This is not a love story. These wings are wings of motion, not of Cupid, yet there is much of romance and story in these pages,—for who can travel the plaisant pays de France and not dip deeply into both?
When I entered my red machine at Nice no route had been laid out,—to me there is small pleasure in travel when that is done,—so I told Jean to start and left the direction to him. Being French he naturally turned towards his own country, and knowing whither the superb highways and enchanting byways could lead one, I tacitly agreed, and we glided away by the level sea and on into the olive-crowned hill of Provence, to where Aix—the home of politeness—dreams the years away and the air seems still to echo to King René's music. Arles, Narbonne, fantastic Carcassonne, Lourdes, and Pau followed in rapid succession, and then we rested awhile at Biarritz with short journeys into Spain. Turning northward we rolled off into Central France, pausing daily in some ancient city or quaint village, climbing mountains to long forgotten castles, or rolling into valleys in search of deserted abbeys.
So we wandered through Auvergne, through courtly Touraine, sad Anjou, and stormy Brittany, until Normandy and Picardy smiled into our faces and Paris received us within her gates. Exploring the surroundings of that great city as one can do only in an auto, we finally glided off through the forest of Fontainebleau and Côte-d'Or to the mountains of the Vosges and thence over the Schlucht to the Rhine Valley to Freiburg, and up to Baden-Baden. There the spirits of the woods seized upon us and we promptly got lost in the Black Forest, and so rolled on into Switzerland to Geneva and finally to Aix-les-Bains, where the journey ended and I bade goodbye to my staunch car which had carried me without mishap or delay for near five thousand miles. To its winged wheels the highest mountains of France were no barrier.
If all this pleases you, read these pages—if not, drop the book.
M. S. M.
Union Club, N. Y.
June, 1906.
[CONTENTS]
| [ CHAPTER I.] | Page |
| Monte Carlo | 1 |
| [ CHAPTER II.] | |
| Our Departure from Nice—The Road to Aix—The City of King René | 8 |
| [ CHAPTER III.] | |
| The Road to Arles—The Camargue—Ruins of Arles—The "Aliscamps" | 17 |
| [ CHAPTER IV.] | |
| The Route to Tarascon—Castle of King René—Beaucaire—Nîmes—Montpellier—An Accident—Narbonne, Ancient and Modern | 22 |
| [ CHAPTER V.] | |
| The Approach to Carcassonne—Its Picturesqueness—Its Restoration and History | 29 |
| [ CHAPTER VI.] | |
| The Route to Toulouse—Great Machines on the Roads of France—Delights of an Auto—Toulouse—Its University—The Château de St. Elix | 36 |
| [ CHAPTER VII.] | |
| The Death of a Dog—Encounters on the Highway—Travellers by the Way—People of the Provinces—Lourdes—Her Superstition and her Visions | 43 |
| [ CHAPTER VIII.] | |
| Pau and the Life there—Delightful Roads—Ancient Orthez—Madame and her Hotel—The Château of Bidache and its History | 49 |
| [ CHAPTER IX.] | |
| The Route to Biarritz—Biarritz—The Hôtel du Palais | 58 |
| [ CHAPTER X.] | |
| The Road to the Mountains—St. Jean-Pied-de-Port—St. Jean-de-Luz—Marriage of Louis xiv—Island of Pheasants—The Roads in Spain—The Soldiers of Spain—San Sebastian | 62 |
| [ CHAPTER XI.] | |
| Departures for the North—Crazy Chickens—Grand Roads—Dax—Rides through the Forests—French Scenery and People—Marmande—Automobile Club of France and its Work | 69 |
| [ CHAPTER XII.] | |
| Rapid Motion—Beaumont—Races and Dashes—Cadouin and its Cloisters—The Route to Tulle | 76 |
| [ CHAPTER XIII.] | |
| The Great Course of Belmont—Difficult Steering—The "Cup Gordon Bennett"—The Mountains to Clermont-Ferrand | 82 |
| [ CHAPTER XIV.] | |
| Climbing a Mountain in an Auto—The Château of Tournoël—Its History—Descent of the Mountain | 86 |
| [ CHAPTER XV.] | |
| Ancient Town of Riom—The Route to Vichy—Château de Bourbon-Busset—Vichy—The Life there—Danger of Speeding—Arrival at Bourges | 95 |
| [ CHAPTER XVI.] | |
| Ancient Bourges—Its Cathedral—House of Jacques Cœur—Louis XI. and the Hôtel Lallement—The Hôtel Cujas—The Ride to Meillant—Its Superb Château—Its Legend | 102 |
| [ CHAPTER XVII.] | |
| Departures from Bourges—The Château of Mehun—The Death of Charles VII—The Valleys of Touraine—Roads by the Loire—Entrance to Tours | 113 |
| [ CHAPTER XVIII.] | |
| Ride to Loches—An Accident—The Castle of Loches—Its History—The Cages of Louis XI.—Their Cost to the King—Agnes Sorel—The Mistresses of French Kings versus their Queens | 116 |
| [ CHAPTER XIX.] | |
| Automobiles in Tours—Departure from the City—The Road to Chinon—Romance and History of Chinon—The Abbey of Fontevrault—Richard Cœur de Lion and his Tomb—The Dead King Henry II | 130 |
| [ CHAPTER XX.] | |
| The Road to Angers—Cathedral and Tomb of King René—Castle of Black Angers—Cradle of the Plantagenets—History—To Chateaubriant in a Storm—A French Inn—Rennes and the Trial of Dreyfus—The Roads in Brittany—Arrival at St.-Malo—The Ride to Mont St.-Michel—Inn of the Poulard Âiné—The Cathedral and Castle—Their History | 138 |
| [ CHAPTER XXI.] | |
| Arrival at Caen—William the Norman and Charlotte Corday—Church of St. Étienne—People and Railroads of Normandy—Rouen and its Churches—The Maid of Orleans, History or Legend?—Castle of Philippe Le Bel—Departure from Rouen | 149 |
| [ CHAPTER XXII.] | |
| The Race through Picardy—Amiens Cathedral—Its Vastness—The Road to Boulogne | 161 |
| [ CHAPTER XXIII.] | |
| The Ride to Beauvais—Dead Dogs—Great Churches—Beauvais by Night—Vast Wealth of the Churches of France—Wonderful Tapestries | 166 |
| [ CHAPTER XXIV.] | |
| The Route to Saint-Germain-en-Laye—The People—The Castle and Terrace—Their Picturesque History—First View of Paris | 174 |
| [ CHAPTER XXV.] | |
| Paris and her so-called Republican Government—Necessity for an Automobile—The Ride to Chartres—Cathedral Notre Dame—The Aqueduct at Maintenon and its Burden of Sorrow—The Castle of Maintenon—Madame and Louis XIV.—St. Cyr and her Death—Return to Paris | 180 |
| [ CHAPTER XXVI.] | |
| My Chauffeur Summoned by the Government—The New Man—Yama's Opinion of Paris—Speed of Autos in Paris | 194 |
| [ CHAPTER XXVII.] | |
| Departure from Paris—The Cemetery of the Picpus—Ride through the Forest of Fontainebleau to Sens—The Cathedral—Tomb of the Dauphins—The Great Route to Geneva—Stoned by Boys—Tonnerre | 198 |
| [ CHAPTER XXVIII.] | |
| Dijon—The French and Fresh Water—The Antiquities of Dijon—Ride through the Côte d'Or—Arrival at Besançon | 208 |
| [ CHAPTER XXIX.] | |
| The Fortress of Besançon—Autos in Heavy Rains—Dreams—Belfort—Entrance into the Vosges—The Rise to Ballon d'Alsace—Superb Ride to Gérardmer | 215 |
| [ CHAPTER XXX.] | |
| Gérardmer and the Mountains—A Wedding—French Courtship—Excursion to St. Dié—Over the Col de la Schlucht—German Custom House—"Always a German"—Colmar—Rhine Valley—Arrival at Freiburg | 222 |
| [ CHAPTER XXXI.] | |
| Freiburg—Fantastic City—The Youths of Germany—Music and Legends of the Old Town—Cathedral by Moonlight | 227 |
| [ CHAPTER XXXII.] | |
| From Freiburg to Baden-Baden—Through the Woods to Gernsbach—Superb Roads—People of the Black Forest—Crossing the Danube—Customs Regulations as to Autos—An Old Swiss Mansion—The Ride to Geneva and Aix-les-Bains | 232 |