Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1906-08-29

examination was more a matter OF form,
however, than anything else, the officer
just looked in one corner of my suit case
and ran his hand around the edge and
then marked on it with chalk. After
that we had TO go ont TO our train by
different door We reached Cologne early
IN the afternoon and all went directly 20
the Belgischer Hof hotel, where we
washed and then went to the cathedral.
The Cook S man met me there and ! saw
to my tickets the first thing. They were
by little different route than we had ex-
pected on account Of some changes in
trains, etc, and the rest of the party Sc
cured their tickets by the same route as
mine
cannot describe the cathedral, it is be-
yond my vocabulary, but Of course il was
the most magnificent thing Of the kind I
ever saw. Such splendid carvings win
dows and paintings, and SO many things
hundreds of years old. For small sum,
one mark and sixty pteuuings / think
we secured tickets to 90 down into the
treasure chamber and there saw some
things priceless both because Of antiquity
and material value. There were bibles
exquisitely hand painted and illumned
by monks of years ago, staffs Of carved
ivory and jewels which were carried by
cardinals and archbishops of history,
copes, urns containing ashes or bones Of
different saints, fabulous jewels presented
by royalty to great men Of the church,
and the world famous "Shrine of the
Magi of hand-carved gold, which is sup
posed to contain bones of the three wise
men and which cost seven million marks
There is also a set of ten small exquisitely
hand-carved ivory plaques, which one
man spent thirty years to accomplish.
They represent ten scenes in the life of
Christ. The shrires and altars i'll the
cathedral are very beautiful and the build
ing is so immense that it awes you by its
very magnitude and impression of So
| lemnity.
The morning of August Sth we left
Cologne on the Rhine steamer "Kaiserin
Auguste Victoria" and had perfect days
! journey. The Rhine is certainly worthy
its reputation with its winding course
among the mountains crowned with vine
Yards, castles and ruins. 1t is beyond
description and one can almost believe
| the old German legends as he gazes on
| the harrisburg, the Lorelei rock, or the
mouse tower at Bingen. There were a
| great many tourists on the boat and the
French, German and English languages
were about equally divided. The Nieder-
wald Denkmal national monument of
/ Germany, is at Rudesheim where my
ticket gave me a stopover, so we left the
boat there and took rooms at the Jung
hotel, that is all except Mrs. Andre, who
/ left us there and went OH TO Manz. I
slept in room which had a magnificent
view of the Rhine with Bingen on the
opposite shore and an old ruin with walls
six feet thick, next door. It made me
feel almost in another world. The next
morning Fraulein Reichardt's brother put
in appearance and we all went by carriage
up through the Niederwold to the great
monument Sometime l hope you will
see it in all its grandeur, with its magni-
fcent statue of Germania standing in
strength, beauty and dignity, keeping
watch over her Rhine.
At noon the three men left by train and
as Fraulein was going to go up the Rhine
this morning by boat | decided to make
my trip one night longer so as to have her
company as far as Biebrich, where l got
off the boat and she went OH to Esslingen
where she lives. 1t gave us all real sorrow
to have to part from one another; we have
had such a glorious time together. 1t
has been very nice for NE to be with
some one who is German as 1 have be-
come more familiar with the language
and have had assistance in getting out of
difficulties over fees, etc.
l had to stay either in Wiesbaden or
Frankfurt tonight, so l decided to come
OH here. did so and saw the cathedral,
which is beautiful, but to my mind can
not compare with the one in Cologne. l
shall visit the home of Goethe and other
interesting places this afternoon. I am
going to bed with the birds this evening
as have to take the "schuell zug' fast
train) for Vienna at 6 80 tomorrow morn
ing and will reach there tomorrow even
ing at 9:I5. l have telegraphed Herr
Cordes to meet me and will cable you as
soon as get there. My baggage (gapack) }
was sent by fast freight directly from the
steamer and l hope it will be in Vienna
when get there.
The enclosed flowers are a sweet pea
picked at Dover and little purple flower
from the Niederwald near the Denkinal.
feel that have given you only the
smallest idea of my delightful, never-to-
be-forgotton trip, but time and paper are
limited. Some day hope to be able to
tell you more.