The Henson Journals

[7]

Tuesday, August 13th, 1901.

The forenoon was spent in seeing Bremen. It is worth seeing. The Cathedral is a great Romanesque building, much altered & now undergoing thorough repairs, which include a vigorous painting up of the whole interior. The effect is gorgeous. It is pleasing to find some evidence that the citizens value & use their church. Opposite the Cathedral is the Rath–haus with a fine hall & underneath the famous Rath's–kellen. Here, as in duty bound, we drank wine & were shown the vast accumulation of Rhine wines, in tuns of immense bulk & long antiquity. The "Twelve Apostles" were notable. The oldest tun bore a date of the middle of the 17th century. This apotheosis of drinking must be equally profitable & degrading to the state. Then we visited another big church. St. Catherine's, so varnished, pewed, & painted that history had vanished, save for the eloquent protest of the fabric itself. After lunch we went on to Hamburg, about 11/2 hour's ride, in a schnell–zug for which we had to pay extra. Here we put up at the Hotel Belvidere on the Alsta, & strolled about the city before going to bed. The aspect of these great lakes surrounded by the lights & movement of a great city was, in the evening light, very remarkable & romantic.