Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1914-07-29

ehenen. the first town on the
E Swiss frontier, occupies but a
few hours, and is probably the
most entrancingly beautiful railway
journey in Europe The succession of
mountains. valleys, lakes, ravines, viii
lagos, precipices and waterfalls keeps
one alert each moment for fear of
missing some glorious prospect. The
only drawback is the long St Gothard
tunnel mine miles) and the many
smaller ones. which not only tanta-
lie one by continually shutting out
the view, but at times make the at
mosphere in the coaches almost suf-
locating, writes James Knapp in the
Philadelphia Record.
Goeschenen is charmingly picture
esqGe village situated at an elevation
OF some $500 feet, and surrounded by
high peaks. But we have not calculated
on the change in temperature that we
would find from merely crossing the
Alps and get ing into somewhat high
err altitude. We were ahead of the
season and found that we had the
hotel quite to ourselves. Although We
shivered pretty constantly our stay of
two days was not without enjoyment
Best Hotels In World.
We had heard that the Swiss hotels
were the best In the world. and were
not disappointed at this our first ex-
perieBce. We were served with an
excellent dinner In a cozy, glagsin-
closed dining room looking out upon a
pretty garden.
From the windows of our room, big
and airy, we had upon two sides raa-
jestic views OF great snow-capped
peaks down whose rocky, meay-col-
ored faces fell dozen musical cas-
cades formed from the melting snow
banks. Our beds were deep and downy,
heated with hotwater jugs. and over
the Counterpart was small feather
bed to give additional warmth.
| Goeschenen has two claims upon the
| attention of the tourist besides It's
| natural scenic beapty--one, that 1t Ii
the northern TERMINUS of the great
! tunnel. whose huge black mouth
yawns wide at the edge of the village;
the other that 1t Is the starting point
for the drive to Hospenthal and over
the Furka Pass; but we we're too early
for this, as the mountain passes were
/ yet closed by snow, so had to content
ourselves with long tramps over the
| excellent roads that sometimes led US
well up into the hills, and atrolls be.
side the picturesque and turbulent lit
tie river Reuss.
Deciding TO Try q lower altitude In
the hope of warmer weather (for
/ Goeschenen proved rather cold for one
who had just come up from the hot
plains of Lombardy). yet desiring to
stay among the mountains. we went
/ half hours journey by rail down to
the little village OF Amsteg. En- route
we made the famous loop OF the st.
| Gothard. about the hamlet of Wassen,
bit Of railway engineering that ia
worth travelling long way to see.
Here the line pasS,s through three
tunnels, all sharply curved. and wide
double loop which runs first below the
village (3.055 feet altitude. returning
at an equal height with 1t, and finally
passing above; thus attaining Cat
Goeschenen) the level OF the great
tunnel.
The mountains above Amsteg are
especially attractive In their rugged
outlines and color. Here we spent
many pleasant days, climbing TO their
lower levels or wandering along the
smooth roads of the narrow valley.
This little town, with absolutely no
attraction for tourists besides the
mouutains, has four hotels, and finds
itself thronged In midsummer. At any
one of these inns good comfortable &C
commodattons may be had at 6 to 2
francs per day-clean, pleasant rooms,
wholesome, palatable food and cour-
teous attendance Which seems at least
to have some real concern as to your
welfare We stopped at rather IA
nous OH place whose beamed kitchen,
with its great array Of spotless and