Mittenwald, July 13Dear Jessee,
As far as knowing what letters I have written, I surely do not. I hope I've sent you a post card or two since Norway. I know there is a long letter about the London Congress which went to Charlotte and which she was to send to various folks with you at the end and the request that you keep it for me, because it is my only account of those remarkable days. They were so packed full that I couldn't write about them. But with vacations, &c I don't know when that account will get to you.
We left London July 6 and had a fine smooth crossing I guess - anyhow I slept! We got to the Hook of Holland early in the morning and had a long, very rainy day to Munich. And we both slept and slept! It was wonderful!
Munich next morning was gloriously cool and clear. Before when Alice and I were there it was melting hot and we saw little, and last summer there was no time, but this time I enjoyed it much. There is the finest museum of the development of knowledge that I know anywhere - also the evolution of all technical processes. It has 9 miles of rooms - so of course we chose just a few things, like the measurement of space and time, with remarkable old sun-dials, clocks &c. - and the planetarium which shows the movement of planets, moon, stars. Of course we went to the picture museum which has the old ones in it, Raphael, Titian, Van Dyck and such - one of the very fine galleries. I remember that from the two other visits and it surely is a pleasure to see things more than once.
Then we went up the tower of the largest church, a very interesting one architecturally, not so grand as many, but with certain things about it like some of the churches in the extreme north of Germany. If only I really knew something about architecture it would be a pleasure to me! The tower is easy to climb, though it has 419 steps. The view included the snowy Alps that day, which was indeed why we went up. And there were little hawks as well as pigeons nesting in the crevices. The timbering in the tower was very complex.
There was a concert, too, by a choir of boys from Vienna, a thing I missed in Copenhagen, for they have been all over Europe. They give a one-act opera and then sing Schubert, Brahms and so on. They are about 10-14 I guess, only perhaps 16 of them in all, but wonderfully trained, and so natural. In Copenhagen they were entertained socially by the wealthy and apparently were delightful guests. One little chap sang a solo part - one of those high, floating, effortless voices that are almost unbelievable. It was a German audience, and they shouted "Brava" and applauded and got very excited.
We came on to the mountains three days ago and in a few minutes move one stage more, to Innsbruck. This is a most truly local community, though there are many German tourists. Very few English-speaking people here. We went one day up one of those blessed mountain railways which run on cables, little cars suspended in the air. At one place it is 300 feet up. In 10 minutes you get up some over 3000 feet and reach a summit about as high as Mount Adams in N.H. It has a view all around the circle, ranges and ranges, some very high, almost to 10,000 feet, and on one side the plain with its beautiful lakes. The day could not have been more charming.
Another day we went up a little peak on our own feet - about 1500 feet of climbing which is more than anything on our Holyoke ranges and yet we were on just a foot-hill. But it was a sightly foot-hill. One thing is particularly pleasant. You walk a way and just as you are thirsty or hungry, behold there is a little country café all ready to serve you very nicely. And almost always with tables out under the trees or on a terrace, with an entrancing view. Where we were on top of this little mountain we heard music ('twas a victrola, but the local kind of music) and dancing so we looked into the kitchen and there was the young father doing a country dance, which included handclapping and so on, and his little cunning three year old trying the same thing!
We have now come on to Innsbruck over one of the railroads which clambers around the mountains and at the moment we are in another little tea place in the town among the mountains where Alice and I had such a delightful time three years ago. We took a motorbus up to the upper end of the valley where we had lunch. Then we came back here soon after and have just rambled - lovely views all around, the high mountains, a fair valley with grain fields on the slant, some little poppy fields to give seeds for the bread, a green church tower on one side of the valley and a red one on the other - oh, it is all as lovely! We do not stay here this time, but go on to another place nearer Switzerland, then one stop in Switzerland at Interlaken and then Freiburg for four weeks. We are not trying to see everything - just going along rather quietly and slowly. Three nights in a place, in the main. That is much less wearing than a faster pace - and we aren't dragged around by anybody who tells us what to do! We probably miss interesting things, but it is nice to discover for oneself.
I'll send this along from here if I have an envelope - mine are about gone and I may have none with me today - with a postcard of the valley. This is not the town where we are now but the one farther up where we lunched with the glacier up at the end of the valley - miles away - the dark green slopes, the clustered houses of the little town with its big church, the cultivated fields and just in front a little shrine. The shrines are so many - I don't know any place where they are so abundant, simple ones like this, or bigger ones with a cement wall and tiled roof, open on one side, with a place to kneel by a little altar above which there is a Virgin or a Crucifix or something. Many mountain paths have a "Calvary Way" with maybe 15 shrines, the "Stations of the Cross," each with its picture and inscription about a Biblical or legendary event in the last days of Christ's life. Some are crude, some are lovely. Often fresh flowers. We saw two little girls putting boquets [sic] of wild flowers by one shrine today. We went to church in Mittenwald - there is no doubt about the reality of the religion these people have. The priest seemed lie a well-educated and fine man, too. It is a wholly Catholic region. When the folks meet you they say "Gruss Gott" - about like "God be with you" I think.
But we must leave this lovely place, hunt up some supper, even though we have just had tea and a lovely cake with wild strawberries and cream,a nd then get the last bus into the little city of Innsbruck. We are at a small hotel where we have balconies toward the mountain.
Much love to you, Jessee dear. Anon I shall have a letter from you. I want to know about your new house.
July 14