CANAL IN HAMBURG.
“From Hamburg we made a zigzag to Berlin and Potsdam. The railroad between the great German port and the brilliant capital is across a level country, the distance being about one hundred and seventy-five miles, or seven hours’ ride.
“Berlin, capital of Prussia and of the German Empire, the residence of the German Emperor, is situated in the midst of a vast plain; ‘an oasis of stone and brick in a Sahara of sand.’ It is about the size of New York, and it greatly resembles an American city, for the reason that everything there seems new.
“It has been called a city of palaces, and so it is, for many of the private residences would be fitting abodes for kings. The architecture is everywhere beautiful; all the elegances of Greek art meet the eye wherever it may turn. Ruins there are none; old quarters, none; quaint Gothic or mediæval buildings, none. The streets are so regular, the public squares so artistic, and the buildings such models of art, that the whole becomes monotonous.
“‘This is America over again,’ said an American traveller, who had joined our party. ‘Let us return.’
“Many of the buildings might remind one of the hanging gardens of old, so full are the balconies of flowers. The fronts of some of the private residences are flower gardens from the ground to the roofs.
“The emperor’s palace is the crowning architectural glory of the city. It is four hundred feet long.
“We visited the Zoölogical Gardens and the National Gallery of Pictures, the entrance to which makes a beautiful picture.