The Republican., 1944-11-30
Local Army Nurse
Tells Of British Tours

esting letter from their daughter, 1t.
Julia Gonder, with the Army Nurse
corps, in the European theater Of op-
erations, in which she describes the
countries of Scotland and England.
Portions Of her letter are reprinted
below
q have lots to tell about my leave
There were four Of us who started out
together and we had wonderful
time We stayed at the Red Cross in
both Edinburgh and London; couldn't
get hotel rooms, but it really didn't
matter for all we needed was just a
place to rest our weary bones at night
The first stop was Edinburgh and we
really loved the place. 1t is such 4
friendly, beautiful city, seemed more
like home than London. The people
went out Of their way to be friendly,
if one asked a direction. They not
only told you where to go but almost
walked it with you to be sure you got
there O. X. We went sightseeing Of
course. covered everything in days
time with Scotsman on walking
tour. He was cute elderly man who
must have taken Americans on the
tour hundreds of times on his own
time, no fee asked. Wouldn't have
missed it for anything for not only
did he give the historical points but
he also added his own anecdotes and
lectures to the boys on overspending,
buying black market whiskey, and
carelessness. He really likes the
Americans a great deal. That was
obvious and although his talks were
both amusing and startling they were
really just good advice and for the
most part taken as such.
'He took US to several of the courts
in session and we saw the lords in
their black robes and curly wigs.
Went through some lovely cathedrals
too and saw some beautiful gardens
that were well kept up. One contained
a floral clock with some type Of un-
derground mechanism that enabled it
to keep perfect time all year around
The flowers Of course were changed
with the seasons. 1t must have taken
a great deal of time and work to keep
tit so perfect. The most interesting
feature Of the tour however was see
ing the castle which has been kept in
a wonderful state of repairs, in fact
the British use it for hospital 1t
looks more like what | always mag
med castle to look like than any
have ever seen. 1t sets high on a
craggy hill overlooking the city and
is one Of the first things you notice
when entering Edinburgh. We took
a few pictures Of it but since it rained
almost the entire time we were there
don't know how they are going to
develop. We couldn't find any picture
post cards of the place anywhere. In
fact we couldn't find any real souve-
Mrs in Edinburgh. Too many Yanks
have been there and the place is
picked clean. You have no idea how
hard it is to find something you can
buy. Over here it seems to be a policy
of first come, first served. We found
a cute hack with little old man driv-
ing it at the bottom Of the castle steps
and although it meant more time to
take such a slow ride we were too
tempted to refuse. 1t was fun, and
to listen to the horse clip-clopping
along was so different that we weren't
disappointed. We took the little old
mans picture standing beside his
hack and he went away shaking his
head-no doubt at the crazy Ameri-
cans.
I'VE couldn't get to Lock Lomond
because Of the weather. We had
other fun however going to a few
dances and finding interesting places
to eat. Had some swell crab salad at
one place and fried chicken and real
ice cream at another. Some Canadian
fiiers gave US the tip on that. One of
the funniest things that happened was
when we went to night club and
heard six Scotsmen sing deep in the
Heart of Texas" | laughed myself
silly. The accent was just too much.
Saw only a few people in kits,
seems that no one wears them except
the little boys for Sunday best, and
Of course the fighting men in regi-
ments. They are really quite colorful.
"Traveling from Edinburgh to Lon
don was an all night job but we had
nice compartment and managed to get
some sleep. Ate at Grosvenor Of
ticers' mess the first day and it was
really good army chow. The hotel
was beautiful place. There was
dance at the Red Cross in the evening
and we had a grand time. Both Lon
don and Edinburgh are full of the air
corps.
"They had the best waffles at the
Red Cross, something I've never seen
over here. Went to several night clubs
that stayed open until a. m. Quite
unusual for everything seems to close
all over England at or before II p. m.
We spent a great deal Of time sight
IrA I