Grand Tour 1932

[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...