BERLIN, POTSDAM, AND DRESDEN.
Berlin is built on a plain, and there is nothing in the site to
recommend it. Like a drunken man, it is on the Spree, which wanders
through the centre of the city, with a branch that forms an island,
and a canal that winds around the city, and through the adjacent
country, so that the Oder on the east and the Elbe on the west are
united. The streets are generally broad, with plenty of squares and
other open spaces. The houses are of brick, covered with stucco, upon
which the Baltic fogs that prevail here have a bad effect, injuring
the appearance of the buildings. The principal street, on which the
palaces, museum, and hotels are situated, a very wide avenue, in
imitation of the Champs Elysée in Paris, but not at all to be compared
with it, is _Unter den Linden_. The middle of it is a broad gravelled
walk, with double rows of lime and other trees to shade it for
pedestrians. On each side of this is a narrow roadway for equestrians.
Outside of these roads, and separated from them by a fence and a line
of trees, are two streets for general use.
The weather was warm and pleasant, and Dr. Winstock proposed a
ride through _Unter den Linden_, which is about a mile in length,
terminating in the palace at one end, and the Brandenburg Gate at the
other. Two _droschkes_--four-wheeled carriages, with one or two seats,
similar to the _voitures de place_ of Paris--were procured. Lincoln
and Miss Gurney, with the doctor, occupied one of them. The great
avenue was full of people, and the scene was very lively. The party
drove towards the palace first, near which the hotel is located. In
a moment the doctor stopped the carriage at the colossal statue of
Frederick the Great, one of the most magnificent monuments in Europe.
The Statue itself is seventeen feet high, resting on a granite pedestal
twenty-five feet high, on the sides of which are bronze figures in high
relief, life size, of thirty-one persons, including the heroes of the
Seven Years' War, and the eminent men of the great monarch's reign.
"The king lives in that house," said Dr. Winstock, pointing to a very
plain edifice nearly opposite the statue. "He may often be seen sitting
at the corner window. There is the queen now, at the second story
window."
Of course this was a genuine sensation, and the party gazed at her
majesty, who stood before the window. She wore a white dress, and
though she was nearly sixty, she looked much younger.
"Is that the queen?" asked Lincoln.
"That is Queen Augusta," replied the surgeon.
"She don't look like a queen."
"Of course she is human," laughed the doctor.
"But she looks like any other woman."
"Certainly she does. If you met her in the street you could not
distinguish her from any other lady."
"Have you seen Queen Victoria, commodore?" asked Miss Gurney.
"I have not."
"I have seen her several times; and she isn't a bit different from any
other woman; but I suppose on state occasions, when she wears the crown
and her robes, she looks like a queen."
"Did you think, Lincoln, that kings and queens went about with crowns
on their heads and sceptres in their hands?"
"Well, no, sir; but I had an idea that they must appear different from
other people."
After a drive to the garden opposite the Royal Palace, the party
proceeded through _Unter den Linden_, pausing a moment at the
Brandenburg Gate, an immense triumphal arch, on which is a car of
Victory, carried to Paris by Napoleon, but returned, after much
negotiation, in 1814. Beyond this is the _Thiergarten_, or "garden of
animals," a vast tract of land, covered with trees, with roads and
paths through it. Very little has been done to make a park of this
territory, so that it does not compare with the Bois de Boulogne in
Paris, or with Central Park in New York, which is, without doubt, the
finest in the world. It was well filled with people at this hour;
but generally it is dull and monotonous, like a drive through the
woods in the country. Half an hour's ride brought the party to the
Zoölogical Gardens, which contains a very large collection of animals,
and a fine park. Part of the latter is used as a beer garden, in
which there is a large, semicircular, covered stage for the music.
There are also several buildings for restaurants, though most of the
people were seated at little tables under the trees. A band of about
one hundred pieces was playing German airs when the tourists entered,
and two or three thousand people were present in the grounds. Ladies
and gentlemen, in groups of three or four, were seated at the tables.
Nearly all the men were smoking and drinking wine or beer. A few of
the ladies drank beer, but most of them were partaking of chocolate,
ice-creams, tea, and coffee. The scene was peculiarly German, and
everybody seemed to be happy. From this place the party went to Kroll's
Garden, where the same scene appeared, though it contains a large hall,
with a stage where opera is given at twenty-five cents a ticket, with
a good seat. The excursionists returned to the hotel, and the next
morning the business of sight-seeing was commenced in earnest by the
entire company.
They walked to the Lustgarten, an open space at the end of _Unter
den Linden_, on the three sides of which are the Royal Palace, the
Cathedral, and the Museum. The first is a vast structure, owing more
of its grandeur to its size than to its beauty. At the gate are some
bronze horses, held by grooms, like those on Monte Cavallo, at Rome,
presented by Nicholas of Russia. The ascent to the second story is by
a winding inclined plane, up which a carriage can be driven. In the
guard-room the visitors were provided with felt slippers, worn over the
boots or shoes, to avoid scratching the polished floors. The apartments
are magnificently furnished, but they need not be described, for every
palace contains substantially the same series of rooms. The White
Hall is the most elegant, containing the statues of the Brandenburg
Electors, and allegorical figures of the eight Prussian Provinces
before the recent wholesale annexation. In one room there is a silver
gilt mantel, representing one of pure metal which Frederick the Great
melted down to obtain the money to build the new palace at Potsdam, in
order to show the princes of Europe that his funds were not exhausted.
The new chapel is very rich, and has a lofty dome, from which it is
lighted. The floor is of the most beautiful marble, and the walls and
ceiling are elegantly frescoed. The palace formerly had the reputation
of being haunted by a "White Lady" who appeared only to announce the
death of a member of the royal family.
The company passed through the Cathedral, and entered the Museum, which
is a very handsome edifice. Its art collections are hardly excelled
in Europe. Besides vast galleries of painting and sculpture, it
contains antiquities from the north, and from Egypt, and curiosities
from distant lands, which are among the finest in the world; but the
students were more interested in the historical collection than in
anything else, particularly the relics of Frederick the Great. Among
the latter are the cast of him taken after death, the bullet with
which he was wounded at Rossbach, a wax figure of him, clothed in the
uniform he wore on the day of his death, his books, cane, and a flute.
A dress of the Great Elector, his pipes, and a glass case containing
the stars, orders, and decorations of Napoleon, taken at Waterloo by
the Prussians, in the carriage now at Madame Tussaud's exhibition in
London, are also to be seen in this Museum. The beautiful frescoes in
the grand hall were carefully examined, and their allegorical meaning
explained.
The party went through the Arsenal, and then visited the Aquarium,
a private exhibition. The various apartments were in the shape of
grottoes of artificial rocks, in which the tanks were ingeniously
arranged. The animals were fishes, reptiles, and birds, of which there
was an endless variety; and the students generally were more pleased
with this exhibition than with anything else they saw in Berlin.
After dinner, a portion of the party went out to Charlottenberg in the
horse car. The town contains a palace built by Frederick I. The gardens
are prettily laid out, but almost the only attraction of the place is
the monument of Queen Louisa, the most beautiful and amiable princess
of her day. She was the wife of Frederick William III., and the mother
of the present king. The monument is the reclining form of the queen in
marble, on a sarcophagus. It is the work of Rauch, the great sculptor,
and is universally appreciated. By its side is a similar monument to
the king, her husband. They are contained within a Doric temple.
Some of the party who did not visit Charlottenberg went to the Town
Hall, under which is a vast beer hall and restaurant, where they had
an opportunity to see the manners of the Germans. The same students
went to the Jewish synagogue, a large building in Oriental style,
holding four thousand people, which cost a million dollars. It contains
a gallery for the women, and has a lofty dome. On the backs of the
settees were the names of persons who had purchased seats at a
thousand thalers each. It is said that those who built this synagogue
realize a handsome percentage on their investment from the letting
of seats. The Bourse is a handsome building, the interior of which
is seventy feet high, with a gallery for visitors extending across
the middle, over a partition which divides the grain and the stock
exchanges.
The next day the entire company went to Potsdam, which may be called
the city of palaces, for there are not less than five royal residences
in the town. It is eighteen miles from Berlin, and was the favorite
summer-home of Frederick the Great, as it is of the present king.
Carriages of all sorts and kinds were gathered for the use of the
party, and they drove to Babelsberg, which is several miles from the
railroad station. As they approached their destination, they crossed
the River Havel, which here widens in a broad lake. The carriages were
left at the entrance of the grounds, and a walk through a pleasant
grove brought the tourists to a lovely lawn, bordering on the river,
and presenting one of the most beautiful landscapes to be found in
any country. This region is diversified by gentle elevations, on one
of which stands the castle or chateau of the present king. The estate
is his private property, and he pays all the expenses of keeping it,
even to the soldiers who are sometimes on duty there. The castle is
built on the side of a hill, with an entrance from the lawn, though
the principal one is on the other side, one story higher. The party
entered at the rear, and came into small apartments, cosily furnished.
The skins and heads of several deer, killed by the king, are displayed
here. Up one flight the rooms are larger, but they are entirely
different from those usually found in palaces. They are elegantly but
simply furnished, and contain a great variety of objects of art, with
small paintings of the best artists: indeed, everything about them
indicates the highest taste and refinement. The queen's rooms are very
cosy and home-like. Up stairs are the apartments of the Grand Duchess
of Baden, the king's daughter, and of the crown prince. His majesty's
bed-room is exceedingly plain, having a narrow bed with chintz
curtains. On the wall over the bed hangs a water-color picture, given
him by the queen at their silver wedding. Near this chamber is the
king's working room; and the students gazed curiously at the books open
on the table, the pens with which his majesty wrote, and various other
articles he used. In the room are chairs for the ministers when he
holds a council here. The view from the windows of the lawn, the lake,
and the grove is very fine. Babelsberg, for quiet beauty and taste,
cannot be surpassed.
The students did not enter the Marble Palace on the banks of the lake.
In the water are several miniature vessels and a little steamer, all of
them for the amusement and instruction of the little folks. Passing the
Russian village, which contains eleven houses like those to be found
in Russia, belonging to the better class in the country, built by a
party sent here by Nicholas, the sight-seers arrived at the gardens of
Sans Souci. They are rather stiffly laid out, with plenty of fountains,
statues, fish-ponds, and other ornaments. On a hill, with a very long
flight of steps leading down to the principal avenue of the garden,
is the Palace of Sans Souci,--"without care,"--built by Frederick the
Great in 1745. At the end of the terrace are the graves of his favorite
dogs, and of the horse he rode in many of his battles. In his will he
directed that he should be buried among them, but his request was not
heeded. In the palace the room where he breathed his last is shown. A
clock, which he always wound up himself, stopped at the instant of his
death, and still indicates the time--twenty minutes past two.
On the hill near the palace is the historic windmill of Sans Souci,
separated from it only by a road. Frederick the Great wished to extend
his grounds in the direction of the mill, but the miller refused
to sell it. In a lawsuit with the owner the king was defeated, and
submitted to the decision. He was so well pleased with Prussian
justice, that he pulled down the original mill, which was a very small
one, and erected for the miller the present one, on a much larger
scale. In the reign of Frederick William IV., the miller who owned it,
doubtless a descendant of the one who defeated the monarch at law,
became embarrassed, and offered to sell it; but the king settled on him
a sum sufficient to extricate him from his difficulties, declaring that
the mill was a national monument, and belonged to Prussian history.
Not far from the mill is the orangery of the palace, and the Raphael
Saloon. The New Palace is the one built by Frederick the Great at
the close of the Seven Years' War, to prove that his funds were not
exhausted. It contains seventy-two apartments, many of them very
gaudy. Some have walls and floors of fantastic marble mosaics. There
is a hall whose walls are all composed of shells, and in one various
kinds of minerals are inlaid on the sides. Some relics of the great
monarch are shown. In the library is a copy of his works, with notes
and criticisms by Voltaire, whom Frederick admired and invited to
his palace. The New Palace is now one of the residences of the crown
prince, Frederick, who married the Princess Royal of England. In the
Antique Temple, near it, is a statue of Queen Louisa, the work of
Rauch, who labored fifteen years upon it, and it is regarded as even
superior to the one on her tomb.
From this palace the company went to the Garrison Church, where, under
the marble pulpit, above ground, is the tomb of Frederick the Great
and Frederick William I. The sexton opens the tomb, and visitors are
permitted to gaze upon the coffins of the two monarchs. That of the
great king is a large and perfectly plain metallic coffin. His sword
formerly lay upon it, but was stolen by Napoleon, who visited the tomb.
On each side of the pulpit hang the eagles and standards taken from
the French by the Prussians, and their presence seems to be a just
retaliation for the theft.
The old Royal Palace, or _Residenz_, commenced in 1660, is a very large
building, with interminable suites of rooms, some of them occasionally
used at the present time. Within it are shown several articles
belonging to Frederick the Great, as one of his flutes, some music
composed by him, and his old boots. His little dining-room contains
a table, in which is a slide, to enable him to dispense with the
attendance of a servant. The apartment is provided with double doors,
so that he could entertain a friend without being over-heard.
The party then returned to Berlin before five in the afternoon. At
quarter of eight in the evening, they took places in the _schnellzug_,
or fast train and arrived at Dresden about half past twelve. In half
an hour more, most of them were asleep at the Hotels de Bellevue,
Victoria, Saxe, and Stadt. The Bellevue, on the bank of the Elbe, is
one of the pleasantest and best kept hotels in Europe.
Dresden is the capital of the Kingdom of Saxony, whose territory is a
thousand square miles smaller than the State of Massachusetts, but has
a population of two million four hundred thousand. It is an independent
state, except that its army is under the control of the King of Prussia
in time of war. Its royal house is one of the oldest in Europe, and in
the tenth century gave an Emperor to Germany. The population of Dresden
is one hundred and fifty-six thousand. It is in a healthy and pleasant
region, and has many attractions, so that it has long been regarded
as a desirable residence by Americans. Hundreds of families from the
United States live there, not only because it is cheap and pleasant,
but because the place affords the best advantages for education, while
its art collections and curiosities are not excelled by many of the
capitals of Europe.
Not many of the students appeared the next morning before nine o'clock,
though most of them had slept all the way from Berlin to Dresden.
Palaces and museums with waxed floors are very tiresome. One needs a
week properly to digest the sights of the capital of Saxony; but our
party were to do what they could in a single long day. Mr. Ferdinand
Spott, one of the most honest, faithful, and reliable _commissionaires_
to be found in Europe, was engaged to engineer the sight-seeing, and to
make arrangements for a visit to the Saxon Switzerland the next day.
Dresden is on both sides of the Elbe, the old city being on the left
bank, and the new on the right. They are joined by a noble stone
bridge, fourteen hundred feet long, originally built with funds
procured by the sale of dispensations from the pope of indulgences to
eat eggs and butter during Lent. One of its arches was blown up by
Davoust, to favor the retreat of the French army after the battle of
Dresden, but was promptly restored by the Emperor of Russia. Near the
bridge, in the old city, is a large square, part of it beautifully laid
out in groves, gardens, and winding walks, with a pond and island in
it. On or near this square are most of the attractions to strangers.
The Hotel de Bellevue is on the river, in one corner. Next to it, on
the river, is an extensive restaurant and beer garden. The theatre
which stood in the centre of the square has been destroyed by fire, a
temporary structure of wood taking its place. On one side stands the
Zwinger, originally intended as the vestibule of a vast palace, the
rest of which was never erected, contains the Armory and Museum of
Natural History. Opposite the bridge is the Catholic Church, a very odd
and profusely ornamented structure. The royal family are Catholics,
though the great majority of the people are Lutherans. Next to this is
the _Schloss_, or palace, and connected with it is the picture gallery.
The principal attraction of the palace is the Green Vaults, a series
of eight apartments, taking their name from the former color of the
furnishings, in which are kept the treasures of the kingdom, and an
immense variety of curious, rare, and costly articles. Only six persons
can be admitted at one time, and the fee for this or any less number is
two thalers, or a dollar and a half. An arrangement was made by which
the entire party could see them in the course of the day. A portion
of the students went to the picture gallery first, another to the
Green Vaults, and a third to the Armory in the Zwinger, so as to avoid
uncomfortable crowds.
One room in the Green Vaults is said to contain jewels to the value
of fifteen million dollars, which is only a portion of the riches of
the palace. The Saxon princes were formerly the wealthiest monarchs
in Europe, the silver mine of Freiberg yielding them an immense
revenue. They used much of their riches in accumulating valuable and
costly works of art, jewels, trinkets, and curiosities. The first room
contains articles in bronze; the second, carvings in ivory, of the
most elaborate description; the third, Florentine mosaics; the fourth,
gold and silver plate, used at the banquets of the kings; the fifth,
vessels and articles cut from various minerals; the sixth, figures in
ivory and wood, and jewels and trinkets; the seventh, the regalia worn
by Augustus II., who was elected King of Poland, at his coronation.
The eighth contains a collection of jewels and other costly articles,
calculated to astonish and bewilder a simple republican--rubies,
diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds, chains, collars, crosses, rings,
swords. The court of the Great Mogul is composed of one hundred and
thirty-two figures, of pure gold enamelled, which cost nearly fifty
thousand dollars.
The Armory contains one of the finest collections of armor and
historical relics in Europe. In one room is a cabinet given by the
Elector of Saxony to Martin Luther, which contains several articles
that belonged to the reformer. In another are the coronation robes of
Augustus the Strong, the horseshoe he broke with his fingers, and his
iron cap, weighing nineteen pounds. The saddle of Napoleon, the boots
he wore at Dresden, and the shoes he wore at his coronation, are to be
seen. One room contains a tent taken from the Turks at the siege of
Vienna, with various memorials of John Sobieski, who saved the city.
The rooms were all full of interest, but the students were obliged to
hasten through them.
The picture gallery contains twenty-seven hundred original paintings,
including some of the best works of the old and of modern masters. The
most celebrated picture is the _Madonna di San Sisto_, of Raphael. The
Madonna is rising to heaven with the infant Jesus in her arms, while
Pope Sixtus, from whom the picture takes its name, is gazing at them
with reverential awe. Below are two cherubs looking upward. Opposite
the pope is the kneeling form of St. Barbara, while the background
of the picture is made up of "the innumerable company of angels,"
whose faces cover the canvas, but are hardly noticeable at first.
This painting cost forty thousand dollars, and occupies an apartment
by itself at one corner of the building. At the opposite end, another
room is appropriated solely to the Madonna of Holbein, which is his
masterpiece. It represents the burgomaster of Basle, with his family,
praying the Virgin to save his dying child. She is laying down the
infant Jesus, to take up the sick child. The gallery contains many
other remarkable works by Correggio, Titian, Paul Veronese, Van Dyck,
Rubens, Rembrandt, Albert Dürer, and, indeed, pictures by nearly all
the old masters.
In the afternoon some of the party rode to the Great Garden, where
there is a palace of Augustus II., with eight pavilions for his
favorites, and then to the Japanese Palace, so called from the style of
some of its rooms, in the new city. It is near the bank of the Elbe,
with extensive gardens on the river. It contains antiquities, statuary,
mostly ancient, bronzes, collections of porcelain and Dresden china,
and some Roman tombs, with urns filled with the ashes and burned bones
of the dead.
In the evening at six o'clock many attended the opera, which was,
"The Master Singer of Nuremberg," by Wagner, introducing Hans Sachs,
the author of so many German ballads. The music seemed like a general
crash, and the students were unable to appreciate it. The next morning
the whole company took the train for Pötzscha.
"There is our king," said Mr. Spott, as the train stopped at a station.
"Where? Where?" demanded the students.
"The old gentleman in a white hat, and that is the queen with him."
Most of the students got out of the cars. The king had no attendants
whatever, a single policeman clearing the way for them. He wore a
dark coat, with striped pants, and the queen was dressed with equal
simplicity. There was no mark by which they could be distinguished
from other people, and the king might easily have been mistaken for a
merchant or farmer. Mr. Lowington thought that he looked like General
Anderson, of Fort Sumter fame. Their majesties were attending their
daughter, the Duchess of Genoa, who was on her way to Italy, simply
coming to see her off. The queen wept like other people, and the king
looked very sad.
The party arrived at their destination, crossed the river, and walked
through a wild region, abounding in narrow passes, deep glens, and
headlong steeps. Near the end of the walk they came to a remarkable
chasm, which looks like an immense dry dock. It is nearly a thousand
feet deep, with perpendicular sides of basaltic rock, like the Giant's
Causeway. The students cried out with wonder and admiration as they
gazed into the deep abyss, in which they looked far down upon the tops
of the tall trees. The party wandered about over rocks, peeping over
cliffs, till they came to the hotel on the highest hill. Near it is
an observatory, which commands a fine view of the winding Elbe, of
Königstein, a fortress on a rock twelve hundred feet high. Crossing a
bridge, they stood upon the Bastei, which is a flat rock, surrounded
by an iron railing. It rises nearly a thousand feet perpendicularly
from the bank of the river, and commands a splendid view of the valley
beneath. A precipice extends for miles along the right bank of the
Elbe; and nowhere in Europe is so much picturesque scenery crowded into
so small a space as in the Saxon Switzerland. The party returned to
Dresden by steamer from Schandau, the descent to which from the Bastei
is, in part, by a deep ravine over bridges, and through clefts in the
rocks, wild and full of interest. The boat passes Pillnitz, the summer
residence of the king, and the students saw the palace and grounds.
On the following morning the students and the instructors returned to
the squadron, arriving at a late hour in the evening. As the vessels
were to remain a few days at Swinemünde, Paul Kendall and Shuffles
decided to visit Leipzig, Magdeburg, and Hamburg. Lincoln was about to
be graduated, and was allowed to remain with them and the Kinnairds,
Miss Gurney being the principal attraction to him.