After coming back to Jena, I immediately packed up all my clothes and set off the next day for a far away home. My money was already so low that I had to use a fourth-class carriage to get ahead. Traveling in them is certainly no fun, but short distances can be done with your fists when you want to move forward quickly, and that’s the case with the fourth-class carriages, which are usually placed in front of all the other passenger carriages, right behind the steam locomotive, for the best smell and smoke.
My journey first went through Halle to Berlin. And since I hadn’t had time to take a closer look at this German capital on my way out, I decided to do it on my way home. On the first day, however, I didn’t have time to take a more than a cursory look at the city center. You see, I first crossed the handsome Castle Bridge, decorated with statues , and then walked along the most handsome street in Berlin, “Unter den Linden”. Bädeker’s red-cover travel guide was in my hand as if to bait the long-fingered rascals of Berlin, the so-called Bauernfänger, whom I wanted to get to know, to find out if they were as dangerous as the rumor told them. I didn’t have to wait a long time, when a smartly dressed gentleman approaches me and starts making acquaintances, asking when this and that museum or art convention is open. He said he was a farm owner from Holstein, had just come to Berlin for the first time, which is why he asked to accompany me, because I had as good a guide as that red-capped Bädeker. While I was looking for an answer to his questions in my Bädeker, that gentleman’s eyes were spinning around in his head in a strange way. And we hadn’t traveled a long way together, when the city, which had just been completely strange to him, suddenly becomes quite familiar to him. He advises me here and there. He really wanted me to go to a certain market, where he said syringes were to be viewed, and there was a lot of people gathered there, princely persons and other famous people of Berlin could be seen there. That excessive fervor of my companion seemed to me suspicious, for which reason I paid no attention to his exhortations. But it was more difficult to get a special club from him than I had thought at the beginning. Step by step he followed me all the way down Unter den Linden to the Brandenburg Gate. Here he made one last attempt to trap me. Empty wagons happened to pass by and now everything had to be loaded into them. But I wasn’t the kind of creature that would go to hell so easily. When at last he found all his efforts in vain, he left me alone. He really wanted me to go to a certain market, where he said syringes were to be viewed, and there was a lot of people gathered there, princely persons and other famous people of Berlin could be seen there. That excessive fervor of my companion seemed to me suspicious, for which reason I paid no attention to his exhortations. But it was more difficult to get a special club from him than I had thought at the beginning. Step by step he followed me all the way down Unter den Linden to the Brandenburg Gate. Here he made one last attempt to trap me. Empty wagons happened to pass by and now everything had to be loaded into them. But I wasn’t the kind of creature that would go to hell so easily. When at last he found all his efforts in vain, he left me alone. He really wanted me to go to a certain market, where he said syringes were to be viewed, and there was a lot of people gathered there, princely persons and other famous people of Berlin could be seen there. That excessive fervor of my companion seemed to me suspicious, for which reason I paid no attention to his exhortations. But it was more difficult to get a special club from him than I had thought at the beginning. Step by step he followed me all the way down Unter den Linden to the Brandenburg Gate. Here he made one last attempt to trap me. Empty wagons happened to pass by and now everything had to be loaded into them. But I wasn’t the kind of creature that would go to hell so easily. When at last he found all his efforts in vain, he left me alone.
After a while I had gazed in amazement at the image of the gallant Victoria riding a four-bridle horse on the ridge of the Brandenburg Gate, I entered the Thiergarten park through the same gate and now directed my way there towards the Victory Column visible in the distance. Brazenly it rises in an open field 195 feet into the blue sky. It rests on a mighty gray stone base, the four sides of which are depicted in copper with incidents from the wars of 1864, 66, 70 and 71, to commemorate the victories of which this tall column was erected. On the front page we see how that victorious army, with trumpets blowing, led by the emperor, comes rejoicing home to Berlin and how the maidens of the capital in festive dress come to meet them and offer the emperor that blood-earned laurel wreath. On other pages, a lesser melee of the sword is depicted; how the angel of death reaps that half-ripened grain; how in conquering this and that battery the victors rejoice and the vanquished flee in agony. Sixteen fewer marble statues stand on this platform, and above them the column itself rises free, surrounded on three sides by gilded pitchers that have been won in wars. At the highest end of the column is a winged gilded image of Victoria: she holds a victorious war flag in her left hand and raises a large golden laurel wreath in her right hand.
Tired of this watching, I sat down on the steps of the memorial statue, to rest a little. But what rest would have been had here! All kinds of swindlers and idle reporters buzz around this column and harass the traveler, offering their bad photos of Berlin and its curiosities for sale. Since I didn’t get any peace from them, and since I knew that this park was unsafe at night, I started walking back towards the city. Again, as I approached the Brandenburg Gate, my recent bully, the Holsteiner, arose from a seat in the garden, and is now approaching me again. The whole time that I had been looking at the Victory Column, he had been keeping an eye on me, and now I guess he thought that I was definitely missing his hook. He had already ordered the carriage, and now there’s nothing to do but to jump in and then drive over there to the glorified spray show. But I was too wise to do that. Many an idiot has allowed himself to be swindled in that way and has been carried away, God knew where, and has been exposed to the skin. If that Holstein friend of mine really was one of those great Berlin scumbags, then he did his job somewhat stupidly.
The first thing I did the next day was to go see Berlin’s excellent Akvario. Few of my readers have probably ever seen such a thing, and many hardly know what such an institution means. I therefore ask the reader to follow me there for a moment. In advance, I can already inform you that it is a large building for keeping reptiles and aquatic animals. This aquarium found in Berlin is said to be the largest and best of its kind in the world. It is in the middle of the city along Unter den Linden. In the first room we enter, all kinds of creatures, big and small, are buzzing. Small ponds, sandpits and bushes surrounded by transparent glass walls have been prepared as places for them to crawl. Then we go from room to room, from one floor to another, all of which have water tanks for fish and other aquatic animals. Here, through the glass walls, we can see through the day how the big pike are trying to swim, how a thoughtful school of perch is slithering between the rocks at the bottom of the pond. A few tanks, on the other hand, show the multi-hairy, sometimes purple, sometimes green, velvet-like bottom of the sea, and barnacles, clams and other sea creatures enliven these brilliant underwater fields. Now a larger hall opens before us, in the middle of which a spacious pond has been placed; from it rises a multi-rayed spray fountain, and a countless number of small birds romp here, flying loosely in the fine rain that sprinkles from that fountain, while the long-legged wading birds visit the reedy banks of the pond or stand on one foot near the pond with a rocket on a stone ruin. All this is surrounded by a high iron net, or cage. Parrots screech on the walls, and in one dark room a gaping crocodile gapes, while the turtles swim and paddle along the edges of their water tanks. We step even lower and come to completely dark vaults where the day never shines. They are lit by gaslight, and for those of us who are tired of visiting and watching, there are all kinds of refreshments on offer. However, you have to be on your guard even in these dark corridors, because those Berlin equalizers penetrate here as well, and on the walls we see inscriptions that remind us to be on our guard. From these underground huts we rise again, going from room to room, from floor to floor, until finally we come out of this aquatic kingdom again into the bright air of God.
After seeing these wonders, I went to see the art treasures of Berlin ‘s old and new museums . But since it is difficult for the reader to follow me through those most halls and chambers where the works of the best stone carvers and painters of Germany are kept, let him remain outside to marvel at the Athenian colonnade of that old museum and those exterior wall decorations, while I let that art into the home, to enjoy its delights.
My travels had already taken half of the day, but since we still have the whole afternoon to ourselves, let’s go see what the Berlin Zoo has to offer us. We travel again from the beginning to the end of the Unter den Linden street, we enter the Thiergarten through the Brandenburg Gate and go through this park until about halfway, then we turn left and come to that actual zoo, We can’t get lost, because already in the distance we can hear the roar of the lions and the bear’s roar, whose guidance we may reliably follow. As soon as we enter the shelter, we see iron cages on both sides of the corridors, where all kinds of birds from near and far are kept. There a hawk screeches, here a screech owl screams, and the owls stare ghostly in their half-dark dens. The great Condor eagle rests here peacefully in the sunshine and seems lost in deep thought. Does that distant stranger remember from the snowy Andes mountains of South America? There follow countless birds from all over the world, from the tiny Hummingbird to the great Great Starling Crane from the sandy uplands of Africa, which, the size of a horse, paces in its cage and stretches its long throat over a high fence. Here the thrushes are chirping, there the ravens are chirping and the sparrows are having fun. The rest of the animal kingdom is equally abundantly represented here. A kangaroo from Australia stretches its long hind legs there, and a polar bear even sniffs back, diving from one side to the other in its pool of water. The Indian elephant makes a closer acquaintance with the pockets of the spectators, examining whether there are sweets hidden in them for him; and throw any small silver coin on the ground, and he will pick it up with his proboscis, give it to his nurse, and make you an awkward bow. The most charming thing, however, is watching our grizzly bears climb trees, beg for alms from onlookers and fight over a piece of wheat bread that you throw into their cage. Those monkeys with human grimaces are quite nasty against that. There is no feeling of shyness in them. In the presence of all, they practice the most hideous vices; and they are also cunning and dog-disciplined. There, the mother takes her cubs to drink water from a small pool of water; at the same time, a hound comes sneaking up behind and pushes the unsuspecting family’s somersault into the pool of water. After doing this prank, he rushes wildly, with the speed of lightning, to the uppermost poles of the cage, as if he was only surprised by the accidental accident of his fellows. However, there are some good aspects to be observed in these animals. They take care of their pens very carefully, clean them of cancer, share, in the manner of a head-scratcher, turn the shedding from the shedding and pluck out any excess cattle that have stuck to the root of the hair.
At seven o’clock the animals were given food and it was quite strange to watch how the bloodthirsty tigers, red deer and other beasts’ eyes sparkled, when the feeder with a handcart licked past the bloody meat with chopsticks and poked a good number of claws in front of each beast with an iron club. Impatient, they jumped and screamed and repelled their iron bars before the feeder could give them their number. A big lion with a strong crest was very angry when the tiger closest to him was given a piece of meat before he was given it. Several times he was the last to jump against the tiger’s cage, so that those iron toes crunched, and he didn’t wake up from screaming until he got his share.
From the zoo, I then went to the circus. A famous English horse artist and animal tamer was currently visiting Berlin, and since I didn’t know of any better way to end the evening, I decided to go to this horse fun, where I now kindly ask my readers to follow me. For two German marks, we get a comfortable seat on the right side of the exhibition room, or rather the tent. The back door opens and a woman, dressed in a short, shimmering skirt, appears on the back of a horse. Even though his horse gallops around the show area on all fours, he still does a lot of gallops on its back, jumps several times through the bridle placed in front of him and even does somersaults in the air and still gets to his feet on the back of that horse that runs at a good pace. Twice, of course, that performance in the air failed him, so that he fell from his horse’s back to the ground, without injuring himself, but the third time it succeeded, and now he was met with shouts of applause and clapping of hands from the spectators all around him, Dropping to his front knees, his horse made a deep bow to the spectators and disappeared in the same exhibition field. After that, even more private horse riders came into view and made the wildest leaps with their horseshoes, but we prefer not to mention such shenanigans, because to us they look more like animal fights than fun. It was even nicer to see when a whole group of riders, men and women in pairs, appeared in the show area and did all the handsome dances. Those beautiful horses danced very nicely to the rhythm of our modern French. But the crowd of spectators also rewarded the dance performance of those strange students of Terpsikore with loud shouts of bravo and clapping of hands.
During the holidays, two clowns dressed in jester-like costumes amused the viewers with their silly tricks and pranks. It was very charming to see how one of them threw six peaked felt hats over the entire exhibition area and covered them so skillfully that the other one didn’t have to grab them with his hands or fit them on his head. They weren’t bad at jumping either. You see, at first only two or three horses were placed side by side, and over them they crunched from a kind of board, as if it was just a children’s game. The number of horses was then increased as they were added,
When the horseplays were over, five elephants were brought into view. It was not fun to watch how those clumsy animals were forced to twist their rigid members at the will of the leader. Sometimes they were allowed to crawl on all fours on their knees, sometimes to hobble from the front, sometimes from the back, or jump with two or even one leg and throw somersaults. The biggest of them was shaking badly while doing these tricks: I guess he didn’t like that game.
After the elephants, an iron cage transported by carts was thrown into view, in which two tigers who wanted to visit even stepped back. Those terrible yellow-spotted cats were really beautiful animals. A profound silence fell upon the crowd of spectators, when the tamer of those animals, armed with but a small whip, mounted the cart with the wheel, carefully opened the door of the cage, and crept in among those monsters. My heart really skipped a beat when I saw this. However, the tigers were not at all like that two-legged newcomer; one of them just grunted as if in greeting. And those beasts and their tamers seemed to be good friends. The larger of the tigers raised its purposeful paws on the tamer’s shoulders, as if for a hug. Then the tamer got on the back of his four-legged companion and rode around the cage a few times in this strange celebration. Both then landed at the bottom of the cage to rest next to each other. Even the tamer opened the terrible gape of his bedmate and settled his head in that living grave. This was not fun to see. A large number of viewers got up from their seats and left the exhibition room.
When the tigers had completed their task, other chariots were pushed into view, which also had a strong iron cage and three lions in it. One of these animals was indeed quite a worthy creature, and strode majestically into his prison cell, glancing around proudly. Silence again entered the room, and a crowd of onlookers went out, when the tamer, armed with pistol and whip, mounted the cart wheel, opened the cage door, and slipped in among the beasts. The largest of the lions snarled badly and crouched down, as we see a cat do before it jumps on the neck of its prey. The tamer stood motionless and kept a close eye on the lion’s movements. He then whistled a little with his whip and at the same time the sting went off and the lion jumped screaming to one side of the cage and the tamer to the other. In this way they paced the position for several rounds until that multi-barrelled pistol was fired. The tamer then carefully opened the cage door again, and dived out. However, this game seemed to me too exciting and soon dangerous; for it could easily have happened that when the tamer cracked open the door of the cage to get out, one of those monsters would have slipped out of his captivity. And what would have happened when such a cruel man had gotten into the crowd? I was really giddy to think about such an unfortunate possibility. However, this game seemed to me too exciting and soon dangerous; for it could easily have happened that when the tamer cracked open the door of the cage to get out, one of those monsters would have slipped out of his captivity. And what would have happened when such a cruel man had gotten into the crowd? I was really giddy to think about such an unfortunate possibility. However, this game seemed to me too exciting and soon dangerous; for it could easily have happened that when the tamer cracked open the door of the cage to get out, one of those monsters would have slipped out of his captivity. And what would have happened when such a cruel man had gotten into the crowd? I was really giddy to think about such an unfortunate possibility.
That was the end of the joys of that evening and I ran to my lodge to rest after today’s somewhat tiring excursions. During the whole night, however, I could not sleep peacefully, because my thoughts still revolved around tigers, lions, elephants, snakes, and God knew what all the hawks and long legs that I had seen during the day and which my imagination, now unrestrained, described as more terrible than hell.
When I woke up in the morning, I thought I had already seen enough of Berlin and its peculiarities, which is why I decided to go on a trip closer to my beloved home towards the North.
I now had two ways to choose: either travel back via Königsberg and St. Petersburg, i.e. the same way I had come, or via Lübeck, Copenhagen, Malmö and Stockholm. I chose the latter trip, because it would give me the opportunity to get to know more of the world and, besides that, it would also be more fun and multi-staged than that lonely trip through the desolate Russian countryside, the boredom of which I had experienced enough already in the winter. A third career would have been offered, namely from Lüpek directly across the Baltic Sea, but it didn’t even occur to me, because I didn’t really travel to see swamps, water and sky.
So I went like I went to Lübeck for the first time. The journey went through the most flat provinces, where there was not much of a stage to be seen. Fields, meadows and rare forests just flashed past me, while I rode on an iron fire horse and peeped out of the small windows of the fourth-class carriages, until Büchen I endured this state of reduction, but then I rose to the first upper class and now traveled like a gentleman all the way to Lübeck, where I arrived in the evening intact and in a good mood. I spent the night in a hotel called Helsingfors . This already felt a little more homely, when you could rest on the soft sheets of a guest house with such a beloved name.
The next day I went to look at the city, which is a rocket in a strange way: the rows of rooms do not touch the streets with their sides, but with their ends. At 12 o’clock I went to that handsome two-towered St. Mary’sto church. There was already a whole bunch of people gathered there, and everyone had settled behind an old clock stand at the back of the church. I also went there to see what the hell was waiting there. And what a wonder! As soon as the clock struck 12, a small door opened from the back of that old belfry, from which Saint Peter and his brother Andrew, James, Simon Zelotes and all the other apostles passed out on a semicircular plate; and when they had reached the middle pole of their walks, each one made a turn to the right and bowed deeply to the image of Christ standing in the center of the semicircle; then they all continued their journey forward again, until they disappeared again into the watch cabinet from which they had come. When I was looking at this freak here, I heard in the crowd behind me in the dialect of Western Finland strange reminders of those fishermen of the Sea of Galilee, and when I looked behind me, I saw some of our own sailors there. They said they were from Rauma and their ship was docked here in Lübeck harbor. This was the first time, after half a year’s absence, that I could hear my mother speak my language again.
In the evening of the same day, I already left Lübeck and traveled by steamer across the southwestern bay of the Baltic Sea, i.e. the so-called Mecklenburg Bay, towards Copenhagen. At first, the journey was slow for a long time along that complicated, reed-banked Trave river, at the mouth of which a large English steamship had run aground, and it was now seen that efforts were being made to extricate it, so that the bottom of the water around the ship was deepened with the help of mud barges. When Travemünde was passed, the left shore began to disappear from view and the open sea spread out in front of us, but the sandy coast of Mecklenburg still loomed on our right side for a long time. The weather was absolutely beautiful and this sea trip went all the more smoothly. The night surprised us in the middle of the back of the sea, and when the morning started to dawn again, the white chalk beach of Möen island came into view on the left hand side. After a few moments I rose from the waves of Falsterbo on the Swedish coast. The wind now began to blow and was against us. Several ships were visible on the sea and it was beautiful to watch how these magnificent swans of the sea, cruising against the wind, with full sails blew past us sometimes from our right, sometimes from our left side. And the closer we got to the limit of our journey, the more lively this movement on the sea became. Finally, the shroud of fog that until now had kept Copenhagen hidden, like a precious pearl, disappeared. Usma rose up into the sky like a fine white cloud, and the magnificent towers and shining white walls of the city came into view. It was about 8 o’clock in the morning when our ship landed on the beach. Several ships were visible on the sea and it was beautiful to watch how these magnificent swans of the sea, cruising against the wind, with full sails blew past us sometimes from our right, sometimes from our left side. And the closer we got to the limit of our journey, the more lively this movement on the sea became. Finally, the shroud of fog that until now had kept Copenhagen hidden, like a precious pearl, disappeared. Usma rose up into the sky like a fine white cloud, and the magnificent towers and shining white walls of the city came into view. It was about 8 o’clock in the morning when our ship landed on the beach. Several ships were visible on the sea and it was beautiful to watch how these magnificent swans of the sea, cruising against the wind, with full sails blew past us sometimes from our right, sometimes from our left side. And the closer we got to the limit of our journey, the more lively this movement on the sea became. Finally, the shroud of fog that until now had kept Copenhagen hidden, like a precious pearl, disappeared. Usma rose up into the sky like a fine white cloud, and the magnificent towers and shining white walls of the city came into view. It was about 8 o’clock in the morning when our ship landed on the beach. And the closer we got to the limit of our journey, the more lively this movement on the sea became. Finally, the shroud of fog that until now had kept Copenhagen hidden, like a precious pearl, disappeared. Usma rose up into the sky like a fine white cloud, and the magnificent towers and shining white walls of the city came into view. It was about 8 o’clock in the morning when our ship landed on the beach. And the closer we got to the limit of our journey, the more lively this movement on the sea became. Finally, the shroud of fog that until now had kept Copenhagen hidden, like a precious pearl, disappeared. Usma rose up into the sky like a fine white cloud, and the magnificent towers and shining white walls of the city came into view. It was about 8 o’clock in the morning when our ship landed on the beach.
The first thing I did when I got to town was, of course, to see Thorwaldsenmuseum where the masterpieces of that great Danish sculptor are kept. The museum itself is not a handsome building, but somehow simple in appearance, but on the other hand, it preserves in its chambers the most beautiful and noble things that can be seen in the field of sculpture. Here we see either carved in marble or cast in plaster the ancient Greek and Roman gods with their nymphs face to face, as they are, sometimes singly, sometimes in flocks. There the happy nymphs dance on Mount Helikon, here those sweet Grasias socialize in a familiar threesome. Minerva stands steady, leaning on her spear. Ganymede is watering Jupiter’s eagle on his knees, and that lovely Venus is smiling and looking at the apple that Paris has given her as a prize for beauty. Noble pictures from more recent times can also be seen here; and on one wall we see, among other things, the eras of love presented with high-resolution pictures. In it, the young maiden jumps around the happy, playful Cupid, not realizing how dangerous that seemingly innocent, winged favorite child can become for her. In the second picture, it has already flown to his chest, in the third, as his wife, he is carrying it on his arm, in the fourth, it has jumped onto the shoulders of his middle-aged husband, who is sitting worriedly with his hand on his cheek, and in the last picture, an old man with a long beard, leaning on a staff, is reaching for the fleeing knife in vain . without realizing how dangerous that seemingly innocent, winged favorite child can become for him. In the second picture, it has already flown to his chest, in the third, as his wife, he is carrying it on his arm, in the fourth, it has jumped onto the shoulders of his middle-aged husband, who is sitting worriedly with his hand on his cheek, and in the last picture, an old man with a long beard, leaning on a staff, is reaching for the fleeing knife in vain . without realizing how dangerous that seemingly innocent, winged favorite child can become for him. In the second picture, it has already flown to his chest, in the third, as his wife, he is carrying it on his arm, in the fourth, it has jumped onto the shoulders of his middle-aged husband, who is sitting worriedly with his hand on his cheek, and in the last picture, an old man with a long beard, leaning on a staff, is reaching for the fleeing knife in vain .
From the Thorvaldsen museum, I then went to the so-called Fruekirke , the capital’s main church. It is a noble-looking, columned, simple, unadorned building. Both sides of the church are decorated along its entire length with noble marble figures by Thorvaldsen, which present the twelve apostles, starting with John the Baptist and ending with the resurrected Christ. In front of the altar, there is a wonderfully wonderful image of an angel kneeling, holding a basin-like baptismal font with his hands. After climbing up to the tower of this church, from which there is an excellent open view over the city both towards the interior and along the Juutinrauma and the Baltic Sea, I left this holy place and went to watch the other meetings of the city. Among these is the so-called Kongelige museum for nordiske Oldsager excellent, and it is said that there is not another equal in the world; it is so rich in ancient remains from the stone, bronze, and iron ages as well. Military weapons, work and furniture, rune-sticks, costumes of all kinds, tombstones, etc. are here from all periods and in excellent order.
In the evening, of course, like everyone else, I went to Tivoli, where you can enjoy a wide variety of amusements for a small entrance fee. Here you live as if in some enchanted world that you read about as a child in some fairy tale. There, pantomimists danced in an open-air exhibition area, here some climbed on ropes, there others danced with young people. The iron tracks rumble as the downhillers ride, and the undercarriages thump as they shake their strength from the powerful blows. You can also get lucky here, if you have the money to spend on the lucky lady’s table. And if your knees want to bend to dance in this joy, you’re in for that fun too on those open dance floors. There is no shortage of music, because if one band stops, another one starts. In the evening, you can also row in the glow of hundreds of gas lights on those beautiful little ponds,
From Copenhagen I then traveled across the strait to Malmö on the Swedish side. The weather was kind to those who were trying to get out of Juutinrauma, and ships could be seen, as far as the eye could see, sailing one after the other out of the Baltic Sea in an unbroken line.
From Malmö, I extended my journey along the railway to Stockholm. The journey first went through the fertile land of Skaane and passed the city of Lund. After coming to Smaaland; the landscape gradually changed. The trip went through the most desolate forest lands, where there were few human dwellings to be seen. So we arrived at the end of the evening in beautiful Jönköping at the southern end of Lake Wettern. Here again, we didn’t linger any longer, but extended the journey in the twilight until Falköping, where the train stayed overnight and so did we passengers. Here, the branch from Gothenburg joins the Southern Sweden railway line. The next day we continued our journey through the middle of Sweden, between lakes Wettern and Wenern. We passed a few smaller towns and finally arrived in the evening in Stockholm, the handsome capital of Sweden.
In a hotel called Riga , I got myself a night’s lodging for a small fee. Then I went to look at the city, and it really surprised me to see writings in Finnish on the doors of a few shops and money exchange offices, which honor is rarely given to our mother tongue even in our own country. The next day I visited the so-called National museum, which stores the best of Sweden in the field of fine arts. However, somehow I went coldly through all those chambers with their treasures, because my soul was finally so tired from such continuous viewing that even the most beautiful work of art could no longer move it. That’s what I noticed during my short visit to this art treasure trove, anyway, that Swedish artists like round shapes a lot and a large part of their works, especially when it comes to sculptures, were depicted as resting naked in riotous poses.
From the National Museum, I then took a small steamboat to the so-called Djurgården park, which had been highly praised to me for its public amusements. But for those who come from Copenhagen and have seen Tivoli, Stockholm’s Djurgården (Zoo) offers nothing new.
From Stockholm I then traveled on a Finnish steamship to our old dear Turku; and when in the evening of the same day, when I had again arrived back in my homeland, I sat with a few friends by the totilasi with the front equipment of Sampalinna, it was my admission that in my entire journey I had not seen a single city as clean and tidy as that sleepy Turku on the banks of the Aurajoki, now sinking into the night in front of us .
