[ILLUSTRATIONS]

  1. page
  2. The Approach to the Stelvio Pass [2]
  3. A French Highway [11]
  4. The Brandenburger Thor [20]
  5. Cutting Across the Glacier [34]
  6. Lake Como, Most Beautiful of the Italian Lakes [44]
  7. Italian Villas on Lake Como [48]
  8. Above the Val d'Aosta [54]
  9. The Rhone at Lyons [66]
  10. Out of the Silence and Gloom [80]
  11. The Ancient Roman Theater at Orange [86]
  12. Arc de Triomphe at Orange [88]
  13. The Palace of the Popes at Avignon [90]
  14. The Ruined Bridge of St. Benezet at Avignon [92]
  15. The Maison Carrée at Nîmes [94]
  16. The Castle and Double Line of Fortifications at Carcassonne [102]
  17. The Walled City of Carcassonne [104]
  18. The Pyrenees Were in Sight [112]
  19. Ice Peaks of the Pyrenees [116]
  20. The Grande Plage at Biarritz [126]
  21. The Ox-carts Were Curious Creations [134]
  22. The Death Stroke [140]
  23. A Familiar Village Scene in Provincial France [156]
  24. A Miracle of Gothic Splendor [162]
  25. A Convenient Way to Carry Bread [176]
  26. The Road Swept Us Along the Bank of the Loire [180]
  27. The Château of Loches Behind Its Imposing Entrance [186]
  28. The Château of Chenonceaux [190]
  29. The Château of Amboise on the Loire [194]
  30. The Wheat Fields of Normandy [198]
  31. The Gothic Cathedral at Chartres [200]
  32. The Seine at Rouen [208]
  33. Where Jeanne d'Arc was Burned at the Stake [212]

[PREFACE]

The following pages have not been written to supplement the thousands of guide books about Europe. Long, technical descriptions have been avoided. An endeavor has been made, rather, to give our personal impressions of the Old World from a motor car. Our itinerary overlooked the larger cities whose contents have been so well inventoried by Baedeker. The life of the peasantry, the small towns seldom visited by American tourists, quaint villages unapproached by any railroad, the superb roads and views of the Tyrol, the crossing of the Alps over the snow-crowned Stelvio into Italy, the flight through northern Italy to Como, loveliest of the Italian lakes—such unique experiences amid beautiful scenery appealed to us more than the attractions of the crowded metropolis. We were out for a motor ramble instead of a sight-seeing tour. Our route did not follow entirely the familiar highways of tourist traffic. From the summit of the Alps we were to see, far below us, the valleys of picturesque Savoy. Then came the long, thrilling descent into France through Provençe, that treasure land of Roman antiquity, through the Pyrenees, lifting their huge barriers between France and Spain, to Biarritz on the Atlantic. Spain was before us, the pastoral beauties of Limousin and Périgord, the châteaux of Touraine, and the cathedrals of Normandy.