Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1925-09-23
An American Abroad
By the Editor ofthe Herald

doors ana out. On the hill overhead
is reproduction of a Swiss mountain
home facing the Alps, wooden chal-
ct and a tower giving a fine view of
the city.
The best picture I can give of Lu-
cerne is one of winding streets some
lof them narrow and medieval in APP
pearance but containing up-todate
shops. Wide streets for traffic The
buildings are quaint in design mostly
white stone and in harmony.
Fine homes are located on the hills
around the city proper. A broad, deep
rapid river through the heart of the
town 1t hurries on to the sea. Hotels
with outdoor tables line one side of
the river lower down. A plaza is on
the other side. Above the city is
large lake and beyond are the noun
tains. The town is white as most
Swiss cities are. This color is broken
by the green of grass plots, gardens
in a riot of color and trees. Nearly
every home has an orchard. Looking
up the turquoise lake you see the
wooded ranges dropping to the water
line. Back of the foothills are the
snowpeaks and glaciers.
Nearly everyone who has visited
European countries likes Switzerland
the. best of all. The scenery is the
finest in the world The cities are
up-to-date and of a cleanliness al
most unknown elsewhere. The people
are polite, intelligent and good look
ing.
Switzerland has long borne a repu-
tation for democracy, being one of the
oldest republics in the world. And 1t
has been the home of religious free
dom for centuries. All honor to her.
[ left Lucerne at night, having had
a delightful all afternoon cab ride
around the city. The train ran through
open country, past farms and wooded
plantations. In the diner over an eX-
cellent meal I could look through the
car window and see the mountains
receding in the distance. | caught
glimpse of the setting sun bathing the
snow peaks with rOseate light. L
said regretfully to myself: "Goodby,
dear Fairyland.'
Sunday and a rainy day in Paris
I reached here yesterday morning and
: took first steps to get located. The
best plan always is to get your anchor
set in a good hotel and then ramble
as much as you please. l made three
or four stops before finding a vacant
room but was finally successful at the
Savoy, a good hotel on the Rue de
Rivoli, opposite the Tuilleries gardens
and near the Louvre Academy of fine
arts. Secured dandy room on the
second floor, hot and cold water, bath
: adjacent, superb service, etc, all for
, 40 france a day, plus gratuities. Be
fore you drop dead at the price please
be advised that a French franc is
: worth but sc in American money at
the present rate of exchange. This
l makes Paris probably the cheapest
! city in the world to buy in although
: lust why is difficult to see as one
would assume that the price of an ar
l ticle would advance as the franc drops
! in value, the value of the goods re-
) naming stationary according to in
| trinsic worth-but in many cases it
: doesn't. Just why not is a problem
i in economics L haven't been able to
figure out The proof of cheapness in
: many things will come later.
After a cleanup and a rest 1.-TWO
} nights out of four on trains and not
: much Sleep I sailed out to take in
: the town. Hired a taxi to take me to
| Cooks agency and that being closed
! on account of Saturday afternoon,
: had the man drive me a mile or so
, back to the Louvre. Charge about 15c
; or three francs. Tip and all Csc.
, The Louvre gallery of paintings,
sculpture and other art objects is
probably the finest of it's kind in the
world To see it properly would take
weeks. Most visitors go through in a
| few hours, viewing the more famous
, paintings Mona Lisa, Da Vinci's Last
: Supper and others.
: The building, a huge affair shaped
like letter u, faces the Tuilleries
gardens and with view toward the
Arch de Triomphe, a mile or more
away In the foreground and in line
with the Arc de Triomphe is the Arch
of Victory. In fact Paris is made up
of magnificent views Of this nature.
The Arch de Triomphe is in the cen
ter of a square in which twelve ave-
nues converge The artistic sense of
Napoleon III was largely responsible
for creating the broad streets and ave-
nues of the city. During the Third
Empire, so years ago, whole streets
were blasted through to give the city
it's wonderful appearance. The result
is whole series of breath-taking
views, each broad street facing some
notable structure or other and each
of the utmost grace.
Coming out of the Louvre l had the
the good fortune to run into a taxi
driver who firstly and proudly in
formed me that he could speak Eng
1ish. I snapped him up and instruc-
ted him to take me around town be-
fore going back to the hotel.
Ed, the driver (whole name Ed
mond GerrardD spent Is years in
'tAmerique" as glass worker in West
Virginia. Talks fair English. ED. :
showed me the town, driving to all
the places of interest and stopping
while l looked them over. We became
real chummy. Finally we motored
down the Champs Elysees to the Arch
of Triumph. Ed stopped and walked
to the center of the beautiful and i'm
posing structure and there viewed the