Hamburg, Sunday,
August 25th, 1895

Dear Father,

This is the laziest place, I think I ever visited, but as I am looking forward to other lazy places further south perhaps I would better save my superlatives.

The day I posted my last letter I got aboard the Rhine Steamer at Cologne at exactly nine o’clock in the morning. A thin mist lay all day over the hills making everything more lovely than clear air would do, and the sun glorified the heavens and the earth. There were plenty of English and American tourists aboard. I fell in with Mr. ____ of the U.S. infantry who is sketching fortifications tc over here and who talks all the time also with a lady from Michigan who read the legends of the places we passed to me as I had no guide book.

We had to wait until about four P.M. before we saw anything very pretty. The beauties of the Rhine and its famous ruins are crowded into a few hours between Coblence [Koblenz] - and below – and Mayence [Mainz]. It is all very much like the Hudson in miniature except that you must substitute the curious vineyards for the forests and add the 30 or 40 beautiful castles, some in ruins and a few restored, which really add a great deal to the landscape.

The one we admired the most was Rheinfels, the most imposing ruin on the river. Vast is the word for it and the situation is impregnable. It was once attacked by 25000 men but was never taken fairly. These old ruins put us in mind of the great old times the robber barons use to have, and how they use to steal and murder and get drunk. We had our simple dinner of beer and sandwiches on deck but three old Dutchmen of a wondrous merry ______ drank champagne and white wine all the day through with out getting quarrelsome altho a bit noisy. The legends of the castles seemed to be quite of another color than the thoughts they at first suggested. These legends for the most part relate how Hubert loved Hildegard but alas! He went to war and she heard he was dead so she threw herself from the cliff. Then Hubert built a castle on the cliff! and lived and drank until he died. The vineyards, row above row, of vines growing on little porches of earth supported by stone walls yield almost out of the very rocks the wealth of the valley. Some of the finest wines are grown on these hills. The shores are canalized and all the day we passed hundreds of bathers[.] One would say that whole villages were in the water.

It was a delightful day and Mayence [Mainz] where we landed just at dark (9 P.M.) was having a musical festival of some sort. Mr. _____ and I went to the Holland which is very near the water, only a public park intervening. This was crowded with people and a large band was playing so I sat and admired the throng until quite late. The music was very choice and partly vocal.