Norwich bulletin., 1913-09-23
TOLD OF EXPERIENCES
 ON EUROPEAN TRIP
Frank Ii. Allen Illustrated Entertain
 ing Talk With the Kaleidoscope.

ing Talk With the Kaleidoscope. l With about 100 postal cards shown l through the refectoscope Frank H. 1 Allen entertained the Board of Trade 1 Monday evening after it's business meeting with talk upon his European | trip this summer conducting a party of tourists. The retiectOscOpe was operated by Rev. F. w. Coleman, also member of the party, and by w. w. l Ives, and at the close of the talk there was generous applause and a vote of thanks for those who had given such 1 a pleasant entertainment.
 MT. Allen sad in part:
 My party numbered 22 adults: 19 ladies and men. One of the maiden ladies in the larty said the next time she went she hoped it would be a par ty of 19 men and 8 ladies. Just what she meant l don't know. and l didn't dare ask for information. We travelled over 1000 miles, and not one of the party was i'll enough to stay in bed f whole day, and only two or three lost meal on shipboard. We visited Eng land, France, Germany, Belgium and Holland, our itinerary being as fol- i lows: Boston to Liverpool by White Star liner Arabic. thence to London i by the c. w. Ky, stopping en route at 1 Chester. We spent six days in London, then went on to Paris for six days, i then to Strassburg, Heidelberg, etc.
 
 | of some interest to you.
 Plans Made Early.
 I began my negotiations with the ! European hotels and railways in Octo- Der, 1912, nine months before we were : to sail, for 1t was necessary that should get out my printed matter, giv- ! ing detailed information concerning , the trip, by the middle of January, and 1t takes several weeks to get a reply from the continental cities. so I had to commence as early as October. Before sailing away from Boston had my steamship reservations both over and back and my tickets both ways in my hands, also all railway tickets throughout England and the continent. Each continental railway ticket was a book of 54 pages.
 My contracts with hotels were also completed, as we'll as arrangements for transfers, sightseeing, lunches and special cars.
 It was then only necessary, as we travelled from place to place. to send word two or three days in advance of our arrival at a hotel, stating the day and hour of our arrival and giving the names of the party and how they were to be roomed. Then l engaged special compartments for the pary in the rail way carriages for the next days jour ney and my detail work was about done excepting to look after the lug
 
 Different Kinds of sishtseers.
 My party was made up or widely different tempeTaments, but that made it the more interesting.
 Some took tte sightseeing seriously and they made hard work of it, as they were determined not to lose a single interesting feature. Others apparently were simply out for an excursion and, while they enjoyed themselves in their way, old eathe6rals, picture galleries and historic buildings and placed didn't appeal to them, they much preferred to walk the streets aimlessly and look at the store windows, 1 made no eff fort to reconstruct this indifferent class, as they really had just as good a time as the more serious ones and, as they had paid the same price, it was quite proper that they should cheese their CWn way of enjoyment. Our h6tels as q rule were excellent and We were treated eeurteeusIy every where, by hotel managers as well as by railway. employees. One very n0Lfceab ble difference between continental railway travel and CUTS is iR the fact that the officials over there never get excited or hurry The only exception to this was in England one day when the train was being held while tive restaurant employees were trundliHg a baggage truck along the platform and serving tea and lunch to the mem bers of cur party, scattered throughout a long train. The guard protested, but the men kept on serving the lunch just the same.
 Solid and Artistic Buildings.
 One of the things abroad which is qnickly noted by American travellers is the substantial and artistic construc- tien of all putlic structures such as railway stations, pestgfices, theatres, 1 churches, bridges etc. Apparently there Is nc limit put upon the cost of F1,r -+,-r last for ages This is particularly true of the bridges and I could not help comparing, mentally, the difference be- tween them. GEd our own Laurel Hill bridge, which became unsafe and had | to be rebuilt within a quarter of a cen tury. 4 little later I hope to show you on the screen several examples of bridges and putltC buildings. Another 1 thing which interests American travel 1 CTS in Europe Is the universal cultiVa- ton of beautiful flowers by individuals i and municipalities as we'll Every i home has it's little garden of towering i plants at the front or rear, as the case may be, and sn all cities every park, l square or triangular plat, no matter i how small is covered with bright flow ] CTS and even in Belgium, where a fair i daily wage for a good mechanic is l rarely more than 40 or 50 cents; the ] electric light poles have boxes mounted | on them. about eight or ten feet above i the ground, Tn Whlch are flowers and l overhanging vines. All this is done in | countries peopled with poor taxpayers, i whereas in our own country, which is |. relatively richer. we are too niggardly i or perhaps it would be more courteous i to say shortsighted, to spend a dollar 1 in such civic Crnamentation.
 City Establishment.
 They look upon the establishment of l a city as q valuable asset, while we re- | gard it as foolish sentiment and 8 1 waste of money.
 Personally, 1 believe in such oPna- 1 mehtatton and I very much regret that 1 the money now spent in politics could net be used in beautifying the parks and squares about cur naturally beau tiful city.
 We found the feed, wherever we went surprisingly geed. but it was al- most impossible to get a drink of cold water. Everyone drinks beer, ar wine