A European Grand Tour Diary—Part 3
Part Three
September 13 Nuremberg
September 14 En route
September 15-17 Dresden
September 18 Berlin
September 19 En route
September 20-23 Paris
September 24 To LeHavre
September 25-29 At Sea
September 30 New York
In the summer of 1930, local grande dame Lucy Armstrong Moltz offered the trip of a lifetime to her younger sister’s son, Frank Bennett: A whirlwind tour through Europe with her young daughter (also named Lucy) and a friend of the family, Aline Ward.
Nuremberg
After a short train ride from Munich, Aunt Lucy’s group arrived in Nuremberg.
Though the group only spent one day in the city, they accomplished quite a lot in a “sightseeing exposition.” Frank wrote in a letter to his mother, “We have seen quite a good bit of the city. Of course, we went to see the “iron maiden” and all the implements of torture. The old castle is very interesting and especially the moat that seems to be all over Nuremberg.”
The Iron Maiden was a sarcophagus-like structure with spikes inside, strategically placed to impale specific organs, including the eyes, and cause a painfully slow death.
“We then went to see several homes, of painter/printmaker Albrecht Durer and the poet/playwright Hans Sachs, and to the market place to see the clock and then home to the hotel for luncheon. After this we went to the Germanic Museum, then a toy store … Later we had supper and Aline, Lucy and I went out to see Nuremberg by night and had a wonderful time.”
The Imperial Castle, Nuremberg
Several postcards of Nuremberg from Frank’s collection.
Dresden
The travelers took a train from Nuremberg to Dresden, where they checked into luxury accommodations again, this time at the Bellevue Hotel. Frank appears to have gotten a bit blase about the experience, as he notes, “The trip was uneventful and all more or less alike. However, one must move on from place to place.”
The Sistine Madonna by Rafael is the showpiece of the museum’s collection.
After an evening’s rest, they jumped once more into excursions. Frank writes, “Aline and I went out this morning and did shopping and the [Old Masters] picture gallery. I bought a lot more stuff for my stage and we saw the Sistine Madonna in the picture gallery.”
Samples of Meissen porcelain.
“After lunch we went out to the Meissen china factory. The things were lovely and so were the prices. However, I bought a small piece.”
“We went to see the [Dresden] castle which is supposed to have been built in the 14th century. It was all very interesting. We came home and had supper in my room and now I am going to bed.”
Postcard scenes of Dresden Castle.
Above, the Hotel Bellevue is the white building at top right.
This short video showcases many parts of Dresden during this timeframe; the city was heavily bombed during WW II and not all of these structures survived.
The excursions continued the next day, including visits to a toy shop, the 1930 Hygiene Exhibition, the Schumann china factory, seed stores (for Aunt Lucy), and an evening show, which Frank soundly panned as “hopeless.”
On their final day in Dresden, they revisited some of their favorite haunts (the toy shop and china factory) and took in an opera performance of Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte. Interestingly, this title translates literally as “So do they all,” using the feminine plural (tutte) to indicate women. It is usually translated into English as “Women are like that.” According to Frank, “The opera was lovely and we all enjoyed it.”
Postcard scene of Berlin.
Berlin
Berlin was more of a way stop than an excursion. The group checked into the exclusive Hotel Adlon (right beside the Brandenburg Gate) for the day, so that Aunt Lucy could rest while the others shopped and took an automobile tour of the city on a rainy day.
Frank did note, in a letter to his mother, that “It really is a charming place with all its parks and squares.”
They left that evening for Paris.
The Hotel Adlon.
Paris
After a lengthy overnight-and-into-the-day train ride, Aunt Lucy and her company arrived and settled at the Royal Monceau Hotel in Paris.
Note the Arc de Triomphe in the background, right.
Frank was happy to discover several letters waiting for him there, including several from his parents and friends back home. The whirlwind travel schedule seems to have caught up with the young man. After the group rested much of the day at the hotel, Frank became ill that evening at the opera house during a production of Thais.
Although the companions appeared to have had a busy few days in the city, Frank does not comment on their activities nearly as much as he had up to this point.
An outdoor cafe on the Champs Elysees
For instance, he writes only of their second day: “We had luncheon in the Champs Elysee and went driving through the park and to the horse race at Longchamps. We came in and Lucy, Aline and I went to tea at a Russian joint.”
“We came back to the hotel and had dinner and went to see Madame Pompadour at the theater. Came back to the hotel to a good night’s sleep.”
During the next two days, however, the group seems to have gotten a second wind for sightseeing.
They visited Notre Dame Cathedral, including a visit to its bell tower; the Pantheon, a grandiose building in the 5th Arrondissement, a central and older section of the city, with an amphitheater dating to B.C. times; and the Rodin Museum, home to The Thinker, The Kiss, and other famous sculptures.
The Louvre art museum, circa 1930.
The next day, Frank relates, “was a full day. We went to the Louvre and wandered around and saw the paintings (as much as we could). From there we went to the Hotel des Invalides and Napoleon’s Tomb. It wasn’t open so we went to the Eiffel Tower and went all the way to the top. We had lunch on one of the landings.”
“We went back to Napoleon’ s Tomb and saw it and then to the hotel uptown and to the station where we got the electric to Versailles. The place was quite pretty. We saw the Room of Mirrors where the Peace Treaty of Versailles [which ended WW I] was signed. We also saw the Big and Little Trianon at Marie Antoinette Village and the Temple of Love and more of the fountain, then came back to the hotel.”
Several trips were also made over the course of several days to Le Bon Marche, the world-renowned department store, to buy gifts for those at home.
The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles Palace.
The voyage home was not as smooth as the voyage over. Rough weather and seas, as well as a less-luxurious liner—not to mention a probable dose of homesickness, by then— made this part of the trip less remarkable for Frank. He reported feeling seasick, sleeping more, and eating considerably less.
He also notes that upon arrival at New York harbor, “It was not long before we were at the French Line dock. It took 12 tugs to land us all working hard. As soon as we docked and they had gotten some of the baggage off, we got off. Then we had a time getting all our 24 bags, boxes, and trunks together for the inspector to go through.”
The group stayed overnight at the Hotel Chatham in Manhattan (it no longer exists), where Aunt Lucy was reunited with Uncle Carl (Moltz)—and, of course, Frank was able to indulge in some last-minute shopping at F.A.O. Schwarz, Saks, and Elizabeth Arden.
With his final treasures packed, Frank was taken to nearby Grand Central Station by his uncle for the last leg of his trip, back home to his parents in Ocala, FL.
These short videos show the gardens and fountains at Versailles.
Although we excerpted many of the highlights of Frank Bennett’s diary, the full document contains many more anecdotes and images, including some of the history of the Camp and Armstrong families and their various relationships and residences. Click the button below to view or download this PDF document, a transcription of the complete original diary interspersed with relevant commentary by Frank’s colleague, Michael Hall.
