Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1912-08-30
Alexandria, Va, Aug. 27' 1912.

<1ASARhNAAS-, ~ y
Editor of the Gazette.
Now that we are home again we
want to tell you little about the de-
lightful trip we had in Europe these
past six weeks, but first of all, we
must express our gratitude to- our
many friends, who by their votes,
made this trip possible, and to the
Gazette for its generosity in not only
undertaking the contest, but the royal
manner in which we were treated De-
fore we joined the Cook Tour in Gias-
gov.
The 10th day of July was memoir
able day, you have often heard OF a
warm reception, but we certainly had
a "yarm farewell when we left for
Montreal. We broke the journey by
spending the night at the Seville Ho-
tel in New York City, where the luxu-
robustness of suite of apartments made
rs forget the heat and enabled US to
enjoy the sights of the metropolis.
An early start was made the next
morning for Montreal over the Della
ware and Hudson R. r. T. and it was a
glorious ride all along the banks OF
the Hudson River, Lake George and,
finally, Lake Champlain.
We arrived in Montreal that night
and the next day we had our first en-
perience at sight seeing. The city Of
Montreal is beautiful, the banks and
the public buildings are splendid
types of architecture, and many fine
churches, especially the Church Of S..
James which is replica of S..
Peters Rome, being one third the
size. The homes of the wealthy are
built at the base and on the sides OF
Mt. Royal from which the city get:
its name and the view from the sum-
nit is of surprising beauty. After a
day of sightseeing were were very
glad to get on board the Scandinavia
an" that night and settle ourselves fo.
our ocean voyage. The life or
ship board was most interesting and
as all of our party were good sailors
we enjoyed every minute 1t was then
that we made the acquaintance of our
fellow travellers and learned to which
section of Tour 70 we belonged. The
greatest excitement was passing the
icebergs. We passed over twenty,
some of them being about two hun
dred feet high and in the sunshine
they were marvellous, glowing witt
prismatic colors.
In spite of very pleasant voyage
we were glad to see the green shores
of Scotland as we sailed up the Clyde
River on the morning of the 21st. We
passed Dumbarton Castle, from which
Queen Mary sailed to her betrothed
with the Dauphin of France. And let
US say here, that Queen Mary is very
similar to George Washington, who,
according to traditions slept in every
village in the original thirteen states,
because there is not city or a cas-
tie in Scotland where Queen Mary did
not reside, until we came to the con-
clusion she must have had seven
league boots to have covered such
great distances. Scotland appealed to
US more than any other place, and as
long as we live we will never forget
the first sight of the houses in Glas-
Cow with their quaint chimney pots
and then the matched cottages. We
certainly kept our cameras busy.
The Gazette party did lot of out
side trips that were not included in
the itinerary. We went in an automo-
bile to Ayre and to the home of Burns
and on coaching trip through the
Trossachs.f The next large city was
Edinburgh. 1t is full of historical in
terest, every corner seems to recall
some event. The home of Knox. St.
Giles Church, where Jennie Geddes
threw her stool at the offending deans
head, an6 the Castle of Holyrood 50
full of memories of the Inflated queen.
Very rarely in life do such moments
come as when we entered the arch
way and stod within the roofless walls
of Holyrood Abbey, it was a supreme
moment.
England has charm quite different
from that of rugged Scotland, and We
enjoyed to the utmost our motor trips
to Stratford- on-the-A Avon, Oxford,
Elton, Henly-on- the-Thames, Dor
chester and Windsor. There is not
piece of land the size of a postage
stamp in England that is not cult
waited. London is the most wonderful
city, such crowds and crowds of peo-