Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1911-04-27
VISITED BUDAPEST
Guest Of YVOnne de TreVille Leading
Soprano OF Vienne Orchestra
MISS vELMA SHARP WRITES
Entertalnlngly Of an Old City Seen Through
Young EyeS-YlSitS Royal Palace

The following letter, written by
Miss Velma Sharp to her father, Mr.
L. A. Sharp of this city, will prove of
interest TO our readers. 1t is a de-
scriptive account of a recent visit to
Budapest, Hungary, by Miss Sharp:
Budapest, Hungary, April Q, 1911.
We have just a little while before
taking the train back to Vienna, so
/ think | can put it in to advantage
in this way. This little trip has been
one of the most delightful experiences
of my life. Everything about it has
been so perfect that it is almost like
a dream. And l shall conjure by the
name of "de Treville" so long as I
live. 1t was so very nice of her to
invite me to come with her and both
she and her mother have been to me
as if l belonged to them. We arrived
Thursday evening just in time to eat,
dress and go to the opera in her box
The opera was Massenet's "Navar-
raise" and in comparison with the
Vienna opera was not remarkable
but the ballet was beautiful. Count
Szechenyi, who is a very good friend
of the prima donna, came into our
box and invited us for luncheon on
Saturday He is about 73 years old,
splendidly preserved and very
charming gentleman He is the head
Of the great Hungarian House of
Szechenyi and comes next to the
king, ceremonially After the opera
we went to the "Hungaria" for sup
per and saw the elite OF the place.
The next morning Emily and l visited
the picture gallery, which has some
especially fine Goyas, and lunched
with our friends and a gentleman
whose name has slipped me just now,
but who accompanies all the great
artists when they perform here.
After lunch we visited the beautiful
Houses of Parliament which are, out
wardly, like the English Houses of
Parliament on a smaller scale, and in
side are very gorgeous, being deco
rated in an Oriental manner, which
is very ffective-brilliant colors and
very ornate. We went to tea at the
home of Mr.. Nash, the American
consul-general here, and had a very
delightful time, returning in time to
go to see "Zigeunerliebe" with real
Hungarian (tsigan) music. Yesterday
morning we visited the National
Museum, with its antiquities and relics
of Hungarian history There / had
the pleasure of playing just wee bit
of Beethoven sonata on Beethoven's
own piano. | felt like putting my
shoes off my feet / also ran my
hand over LISTS piano, but it was too
out OF repair to play on. They were
both very small and with an odd
tinkling little tone. The color of the
keys on LISTS piano was just
changed about-the usually black ones
being white, and vice versa. There
was also an exquisite little instrument
with mother-of-pearl keys which had
belonged to Marie Theresa. We
came back to the hotel to lunch with
the Count because Yvonne de Tre-
vile does not go out at all on the
days she sings, and it was a very
pleasant occasion. Couut Apponyi,
who has just returned from America,
was also here for lunch. In the after
noon we went over the river with
Madame de Treville and visited the
royal palace, most interesting huge
structure, built high on hill over
looking the city, and very magnificent
inside And then to think that it is
only occupied for a few weeks at
most during the year because the
Emperor Franz Josef prefers to live
in Vienna, and never remains here
longer than necessary. Three of the
rooms are devoted to what is known
as the Elisabeth Museum" having
statues, pictures and personal belong
ings of the murdered empress-queen.
One Of the rooms was her study, pre-
served exactly as she left it, even to
a partially written memorandum on
her desk. In a case are the clothes
which she wore at the time of her
assassination-very pathetic to me,
especially the black silk waist with the
rent made by the dagger. From the
palace we went TO the Matthias
Kirche," very gorgeously decorated
byzantine interior and handsome
exterior. 1t is very old. having been
used at the time of the Turkish occu-
pancy as a mosque. Then we walked
down the Bastions, which are very
medieval and interesting, to the river
and enjoyed the magnificent view of
the city. Budapest consists of really
two cities, Buda and Pesth, situated
on opposite sides of the beautiful
blue Danube" and is one OF the most