Grand Tour 1932

[Letter 15] Aboard the "Conte Grande" Alexandria, Egypt January 24, 1933 Dear Folks: This letter will not be mailed before tomorrow or the next day. We have been in a different port every day but one, so naturally there has not been much time for letter-writing. Nevertheless, I believe you have been getting more letters than you expected. We got to Alexandria this morning and waited a while for the Egyptian officials to examine and stamp the passports. These dark-skinned guards take your passport away from you when you get off the boat and give it back to you when you get on the boat. Rather odd. Well, that isn't the only odd thing to report. From Naples our ship headed for Phileron , a port of Athens the capital city of Greece. Cook's had a big group at five dollars a person, but we decided to take in the sights in our own way. We took the electric train to Athens and then engaged a taxi. Soon we arrived at the famous stone hill, the Acropolis and were climbing th

[Letter 14] Aboard SS "Conte Grande" January 18, 1933 Dear Folks, Here I am in the Lounge at a round table, typing on ship-board. I believe letters 1 and 2 also were written on board a boat. There is half an hour or so before dinner and I am tired of resting and reading in the stateroom. I expect to mail this letter in Naples to-morrow. One of the things I mean to mention in a previous letter is the way the land is utilized. The land is terraced: that is, a long stone wall is built and then a horizontal "step" is made, say eight or ten feet wide and then another vertical wall. From a distance the hill looks like a flight of broad steps, the verticals being gray and the horizontals being green. Think of the vast amount of labor used to wring a little fertile area out of nature. Our friends at the Victoria were genuinely sorry to see us go. Madame Lange, the charming Lithuanian lady, was interested in improving her English and in enjoying a good game of bridge. She, h

[Letter 13] Hotel Victoria Cannes, France Jan 13, 1933 Dear Folks The reason for my writing two days ahead of time is this: The "Bremen" leaves Cherbourg on the 15th and gets to New York on the 20th. As I have very interesting news for you, I thought I would rush this letter out sooner. So, here you are! I omitted to tell you in previous letters about our " carte d'identite ". All foreigners who stayin France more than two months are supposed to apply for one. Dora and I went down to the City Hall December 7th and answered a lot of questions about my mother's father's name etc. Then we had to pay 100 francs each and were given our identification cards, each with a terrible picture on it, which we had previously taken. Some people escape paying the tax by checking out to Italy for one night and then returning. Of course they would have to do that every sixty days. On New Year's day we had a grand dinner. Again I dusted off my old Tuxedo. Well this ev

[Letter 12] Hotel Victoria Cannes, France December 31, 32 Dear Folks, Long life and health to little Martin Klein who arrived December eight to bring joy to David and Dorothy. The first news came from David. Bertha's letter mailed the same day did not get here till four days later. Dave's letter made the trip in ten days. The time varies from nine to fifteen days, depending on whether you just catch a boat. Usually we get a lot of mail on Saturday. December 17th we received a dozen pieces, December 24th we got thirteen. Yesterday we received Bertha's letter telling us about the baby's name. Also there were letters from Si Abrahams and the teachers in my school. They praised the Christmas card I painted for the school staff. The principal had put it up on the bulletin for them all to see. People are beginning to write a bit more. Nearly all the Ladies of Dora's Sisterhood to whom she wrote have answered. We heard from Genevieve Lane and got a card from the maid, Lann

[Letter 11] Hotel Victoria, Cannes, FRANCE December 15, 32 Dear Folks, These last two weeks have been the quietest we have had since we started our trip. On many of the days the skies were gray; occasionally it rained. We therefore did not undertake the trips we had in view. Several times I went down to the harbor and made use of my watercolors. Dora took a trip to Nice to reserve rooms for our homeward trip early in April. Being unencumbered by Marcus and me, she "did" the city thoroughly. The straight, tree-lined Avenue de la Victoire is crowded with people. Window-shopping is delightful -- and safe. Another day Dora accompanied three old ladies, fine old British specimens, to Monte Carlo . No, they did not go near the Casino. They went to reserve rooms (for the three old ladies) who are going there after Christmas. Later they will move on to Menton. The run from Cannes to Nice is nothing wonderful, but from Nice to Monte Carlo it is truly marvellous, says Dora. One pass

[Letter 9] Hotel Victoria Cannes, FRANCE November 18, 32 Dear Folks In my last letter I did not say much about our trip to Menton , Monte Carlo etc. because part of the trip was during the rain and so, though were were thrilled by the wonderful views, we decided then and there that we must take that journey again, in perfect weather. On November 11the dining room and the public halls were decorated with the flags of many nations in honor of Armistice Day. There were rattles and other noise-makers on the tables. We seated the six children at a special table for dinner and they had a hilarious time. I was the only man at a table of nine. A desire for wine was natural on such a festive occasion and so two of the ladies had large bottles of champagne on the table. We abstained. There are quite a number of husbandless ladies here and it is hard to tell which are widows, as those who have husbands rarely mention them. Three old British ladies have taken Dora's fancy. They are very brig

[Letter 8] Hotel Victoria, Cannes, FRANCE November 11, 32 Dear Folks We are very comfortably established in our rooms. Dora emptied the bags and the trunk as soon as they arrived. There is a lot of space to put things away, as shown by this floor plan. The larger room is ours, but Marcus has plenty of space, a lovely table with mirror, a bedlight etc. "W" in the diagram means window. His room overlooks a private garden across the street. In several letters I discussed prices in some detail. You understand, of course, that I have no undue interest in such figures, but merely wish to pass along first-hand information which you can give to anyone in need of it. A matter of very divergent opinion was the wisdom of shipping our trunk on to Cannes. The cost was said to be prohibitive. We sent out our trunk from the boat to Cannes by "slow freight". It was claimed about five weeks after it was shipped. The total charges were 230 francs or $9.20. To this should be added del

[Letter 7] Hotel Victoria CANNES, FRANCE Nov 4, 1932 Dear Folks My last letter would have contained, had there been room, some notes of our visit to the chateau of Fontainebleau . This historic structure is 150 years older than the palace of Versailles. We motored over there after our visit to Millet's cottage. The various salons and chambers we saw were as numerous as they were interesting. There is so much fine workmanship in it, that wonderful things get merely a moment's attention--there is so much else to see. There was a parquet floor made of seventeen different kinds of matched woods. The ceilings in the various rooms were the finest imaginable. They were truly masterpieces of the arts of the joiner, the painter and the gilder. Prior to this big excursion we had had the same lecturer for a morning trip through Paris to see famous buildings and monuments. We got out of the taxi to inspect the Pantheon, Notre Dame etc. We also saw the Jewish section. At Dijon (where I wr

[Letter 6] Hotel Central Dijon, France October 27, 1932 Dear Folks, After a four-hour trip from Paris in a comfortable railroad coach (second-class) we arrived here at 4:30 P.M. We have two lovely, large rooms with bath. The lavatory is directly across from our rooms. They wanted $3.20 total, but accepted $2.60. Isn't that a bargain? Of course, prices may not always be so low, but I give them so that you may be informed, when you discuss travel etc. with friends. My last letter mentioned Chartres . The special purpose of our trip was to see the famous Cathedral. We visited it twice and were lost in admiration of the marvellous stained glass windows perhaps the finest to be seen anywhere. The weather was fine and the excursion was thus a very pleasant one. This past week in Paris was not quite so busy, as there was some rain, but nevertheless we managed to get in some interesting trips. One afternoon we sat in the Tuilleries and Marcus met an American boy. Well, they shook hands

Letter 5 FELIX HOTEL 26, Rue Moliere Paris, FRANCE. October 19, 1932 (Wed.) Dear Folks. On Columbus Day we took a second stroll around Canterbury (England) and of course again took a good look at the beautiful and historic old Cathedral. I took motion pictures of parts and also of the town from an elevation. We then took the train to Dover and promptly boarded the Channel boat and just as promptly seated ourselves in the dining room for lunch, which we enjoyed. It was a beautiful day, and the trip was only an hour and fifteen minutes to Calais , France. It was as smooth as a ferry ride to Hoboken. The passport formalities were very simple. From Calais we had second class seats to Paris. They were very fine indeed and the people with us (five others) were high grade. Next to Dora sat an old Gentleman who turned out to be an English physician and school inspector. He was very agreeable company. The trip lasted three hours and we had a good view of French landscape and agriculture. Th

Norman Castle Hotel CANTERBURY, ENGLAND October 11, 1932 Letter 4 Dear Folks, The diary which Marcus writes daily is the only complete record of our doings. That valuable record is in one of the four bags which this morning were shipped, registered, to Paris. We have only one bag with us, my movie camera and this machine. My report therefore will only mention the main events. We took in an afternoon n on-stop magic performance in London which was by far the finest we had ever seen. Marcus had a thrilling time. When the conjurer called for a gentleman to come up and examine his equipment, Marcus and another little chap went up and, well-- the man even shook hands with them. Think of it! Later a lady magician needed help and the two chaps nearly had a fight over the privilege of assisting the fair one. She asked Marcus right off how he liked Coney Island. How do they know? It's no mystery. Another headliner was our visit to Windsor Castle . This is about an hour and forty minutes ou

Letter 3 [Letter 2 is missing] CARLTON MANSIONS 2 Beekman Place* London, WC 1 October 4, 1932 Dear Folks, We moved here Sunday in time for lunch. It was a run of about two blocks in a taxi. We are just around the corner from the British Museum on a little street of three-storey houses. At either end of the block there is a small private park. This heads off traffic, so the street is unusually quiet. The Kensington (beg pardon, I meant the Kenilworth ) Hotel was very nice, but our room was not very wide. Though there was central heating for the public rooms, the rooms upstairs were heated by the good old system of dropping a shilling into a meter. Here at the Carlton we have real steam. Furthermore we have breakfast and dinner included daily and the charge is much less than at the Kenilworth. But, best of all, the room is very large and high. This morning, after Marcus had finished his school work with Dora, they went to Selfridge's to get a pair of shoes for Marcus. At nine dail

September 17, 1932 Dear Folks, This is the first of a series of letters to close relatives. I thought it would be much better to write a letter, with detailed news, and send carbon copies, than dash off short and scrappy notes. It was for this reason that Dora and I thought it would be a good idea to take the Remington Portable along, even though we begrudged it the necessary space. The letter to my mother can be seen by all the folks in Brooklyn and by Dave and Dorothy. I am sending separate copies to Henry and to Jack. Bill and Isabel's letter can be mailed to Corinne. Mother Lurie's letter will be seen by Moe and Ruben and their attachments. Harry is getting his own copy. Perhaps it would be a good idea to keep these letters for a while. Perhaps you or friends of yours may take a similar trip and then the information about hotels etc. might be useful. Well, as some of you know we had quite a job on our hands. Dora handled all the packing as I was busy with the "Winaukee