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FRANKFORT-ON-THE

MAIN.

FRANKFORT ON - THE - MAIN, (339 miles), (Hotels: see "HOTEL LIST.") (Cab hire, from the station to any hotel or other place in the city, or 2 persons, 90 pf., 3 or 4 persons, 1 m. 20 pf. For cabs taken in the city, not at the stations, each course, 50 pf. and 70 pf.) The most ancient and important of the free cities of Germany, is situated on the right bank of the Main. It was a free town and the seat of the Germanic Diet up to 1866, when it was annexed to Prussia. It is a compactly built town, and possesses some wide handsome streets. The new town is well built, its principal street, the Zeil, being one of the finest in Germany. The old town has many narrow streets and quaint old houses with the gables overhanging the lower stories.

The greatest ornament of Frankfort is a promenade, or series of gardens, which extend round three sides of the town. It has numerous public edifices, prominent among which is the Romer, or town hall, a venerable and interesting structure. In one of its halls, the Electors of the Empire met for the election of the Emperor. In another, the Kaisersaal, the Emperor was banqueted after his election, being waited on at table by princes and officers of the empire. The ceiling of this hall has been richly decorated by modern artists, and its walls contain portraits of the German emperors from Conrad I. to Francis II.

The most remarkable of the churches is the Dom, or CATHEDRAL, an ancient structure, surmounted by a fine tower, interesting as the scene of the

coronation of the Emperors. It was badly damaged by fire in 1868, but is being restored. St Catherine's Church has a fine altar of black marble, and numerous paintings and monuments. Other public buildings are: the Saalhof, on the site of the ancient palace of the Karlovingian Emperors; the large palace of the Prince of Thurn and Taxis in the Zeil, the Exchange; Theatre; the house in which Luther lived, in the Dom Platz; and that in which Goethe was born, No. 74 Hirschgraben. A colossal statue in bronze has been erected on the Goethe Platz to the memory of the great German poet. A group of three statues in honour of Gutemberg, Faust, and Schoffer, the inventors of printing, has been placed in the Rossmarkt. In the Schiller Platz, is a fine bronze statue of Schiller. Frankfort is rich in collections connected with literature and art. The principal of these are the Stadel Museum, containing a fine gallery of pictures; the Senkenburg Museum of Natural History, containing many rare specimens brought from Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia; and a Library, containing 120,000 volumes. In the garden of the banker Bethmann, near the Freidburg gate, in a building erected for it, is the beautiful statue of Ariadne, by Dannecker. It is shown daily from 10 to 1. Fee 50 pf., to the attendant. The new Palmen Garten, a sort of winter garden with a fine collection of plants, is well worth visiting. The restaurant is excellent, and is much resorted to by strangers.

The city has considerable manufactures; but by far the most important business of Frankfort is in money and banking. The city is much less than formerly a place of sojourn for tourists. Within a few minutes by railway are the

pleasant watering-places of Homburg and Wiesbaden, offering many attractions to visitors, and where the hotel accommodation is of a superior character and at reasonable prices. Frankfort may be conveniently visited from either of the places named, the trains running almost hourly. All that is of interest at Frankfort may be seen in a few hours.

Wine Merchants -ManskopfSarasin, 15 to 17, Junghof Strasse near the Rossmarkt, the oldest and one of the most reputable wine houses in Germany, whose cellars are well worth a visit as one of the sights of the city.

Connected with the city by a stone bridge 950 ft. long, resting on fourteen arches, is the suburb of SACHSENHAUSEN, on the south bank of the river. On the bridge is a statue of Charlemagne, and near the end, in Sachsenhausen, is the old palace of the Knights of the Teutonic Order, now converted into a barrack.

ROUTE 137.

ΤΟ ST PETERSBERLIN BURG, BY KONIGSBERG. 1,042 miles. Fares to Eydtku

hnen, the frontier; first class, 66 m. 80; second, 49 m. 50. From frontier to St Petersburg; first roubles 25-26; second roubles 18.95; time, Berlin to St Petersburg, 38 hours, express.

tations.

WEAVING Berlin, we pass several unimportant places, part of the way lying through fir planWe leave, on the right, the line to Breslau, and reach Custrin (69 miles) (Hotel: Kronprinz), where a line goes off to Frankforton-the-Oder. It is situated at the confluence of the Warthe and the Oder, and is a manufacturing town of some importance. In the Castle, now used as a barrack, Frederick the Great was imprisoned by order of his father, in consequence of his attempt to escape to England.

[FRANKFORT-ON-THE-ODER, 51 miles from Berlin, and not on the direct route to Russia. (Hotel: Deutsches Haus). The Marienkirche or Oberkirche is of the 13th century, restored; its high altar is of finely carved wood. In the town is a monument to Prince Leopold of Brunswick].

LANDSBERG (79 miles), (Hotel : Konig von Preussen), situated on the Warthe, is an important manufacturing town. The railway traverses a large plain, affording glimpses from time to time, of the sails of the vessels on the river. At KREUZ (117 miles) the line is crossed by that from

Stettin to Posen. We proceed through a country presenting alternations of cultivated patches and sandy plains covered with pines. BROMBERG (208 miles) is situated on the Brahe, not far from its confluence with the Vistula. There are considerable manufactures carried on here. DIRSCHAU (287 miles) situated on the left bank of the Vistula. Here the line branches off on the left to Dantzic. We now cross the river, which is 1,200 ft. wide here, over a bridge of about 870 yards long. We pass over the island of Nogarth, formed by two arms of the Vistula of which the left retains its name, the right called the Nogarth, flowing into the Frische Haff, a freshwater gulf, formed by the influx of the Nogath, the Elbing, and other rivers, and connected with the Baltic by a strait. This delta is protected against inundation by dykes, like those in Holland. The Nogath is crossed over a bridge upwards of 300 ft. long. MARIENBURG (298 miles), (Hotel König von Preussen), was formerly the seat of the Teutonic order. The ancient Gothic Château of the Grand Master was built at various periods during the 13th and 14th centuries. It is worth a visit. The church contains the tombs of several of the grand masters. ELBING (306 miles), (Hotel: Stadt Berlin). It is situated on the river of the same name, which falls into the Frische Haff, upon which there are steamers three times a week to Konigsberg, and through which it has access to the Baltic. BRAUNSBERG (351 miles), on the the Passarge, has several public educational establishments.

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KONIGSBERG (389 miles), (Hotel: Deutsches Haus). This was formerly the capital of Prussia, and the residence of the Electors of Bradenburg, and is a fortress

of the first class, situated on the Pregel, a few miles above its influx into the Frische Haff. The Cathedral, a fine Gothic building of the 14th century, is situated on an island. It contains a marble monument of the Margrave Albert of Brandenburg, and several other tombs ; amongst them, one of Kant, the great metaphysician, who was a native of Konigsberg; his house, in the Prinzessin Strasse, is pointed out. The University was founded in 1544. The Palace, built in 1257 by Ottakar, King of Bohemia, has been the residence of the Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order, and of the Dukes of Prussia. Ín its chapel, in 1701, Frederick I. placed the crown upon his own head, on taking the title of King of Prussia.

[About twenty-two miles south of Konigsberg is EYLAU, a town of 2,800 inhabitants, celebrated for the sanguinary battle which took place there on the 7th of February 1807, between the French under Napoleon, and Prussians. Twelve miles from Eylau is Friedland, where the French gained a victory over the Prussians in June of the same year.]

INSTERBURG (448 miles), (Hotel: de Russie), is a busy manufacturing town of 11,000 inhabitants. [Here a branch line goes off to TILSITT, 25 miles distant, celebrated for the treaty of peace concluded there, July 9, 1807]. We go on to Gumbinnen (462 miles), a manufacturing town of 6,500 inhabitants. EYDTKUHNEN (485 miles) is the last German station. (For the remainder of the journey to St Petersburg see RUSSIA).

(At page 412, the places at which there are railway stations as well as landing-places for the steamers are indicated).

ROUTE 138.

THE MOSELLE VALLEY by Railway.

N the 15th of May, 1879, the Moselle Railway was opened. It throws open one of the most beautiful valleys in Europe, which has hitherto only been accessible by the schnellwagen, or by steamer when there happened to be sufficient water in the Moselle. The railway branches off from the Lahn line below Ems, crosses the Lahn by the Hohenrhein works and the Rhine by two bridges, which span the two arms into which the stream is divided by the island of Oberwerth below Laubach. The station at COBLENZ is on the right bank of the Moselle. Trains on the Rhine railway stop at the Moselle station.

Leaving Coblenz the line crosses the river at Moselweiss, and thence ascends the left bank. At Guls, Winningen, Cobern, Hatzenport, Moselkern, and Carden are stations. The first halting place of importance, and the first at which express trains stop, is Cochem, thirty miles from Coblenz. Here the line goes under the Ellerberg, through a tunnel 4,200 metres long, then crosses the river and runs up the right bank to Bullay, opposite ALF, in the very heart of the most beautiful scenery of the Moselle Valley. Leaving Bullay, the line again crosses the river, and, running through a number of short tunnels, reaches Merzig, Ehrang, and TREVES, seventy miles from Coblenz.

The Moselle is described at pages 412 and 413.

ROUTE 139.

THE RHINE, FROM MAYENCE TO COLOGNE.

HE distance from Mayence to Cologne by the river is 116 English miles. The passenger steamers usually occupy eight hours in the passage between the two places. From Mayence to Coblenz the time is usually 3 hours.

In the travelling season steamers leave Mayence for Cologne four or five times a day. The most convenient hours of departure are 7, 9, and 12 A.M., the last being from Castel, opposite Mayence upon the arrival of the morning express train from Frankfort. The fast boat leaves Mayence at 9, reaching Bonn at 34, Cologne at 4.

Steamers leave Cologne at 6 and 10 A. M. and 1 P.M. The time from Cologne to Mayence is usually fourteen hours, to Coblenz eight hours.

The most comfortable as well as the swiftest steamers are those called the "American steamers," one of which leaves Mayence overy morning. They have deck saloons with windows throughout the whole length, and are comfortably fitted up, somewhat after the manner of the American river steamers.

The fare from Mayence to Cologne is, first class 10 80. The fare from Mayence to Coblenz is, first class, 5.30.

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