Diary of Annie Adams Fields

Sunday August 15. Rain Rain. Tomorrow we leave but I fear it must be by rail for this rainy season seems likely to cut us off pretty well from the Alps.

Monday 16th We did indeed leave by rail and in the rain. At Zurich we walked about a little but the drops soon came down hot and heavy once more and drove us back to the station. We were eating a wretched luncheon of poor bread and imperfect cheese there when Mrs Chapman and Miss Jay & the...

Tuesday 17 August. All were so well the next morning which was a pretty clear one that I was glad we had the Punch on the whole. I don’t doubt that it kept us all from colds. We walked to Pfeffers Bade and back, a good stretch, pitied the poor wretches who think it best to steep themselves...

Wednesday 18th Glad to come away in sunshine. Came to Augsburg. The day was Grave and Gay by turns; not yet settled sunshine by any means. Nothing but German spoken; this throws poor J. into a condition not easily described. It will be a happy day for him when he returns to England.

On from Nuremberg (where J. by the way bought me a quaint salts-bottle of the 15th century and an apostle-spoon of the same date) by night to Munich. This was Saturday and we are tired. Letters however beckoned us forward. We could get no news till Salzburg so Sunday we visited the Pinacothek,...

Friday. August 27. Here we are in lovely, picturesque, glorious old Innsbrück. Oddly enough it has always been a dream to come here and the reality is a beautiful awakening to find it all true. We have lingered over the grave of Andrew Hofer and the dead heroes of 1809 today and have rejoiced...

Sunday August 29, a perfect Venetian day. Warm, sunny, the voices of the gondoliers coming up to our windows. We leaned over the balcony and looked out—and that was chiefly our occupation for that day, save fruit eaten for breakfast, “un piccolo giro” in the canal at sunset and a dinner at...

Monday. Very warm floating about in a gondola and on the Piazza except the first half of the day which we spent before the glorious pictures of Titian, Bonifacio & Tintoretto in the Accademia.

Tuesday. Went to the Pesaro Palazzo.

Wednesday and Thursday slipped away and yet what can be said? It was one shifting show of dreams.

Friday. Beautiful day; past Padua & Verona to Milan. Came upon the Cathedral at sunset in the hour of most perfect beauty.

Saturday. We intended to go to the Cathedral again at 6 o’clock to see the morning sun upon the Alps but the day proving cloudy we postponed our ascent until after breakfast—thence to the Brera where we had never been before. Heaps of bad modern pictures were standing before the ancient ones...

Sunday. September 4th [sic] This lovely place full of sweetness and rest enchants us. The lake lay like an opal in the sunshine when I awoke.

Monday. Concluded to pass two days in Cadennabbia & travel the more steadily to make up. We shall not forget the Italian atmosphere which overspread everything. The deserted Villa Carlotta with its marbles and aloes and palms and heliotrope made a deep impression.

Tuesday Sep. 7. Left at six o’clock for a day on the three Italian lakes hoping to arrive at Baveno in time to sleep at night. The rain had been falling in torrents all night and though that had ceased we looked out into a dark world of mist when we started away in a small row-boat. We had to...

Wednesday Sep. 8th We were ready and in the carriage at half past 7 the next morning. The sunrise had been wonderful on the swiss alps and ever since soon after dawn we had been stirring. Dear Jamie brought me flowers, heaps of flowers from the garden for companionship. We started off with 5...

Thursday. Sep 8th [sic]. We were up at ½ past 4, dressing by one candle (I had burned the other all night to keep the rats or something else quiet which began to run about as soon as it was dark) and at ½ past 5 breakfast was ready. I thought it was raining hard, for the clouds were black and...

Friday. Sep. 10. We were very tired and awoke late to find a soft hazy light over the lovely lake of Geneva and the day far advanced. Jamie and Mabel went to see the Nortons while Lissie and I stayed and rested and basked.

Saturday. Sepr 11th Not a sunshiny day unfortunately and no Alpes visible but we walked over the old town and saw the quaint street and quainter manners, still untouched, by modern changes which have so altered the other parts of this little city. The people are very French in their nature and...

Sunday. Beds most uncomfortable at our fine hotel. Therefore we propose to go at once to Macon and sleep. We arrived about 8 o’clock to find the Frenchiest of rooms and the cleanest and dinner ready. We were much entertained at our salon which contained 3 doors, 3 windows, 50 candles (more or...

Monday. Sep. 13. We found it a long day of car riding before we came to Paris but everything was ready and most comfortable for our reception. Just the rooms we wanted at the Hotel Brighton with new furniture and carpets.

Tuesday. Hard at work shopping. For the succeeding 5 days until Saturday night we have averaged 6 hours in a cab and several hours beside, choosing clothes & having them sent home, for Louisa, Sara, mother, one or two things for outside friends and last not least for Mabel & myself. This has...

Sunday. Sepr 19. Went to St Eustache to here [sic] the Stabat Mater of Pergolese [sic] performed. The music was perfect but the whole display was so operatic as to shock the religious sense; yet nothing save the pictures by the early masters could be more simple more pathetic than the music. The...

Friday. Sepr 24. We have had a busy week—3 times to the theatre—1st to see La Chatte Blanche, a wonderful spectacle where birds and plates talked and joked and nymphs and spirits appeared to float on air. It was quite a miracle of its kind but we were very tired of it long before 12...

London Wednesday September 29th Before I leave the subject of Paris & begin upon London I wish to make a little record of our visit to the studio of Cordier one of the greatest living sculptors. His taste has led him to revive the art so well understood by the ancients, so little understood...