The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1900-09-04
Letter From Switzerland.
ZURICH, August I'd, 1900.

ZURICH, August I'd, 1900
DEAR WALTER:-We arrived at
Geneva at ten o'clock Thursday morn
ing. after tiresome ride from Paris
The sleeper rates from Paris to Geneva
are only forty-six francs (S9. 2O) for each
person The ride through Switzerland
was grand have heard much of the
beautiful Swiss scenery, but "the half
has never been told" The beautiful
valleys, with farms like flower gardens,
surrounded by numbers of mountains,
the distant ones with snow
capped peaks, certainly makes a scene
hard for pen to describe.
At p. m we boarded pretty little
steamer on Lake Geneva for Ouchy and
Lausanne and were thoroughly carried
away with the forty-fve mile ride on
the beautiful lake. On each side were
thousands of acres of grapes, reaching
from the waters edge away up the sides
of the Alps mountains. The water of
the lake seemed a deep indigo blue and
yet we could see hundreds of little fishes
many feet below the surface.
Friday we visited the Castle of Chillon,
built in the thirteenth century. Here
we saw the pillar with the ring to which
Bonivard was chained for four years by
the Duke of Savoy. The solid rock was
worn deep down by the four years tread
of Bonivard around the pillar, with
nothing in sight except the walls Of the
cell and glimpse of the sky through a
small aperture in the stone wall. Here
also is laid the scene of Byron's great
poem "The Prisoner of Chillon and on
one of the stone pillars is Lord Byrons
name carved by himself. Here, too, we
saw the stone bed on which the con-
demned spent their last night, and in
the adjoining cell was the gibbet and
the door through the wall that the bodies
were cast into the lake. On our return
trip we witnessed an interesting little
boat race in which the "Stars and
Stripes" finished in front, with France
and Switzerland following. At table
d'hote dinner at Hotel du.Grand POnt we
enjoyed some fine Swiss Strawberries.
The 29th we spent in Berne, where we
saw the famous fountains, the much
talked Of bear pits, clock, aud wonderful
stone arch bridges. Walked about 2 SOC
feet up the Gurtenkulm and the view en-
route was we'll worth the climb, extend,
ing as it did far over the city and over
hundreds of farms, with women in the
harvest fields, to snow capped peaks OF
mountains beyond. Here, too, we saw
our first real Swiss cottages, where the
man and his frau, with all the little
Swiss, the horse, the COW, goat and the
dog all live under one roof After the
climb we were glad to take the cable
car down
At2:40 D. m. we took the train fol-
Thun, with two engines hauling fit en-
coaches. We found the OwlsS rallToaus
superior to those in England and France
The roads, too, are fine for cycling. The
farming seems to be all done by hand
and have not seen a single machine IL
the harvest field. Interlaken we found
to be picturesque little city, lying be-
tween the lakes, as its name indicates
1t is mostly hotels. and from our win
d wv at the Overland we got our frs
view of the Jungfrau We had glimpse
of Mt Blanc from Geneva. At the Ker
saal Saturday night we heard some fine
music. including singing by four Ken
lucky negroes, and saw display o.
fire works. Here, too, we also saw
gambling parlors almost equaling Monte
Carlo, with men and women, all full
of the greed of grain, but generally
leaving their francs in the gambling
den.
On the Goth we assembled the famous
Jungfrau. What engineering to built