Szczecin

“ This was meant for a view of the harbour of Stettin. It would require a good deal of imagination to make anything out of that, thought Elsa. This one has come out better--the flat meadows, the cows, the floating beacon, smooth water beyond with a few sails, another strip of meadow, and the sea in the distance. The man at the wheel is not bad either: he stood still. ”

“ Stettin (116) , capital of Pomerania, and a flourishing river-port on both banks of the Oder, 30 m. from its entrance into the Baltic, and 60 m. NE. of Berlin; lies contiguous to, and is continuous with, the smaller towns of Bredow, Grabow, and Züllchow; principal buildings are the royal palace (16th century) , the Gothic church of St. Peter (12th century) , and St. James's (14th century) ; is a busy hive of industry, turning out ships, cement, sugar, spirits, &c., and carrying on a large export and import trade. ”

“ There is a slodgy theme in several keys at once, meaning mud-banks, and another for the navigable canal, and the exit into the Baltic is in C sharp major, pianissimo."
"What do the overhanging warehouses make of that?" asked the man, laughing.
"They make a great deal of it," replied Margaret, unexpectedly rushing off on a new track. "I think it's affectation to compare the Oder to music, and so do you, but the overhanging warehouses of Stettin take beauty seriously, which we don't, and the average Englishman doesn't, and despises all who do. ”

“ But they occur singly, in groups, and in rapid succession, when he penetrates to the less-peopled interior, or explores the primeval forests, or where railway cuttings dip deeply into the drift, or clay-beds are worked for economical purposes, as we see them in the vicinity of Berlin.
Stettin, well known to our Baltic merchants and shipowners, and famed among the fortresses of Germany, stands near the mouth of the Oder—where the river, escaping from the long flats through which it has wound its slow way, is about to expand into a broad lake. ”

“ Stettin, the capital of Pomerania, and the key of the Oder line, was occupied and converted into a first-class fortress. He then proceeded to clear Pomerania of the piebald imperial host composed of every nationality under heaven, and officered by Italians, Irishmen, Czechs, Croats, Danes, Spaniards and Walloons. ”

“ The great bay into which the Havel here expands has pretty islands and shores. Pichelsberg, at the northern extremity of the bay, is a place of popular resort, where observation of Nature is rather concentrated on that branch known as human nature. Wansee, at the southern extremity, is picturesque and rural,—a delightful place in which to spend a quiet day in early summer.
Spandau, eight miles west of Berlin, at the junction of the Spree with the Havel, has much historical and military interest. Here, surrounded by immense fortifications, is the workshop of the German army ”

“ Berlin is said to owe its prosperity largely to its well-organized system, connecting the rivers Oder, Elbe, Spree, &c., which have an annual traffic of some million and half tons. Our own Manchester Ship Canal is another instance ”

“ If the Baltic towns fell behind the western members of the League in maritime enterprize, the Adventurers’ fleets flocked to their harbours, so that three hundred of them were seen in the harbour of Danzig alone, carrying dealers in cloth ready to spread their wares in every market town of Prussia. ”

“ Canton Zürich is, after Berne, the most populous, and beyond comparison the most wealthy of the Protestant Cantons of Switzerland; and the city of Zürich, one of its most beautiful and most flourishing cities. Since the walls of its fortifications have been removed by order of the Grand Council, it has extended and developed itself daily in every direction, like a vigorous tree in the spring. Science, industry, benevolent institutions increase, as if in emulation of each other; and gardens and plantations encircle the increasing city with beauty. ”

“ Southampton of to-day may be described as a fairly picturesque town, though modernity and convenience, rather than beauty, distinguish the suburbs, which are so constantly extending on all sides landward; but yachting folk find it a pleasant port, and, moored off pretty and quaint Hythe within reasonable distance of the Royal Pier, can pass a week-end or even longer comfortably enough.
Almost every seaport has its distinguishing feature, and a long acquaintance with Southampton inclines one to think that the mingling of the old with the very new is what strikes the observer most forcibly. ”

“ Wilcox gravely, while her neighbour, a young man low down in the Education Office, began to discuss what people who lived at Stettin ought to look like. Was there such a thing as Stettininity? Margaret swept on.
"People at Stettin drop things into boats out of overhanging warehouses. At least, our cousins do, but aren't particularly rich. The town isn't interesting, except for a clock that rolls its eyes, and the view of the Oder, which truly is something special. ”

“ Sweden held the west coast from the Danish frontier northward, with both sides of the gulf of Bothnia and both sides of the gulf of Finland. Denmark held the extreme western coast and the isle of Gotland. Poland and Lithuania had a small seaboard indeed compared to their inland extent. Poland had only the Pomeranian and Prussian coast which she had just won from the Knights. Lithuania barely touched the sea between Prussia and Curland. To the west of the Polish coast lay the now Germanized lands of Pomerania and Mecklenburg. ”

“ The whole of Central Germany, more especially the Mark Brandenburg, in which Berlin and Potsdam are situated, is one vast plain of light sandy soil, made exceedingly fertile by “intensive” cultivation. Watered by the river Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, which expands into five great lakes surrounding the town, Potsdam is, as Carlyle calls it, an “intricate amphibious region,” more water than land, partaking, though a peninsula, of the nature of an island. Its inhabitants indulge largely in swimming and boating on the placid waters which run up into the streets in irregular creeks and bays. ”

“ The modern aspect of Southampton's streets is that of the bustle and activity of a midland town, and the narrow pavements of Below and Above Bar have that metropolitan air which a crowd of well-dressed people intent on business or pleasure gives to the better class provincial city. ”

“ The loud, stentorian voices of the officers of the magnificent palace steamer L’Orient, of the Peninsular and Oriental Line, sounded all along the Southampton docks, up the streets to the old gates, and even penetrated into some of the business houses of the quaint old English town.
The shout, so commonplace to the citizens of Southampton, was one of serious import to those gathered on the deck of the steamer.
Parting is never pleasant, and when the journey is a long one, and it is known the absence is for years, the last words are always tearful. ”

“ By reason of the many islands within her limits, she is called the “Venice of the North,” and by reason of her cleanliness, the substantial character of her modern buildings, and the efficiency of her municipal government she is termed the “Edinburgh of the Baltic.” Stockholm is more scientifically advanced, and more modernly wide-awake than are the German and English cities of to-day. She has a fine and bountiful water supply, an elaborate and efficient telephone system, and is probably more thoroughly and effectively illuminated by electricity than any city in Europe. ”

“ Berlin is to be the capital of the world. Don't look so indignantly at me, Fräulein Ferdinanda. It is an old story for us, but Captain Schmidt is probably not in the secret yet, and we must warn him lest he should be utterly overpowered with astonishment when the sublime image of the monster is unveiled before him to-morrow, with its hundreds and thousands of heads, legs, and arms. What trouble we take over it. We feed the monster with our heart's blood. I am nothing but skin and bone as it is, and that reminds me that I have got another commission, Aunt Rikchen. ”

“ If Constantinople can claim to be the natural capital of the eastern hemisphere, Stockholm can with equal justice claim to be its natural summer resort. It is situated at a point where a chain of lakes pours its flood into the Baltic, so that the citizens of Sweden's capital have their choice between the fresh water and the salt. As the lakes and the sea are filled with innumerable islands, each family can have one for itself. Summer homes are probably more numerous near Stockholm, in proportion to the population, than anywhere else, because during the winter months the people live in flats. ”

“ Petersburg, from Stockholm to Rome, or from Hamburg to Vienna, he has always to pass through Berlin.
In the city which is "the heart of Europe" we must expect to find the main thoroughfares crowded with foot-passengers of all nationalities, and vehicles of every conceivable kind—motor cars, electric trams, horse omnibuses, vans, cabs, carts, and so on. Yet in spite of their endless streams of traffic, the streets of Berlin are not noisy—not nearly so noisy as those of Stockholm—for they are paved with asphalt and wood, and most of the conveyances have rubber tyres on their wheels. ”

“ Having returned to its predominant direction, it turns W.N.W., and passing Fürstenwalde and Köpenick threads Berlin in several arms, and joins the Havel at Spandau. Its length is 227 m. of which 112 are navigable; the area of its drainage basin is 3660 sq. m. It is connected with the Oder by the Friedrich Wilhelm or Müllrose Canal made in 1862-1868, which is 17 m. long, and by the Oder-Spree Canal, made in 1887-1888, and with the Havel by the Berlin-Spandau Navigation Canal, 51⁄2 m. ”

“ The color of the cottages and farm-houses harmonizes or contrasts beautifully with the landscape. Roofs of brown weather-beaten thatch or of dull red tiles, in the midst of embowering trees and shrubbery, formed for us pictures of beauty long to be remembered. Frienwalde, to the northeast, has mineral springs in the most attractive part of Brandenburg, and is growing as a place of summer resort. The fine old monastery, and the ruined early Gothic abbey-church of Chorin on the Stettin Railway, the burial-place of the Margraves of Brandenburg, are interesting to all students of architecture. ”

“ The finest prospect is from a hill in one of the suburbs called the Great Mosbecken; it affords a magnificent view of the sea and the lake, of the town and its suburbs, as far as the points of the mountains, and of the lovely country-houses which border the shores of lake and sea. The town and its environs are so interspersed with islets and rocks, that these seem to be part of the town; and this gives Stockholm such a curious appearance, that I can compare it to no other city I have seen. Wooded hills and naked rocks prolong the view, and their ridges extend into the far distance ”

“ Stockholm has always been a spot where men have congregated, and has been a city known as such these last eight centuries, ever since Birger Jarl made it the seat of his pirate power. It holds the passage between the lakes Maelaren, which stretch far inland and now form the eastern section of the great Gotta system of canals reaching across Sweden to the Kattegat and Atlantic Ocean, and the deeply indented waters of the Baltic Sea, thus being a natural place of rendezvous and commerce; it was a place easy of access before men had roads and mostly traveled by boats. ”

“ The coasts are shallow, and deficient in natural ports, except on the east of Schleswig-Holstein, where wide bays encroach upon the land, giving access to the largest vessels, so that the great naval harbour could be constructed at Kiel. With the exception of those on the east coast of Schleswig-Holstein, all the important trading ports of Germany are river ports, such as Emden, Bremen, Hamburg, Lübeck, Stettin, Danzig, Königsberg, Memel. A great difference, however, is to be remarked between the coasts of the North Sea and those of the Baltic. ”

“ Stockholm, a city of 175,000 inhabitants, is more interesting from its situation than from any striking beauty of its streets and buildings. It is built upon nine islands and the mainland, at the point where Lake Mälar flows into the Baltic Bay, nearly forty miles from the Baltic proper. One of the larger islands contains the immense Royal Palace, a prominent feature in every view of the city, and constitutes with two adjoining islands the headquarters of trade and shipping. ”

“ Locomotives, boilers and machinery of all kinds are made in other great establishments. Other industries are the manufacture of clothing, cement, bricks, motor-cars, soap, paper, beer, sugar, spirits and cycles. Most of the mills and factories are situated in the suburbs, Grabow, Bredow and others. The sea-borne commerce of Stettin is of scarcely less importance than her industry and a larger number of vessels enter and clear here than at any other German port, except Hamburg and Bremerhaven. ”

“ Potsdam did479 not impress me. From there I went to Grunewald and strolled in the wonderful forest for an enchanted three hours. That was worth while.
* * * * *
The rivers of every city have their individuality and to me the Spree and its canals seem eminently suited to Berlin. The water effects—and they are always artistically important and charming—are plentiful.
The most pleasing portions of Berlin to me were those which related to the branches of the Spree—its canals and the lakes about it. Always there were wild ducks flying over the housetops, over offices and factories ”