CHAPTER IV.
Paris, the Rhine, Switzerland and North Italy, August 1871.
We left London on the 14th August, and reached Paris on the 15th, i.e., the birth-day of the Great Napoleon. The passage across the channel was rough as it always is, but like hardy sailors (!) we got through safe without any sea-sickness, though most of the passengers on board were in a most distressed condition. Paris the most splendid city in the world is now in ruins. The long siege, and more specially the rising of the communists have caused a great deal of injury to the town, and broken down some of her finest buildings.
The "Hotel de Ville," which was decorated with the finest specimens of art, and was in fact the national hall of France, has been utterly demolished and burnt down. Paris in ruins.The splendid "Palais Royal" is in ruins, the column of "Vendome," which commemorated the victories of the First Napoleon and was a monument of the glories of France has been thrown down, and only the base remains on which you see beautiful carvings. Even the Tuilleries, the residence of the Kings and Emperors of France, have been seriously injured, and in some places totally demolished, and one feels a strange sort of feeling as he walks about these deserted gardens and lingers near the desolated walls and statues. Notwithstanding however these
