COACH TOURING ON THE CONTINENT.
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A Brief Account of a Short Coaching Holiday in the Rhineland, and What it Revealea;
ALL that I have read about the old university town of Heidelberg had always interested me— the old, battered Schloss ruins ligh up above the Neckar, the glamour and romance of it, the students' duels and their beer-drinking bouts. The play of " Old Heidelberg" had stimulated my desires, so as I learnt of a weekly series_ of coach tours which included the Rhineland and some hours on a Rhine steamboat, capitulated, and the end of July saw me, under the mgis of Thomas Cook and Sons, finding my way via Ostend to Cologne, from which centre the AutobuS G.M.B.H., acting for the principal British touring agencies, undertook the transport by motor coaches and provided a conductor and an assistant, who were perfectly tireless. Herr • Volkinuth proved himself to be a fine type of educated German, with the history of the Rhine castles and of the various wars stored in the cellars of his memory—a great asset to the tour.
The cavalcade consisted of three fine Mercedes coaches well driven and very comfortable. Coach " C" carried only a dozen passengers, the other space being given up to the luggage of the party. On a similar tour earlier in the• year " C " coach, travelling in third place, broke down and the luggage arrived late at night, so now the luggage car. is kept carefully in the front.
After visiting the cathedral and Jerry of the trip, an Albion, conveying beer ; the others encountered were mainly of Saurer and Bussing makes. Light vans and local 'Private cars were almost entirely made by Opel.
Bad Ems was the destination for the first night. This is a German spa on the banks of the River Latm, a delightful spot, unknown by name to most, but the universal favourite of the tour.
Next day to Limburg (not the place of cheese fame) with its cathedral, which included Moorish architecture, then over tit* Taunus mountains, through Koningstein, at which place we caught first sight of the British soldiers still in occupation. Later in the tour we saw scores at Wiesbaden, and they were evidently on very good terms with the feminine population, which probably accounted for their fervent wish not to return to England, expressed to some inquirers belonging to our party. On the other band, in the towns occupied by the French we never saw a native of either sex conversing with the soldiery. We saw. black French soldiers from North Africa in occupation, also troops who appeared to be Chinamen in French uniform.
We would gladly have spent another day or more at Heidelberg. It is the Mecca of students from many. countries. Joyous bands of them, happy young people, made the streets noisy but_ vastly interesting. I thought, ignorantly, that the Germans had dropped the face gashing in their fencing duels, but I saw in . the street several young students with great. slits "not. aek Old.
We were summoned far too early
from our beds at Wiesbaden in order to include a visit to the Hot Springs, and later on, a champagne factory. The hot salt water was sniffed at and was mostly "firmly but respectfully declined "—not so the glass of champagne offered to each visitor after trooping through, what seemed to be, miles of cellars.
We went through leagues of the wine country, boarded a Rhine steamer near Bingen and had two or three hours of the finest Rhine scenery, but 'fast motoring seemed to have spoilt us for a slow, crowded steamboat, and we were glad to get back to our coach armchairs. When passing the famous Lorelei Rack, community singing broke out lustily but sweetly from the Germans aboard—the song was, of course, Heinrich Heine's " Lorelei Maiden" and the harmony made a lasting impression upon one.
We went up to the Dracheafels by funicular railway and the view on all sides' proved to be unforgettable.
In six days we saw one German soldier ; he was at Darmstadt guarding a palace. I understand they are not allowed within 40 miles of English or French occupation.
One more item of interest in connection with commercial transport. On our return to Cologne I found that the streets were full of singleseater cabs ; my baggage and I found our way to the station in one; the driver sat by my side' with a partition between us and a window which could be let down to speak to. him if desired.
Perhaps the sight on the "Rhine which made the most vivid impression . on the English mind was the string of steamboats flying the French flag going slowly up the Rhine into French territory from Germany, day and night, carrying coals—" Reparations," said our German guide,. sententiously. J.A.J.