St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1907-12-11
The Trip Of a Pair of Docs.
They Visit the Principal Cities of Belgium
and the Rhine en- route to Vienna,

at 6 a. M, the next day, an hour lat
owing to most dense fog The boa
train was waiting and we at once start
ed for Amsterdam, getting in there a
$50. We passed through The Hagu
where there has been so much wordy
war in the interests of peace. We coult
see in the distance the palace. We spen
the remainder of the forenoon in tn,
Hospital and the afternoon up to about
4.30 p. m, we spent in viewing thu
sights of the city. 1t is city of canals
There are canals everywhere, crossing
the city at every point. Among the
places of interest shown us by oul
Dutch guide, were the Botanical garden
the Zoo, which two are among the best
known in Europe, and the Ryks Museum
This contains the best art collection in
Holland. The churches were rather
common place. Going to Brussels in the
afternoon we passed drought Delft,
famous for its pottery. Delfthaven was
where the Pilgrims embarked for Ameri-
ca in 1920. We passed through Ant
werp also and missing connection here
we had about two hours, from 8 to
10 p. m, to look about. We could only
take car rides, but saw much of interest.
Chief among the interesting objects were
the Cathedral, with spire 400 feet high
and chimes of SO bells, and the Art
Museum of which we only saw the out
side. This contains about 1000 pictures.
We reached Brussels at midnight and
found some excellent beds in the Hotel
Du Nord, near the station. Brussels is
beautiful place, sort of miniature
Paris. There are many interesting
places to visit here but we had time to
only see a few, and could make no care
full examination of any. We found first
the Hospital St. Jean, containing about
800 beds and everything most modern
indeed. We saw as good forenoon's
work there as we had seen any day on
our travels. After this was over we
visited the Palais de Justice, the largest
building in the world, covering as it does
100000 square feet. 1t cost $1O,OOO,-
600. 1t is built OF polished and sculptur-
ed marble and is surmounted by dome
400 feet high. They have the usual
cathedral as in all these towns, and one
almost wonders how the people stood
up under it, to keep putting up the
money for the, building of all these fine
churches, for of course it comes out of
them in bits. The Hotel de Vile, or City
Hail. is another fine building with spire
or tower 365 feet high. Near this
structure is the famous and curious
fountain. This is visited by everyone
who goes to Brussels, and is of course
made much ofby the people in the near
vicinity, who sell post cards, figures etc.
The field of Waterloo is 40 minutes from
Brussels. We had not the time to visit
it. We left Brussels late in the after
noon and went on to Cologne, Germany.
All the trip from Amsterdam, to Cologne
was through a beautiful country.
Through Holland it was apparently all
cattle raising, and never saw so many
cattle or supposed there were so MANY
alive as we saw in Holland The houses
and small villages through which we
passed were most interesting and all
looked clean and pleasant. The roofs
are nearly all tiled. The people seem
thrifty and simple and it must be a fine
place to stay for rest in midsummer.
In Belgium we found through the route
more evidence of farming on big scale
and as far as the eye could see, it was
great tracts of tillable land. AS we
approached Germany the land began to
De bit rougher, but no high hills were
n evidence until we had passed the
border and got into the "Faderland."
The country through which we passed
n going down from Aix-la-chapelle to
he Austrian frontier is all of great
historic interest and, as is we'll known,
goes back to old Roman times.
We remained over night in Cologne,
attending service at the Cathedral Sun
lay morning. This is considered the
lnest Gothic church in the world. Its
'pire is the tallest in the world, SIP feet
nigh, and in 90 years there has been
'pent upon this building S4,5OO.OOO.
The church of st. Ursula is another fine
and is reported to hold the
zones of 1000 virgins martyred by
he Huns. The Ratshous, or City Hall
also worth seeing. We left Cologne
sunday at p. m. for Vienna. The trip
long the Rhine can hardly be surpassed
beauty anywhere on earth. We
assed through Bonn, the famous Uni
ersity town, and from there to Mayence
he scenery is exceptionally fine. | can
OF describe it, but could imagine that
ne Crawford Notch, with the hills not |
ute so high, the sides of the hills
overed everywhere, with grapes or |
astles, and broad river, rather wider |
han the Connecticut, running through |
:, and of course, the distance though |
reater. would have it beaten several |
lilies. Every available inch is covered |
nth grape vines. These acres and acres |
t grapes yield about IL barrels to the
ere OF Rhine wine. On the top of nearly |
very high hill is castle and, taken all |
all, 1t was the most beautiful trip / |
YER took. At Coblence we could see
ON the train the great Notifications. |
his place is called the Gibraltar of the
hine. The forts are high up on the
de and topa cliff and make an imposing |
p,ectacle. We passed through Bingen, |
here the soldier was born who after
ard died in Algiers, as you may recall,
trough Mayence or Mainz, where the
yers Main and Rhine join. There was
Roman camp at this point as early as
. {. 3S. Here in the cathedral thew
ave some OF the swaddling clothes of
,e Infant, the robe of the Virgin, etc.
hese were the first on our trip we found
ut expect to see plenty more in Italy
hen we reach there. We passed through
frankfort WiIrzh,,ro ,,,Lo.a ~ VII |