River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1899-08-31
From Over the Sea.

a repetition of the same courtesy Mrs.
Pomeroy gives us permission to make
the following excerpts from recent
letter to her by Mrs. Brier:
BERNIE, SWITZERLAND, Aug. 0, 1899.
Ny Dear Mrs Ponlerog-I intended
to write you from Paris but we reach
that point so late in our journey
that YOU would scarcely get the letter
before my arrival home and then, too,
am SO delighted with this country
and its truly grand scenery that ]
want to tell you about 1t. / cannot
60 much into detail for l have found
that instead of atime and tide not
waiting for a man 1t should be that
boats and trains won't wait for q
woman-not very long anyhow.
will begin back as far as Cologne,
which we reached July 3lst, and
whose chief attraction is the Cathe-
dral. saw the Cathedrals of Carlisle,
York, Durham, Westminster and
Canterbury butin my opinion Cologne
Cathedral surpasses them all in the
most points. It's towers are the tall
est in the world, being 5l2 1T. high.
We assembled one of them over 500
steps where we had fine view Of the
architectural work on the CHI urch and
view of the city and the surround
| ing country. It is said that the
church contains the golden shrine
| which encloses the bones of the Magi.
The next day, Aug. lst, was spent
In the River Rhine from Cologne to
Bingen. The Germans are proud of
their River and its scenery aud justly
so. had read a great deal about the
beauties Of the Rhine and / was not
| disappointed. or course the legends
with which we are all familiar give it
an added charm. We arrived at
Bingen about seven in the evening
and went to hotel from which we
could see away up and down the river,
and directly opposite the mountain
slopes were covered with vineyards.
Leaving Bingen Aug 3rd we moved
forward to heidelberg and in the
afternoon visited its castle and Uni
versity. 1t is so beautiful In and
about Heidelberg that we were tempt.
ed to linger more than the time we
had planned for that place, but we
had to go on after only about one day
there. Tell Mrs. Winter and her
father how much | was charmed with
the lovely Rhine valley and that
| thought Of them.
We left Heidelberg for Lucerne
and in the afternoon sighted the Alps
lying calm and beautiful, their sum
| mits glistening in snow. At -four
O'Clock, Aug. 3, we were at Lucerne
| Switzerland, which is beautiful be
yond my description; everything tC
make it so-mountains, lakes, rivers
"a town we'll built and clean.
Friday morning, Aug. 4th, was
| lovely and clear, and we started out tC
make the ascent of Mt. Rigl-by boat
to Visnan and then by cog-wheel roac
up to the top of the mountain. The
Kuhn, or summit, is bare space from
which the eye may sweep over the
whole panorama, 300 miles In circuit:
to the east, south and west 100 miles
of Alpine peaks clad in snow; to the
north, directly beneath US, fields anC
farms, rivers and lakes, cottages an6
| villages. We looked down upon them
from 5000 feet.
While at Lucerne we visited the
giotto where Thorwaldsen's lion has
reposed for IS years. Lucerne is mem
orable for its associations with the
heroic legends of William Tell. We
saw one Of his chapels.
BY boat to Alpnach, thence by rail
over the mountains on cog road
down into the valley of the Aare and
to Meringen by seven in the evening
The next day, Sunday Aug. 9th, was
my birthday Mr.. Brier and took a
4 walk up the gorge of the Aare, in all,
about six miles. The river has worn
| itself down into the solid rock about
| 400 ft.--in some places 600 TT. This
wild and rocky gorge has been made
accessible by means Of an iron gallery
so we walked for mile and quarter
Just few feet above the river and
with the rocks far above our heads,
sometimes they nearly come together,
shutting out almost all the sunlight.
Leaving Meringen we went on to
Interlaken-a tourist-haunted place.
| 1t is lovely place and located as its
name implies between two lakes.
Aug. 18th. l will skip over day or
| two for we go almost too fast for me
to keep up in the writing. / began
this letter at Berne, the capital of the
United Cantons of Switzerland and
now am at Martigny and just about
to start on a coaching trip of ten
hours through the heart Of the Alps.
It will be delightful, | know, every
thing has been--no drawback any
where-even the weather has been
favorable except now and then gen.
tie rain for which | m prepared.
We expect to spend few days at
Geneva, and week at Paris, from
thence to Liverpool, and sail on the
10Th of August on the Campania for
America-"Sweet land Of Liberty"
All these sights and experiences
have been a great pleasure to me but
I am sure that nothing can be more
enjoyable than the home-going.
We did not see Consuella when we
were at Blenheim but were shown all
her best rooms and though they are so
large and grand she has made them
home-like, or the presence of her be-
longings there makes it seem home
like. She has two little boys and we
saw their playthings around in one
room also the beautiful crib which
was presented to the young marquis
by Mrs. Vanderbilt. Then there are
photographs of Consuella or the Ouch
ess and her two younger children.
Also an elegant life-size painting Of
her-she Is beautiful. None Of her
pictures we see in the papers half do