[Geneva—Monday, 3 October 1859]

Monday October 3d How early it seemed to get up at ½ past 4 to be sure and yet after we were up a feeling of reproach came over me that I did not oftener see the glories of such mornings. The twilight of the morning as it gleamed pure gold in the quiet eastern sky made the Jura blush once more into its own unrivalled warmth of purple richness. How I love these hills. It was the hour too when the morning star is stayed at Chamounix. We were far on our way before the day fairly broke and the sun came to wipe the dews away.

It was indeed 10 o’clock before we arrived in Paris, but the cars were so comfortable the day so beautiful and our books so good (Aurora Leigh for Jamie the Initials for myself) that the hours slipped away and night came before we were aware. In the course of the day I found the population of the world had changed. It was no longer divided into the 2 classes Men and Women. Oh! No, it was men, woman, priests and soldiers. This was France. How fine the roads were and how flourishing the country looked as we passed through. Certainly those tall ragged poplars add a wonderful picturesqueness to the landscape!

There were no rooms at the Westminster but the kindest of kind notes from Mr Wales saying he had taken them for us at the Hotel de la Paix. Au Quatrième. I groaned at the height but the next day went hunting fiercely for lodgings and returned remarkably well satisfied.


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