ON THE RHINE
We arrived at Manheim at three o’clock in the morning and drove to the
“Deutscher Hof.” The entrance door was locked, and our driver had to ring
vigorously several times before a dishevelled, drowsy waiter let us in.
On the following day we travelled up the Rhine on our way to Holland on
the “Elizabeth,” a small merchant steamer, the only one starting that
day for Coblentz. As there was no private cabin on the boat, we had to
remain on deck all day. The “Elizabeth” was a shabby little vessel, very
unclean, the uncovered deck was piled with boxes and barrels. Towards
evening we approached Eltville, a small place where our boat moored
for the night. We slept at a small hotel and had to be up at dawn, as
the “Elizabeth” continued her way early in the morning. We got up long
before light, and at four o’clock were already on board. The banks of
the Rhine became more and more picturesque. The Rheinland seemed to be
saturated with the life of the past. We saw ruined old castles perched
high on the cliffs; one feels that they must have been the stage where
many dramas of human life have been enacted. Here is the legend “Lorelei
Felsen,” so romantic and so mysterious. At every stoppage our boat took
a cargo, which made us miss the Coblentz boat and we had to proceed
further on by rail. Our road ran side by side with the river. The train
was rapidly gaining headway, and at the second station we had overtaken
the “Elizabeth” which had left Coblentz half-an-hour before us. We made a
short halt at Bonn in order to pay a visit to Bonnegasse, the street in
which Beethoven was born. The house No. 515 is commemorated by a tablet
with his name and date of birth. At the last German station I saw, to
my great fright, that we were descending straight to the Rhine, with no
vestige of a bridge over it. When we arrived at the very edge of the
river our train divided in two parts. Three cars, ours in the number,
were placed on a large ferry and worked across the water by a wheel and
a rope, to be hooked after to a Dutch train. It was a curious experience
floating on a wide river without oars or any visible means of transport.
As soon as we entered Holland, the landscape changed at once. We rolled
across flat expanses: all was level land. Vast fields of red and white
tulips spread before us. Black and white cows, with huge bells on their
necks, dozed in the high grass. The verdant prairies are variegated with
bad-smelling canals filled with water, on a level with the ground. Quaint
little houses with green and white shutters, that have sat themselves
close to the water edge, border the road. In the distance windmills
were turning slowly in the evening breeze, pointing their wings in all
directions and filling the air with a ceaseless whir.