi
beautiful mosaics ! ever dreamed of
there are six and each one cost twent!
thousand dollars. Down at Peterhof tn
TIA r..I.so..o ond nL1a,o,