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20 June 1871 — En route to Paris | |
Tuesday. 20th [June 1871]. At 5½ we began to get near Paris & to see some traces of the late war—the first was a railway bridge wh had been blown up then a few houses knocked in. Antoine met us at the Gare with a carriage, otherwise we should most likely have got none, there were hardly any cabs & the station was full of horses & soldiers & a kind of encampment. We took some tea & then went to bed till 11—when we breakfasted—& Henry went to the Embassy– He came back & said we were to dine tonight with Lord Lyons & were to go tomorrow to Versailles. In the afternoon we took an open cab & drove to Passy by Auteuil & the Point du Jour where there was a most heart rending spectacle—nearly every one of the pretty little villas we passed being damaged or entirely destroyed. The rails were torn up from the railway, the railway arches destroyed & there was general devastation. We also drove along the fortifications there, where there are still fascines, broken guns & fragments laying abt—then we returned & saw the whole of the ruins of the Tuilleries & the Rue de Rivoli & took a little walk & went to the Palais Royale. The shops & galleries there are intact but Prince Napoleon’s residence is quite destroyed & there are soldiers encamped in the squares. In a shop where we bought a pearl necklace the woman said their shops had been closed for 8 months. At 8 we dined at the Embassy & only met Mr Woodehouse & Mr Hamiltons (secretaries). Coming home at ½ past 10 we found the streets deserted & very few gas lamps lighted & it was quite as quiet as a country town– | |
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