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7 September 1871 — Spondinig | |
Thursday. 7th September [1871]. We started at 7½ to go over the Stelvio pass & had a lovely day thro’ most grand scenery. It was rather cold in the early morning & we were glad to walk a little to warm ourselves. At Franzenshöhe we stopped and lunched. A very nice little temporary inn. We met several English people amongst others a lady & gentm I christened the Seniors from a supposed likeness between the lady & Mrs Nassau Senior. They could not speak a word of German & had asked me at several places on the journey to interpret for them wh I did. We parted finally with them here & saw them no more. Franzenshöhe is at the foot of 2 glaciers & ½ way up the wonderful zigzag road wh winds up the hill to Sta Maria. As we got up it was very cold—but the view looking up was magnificent. At the summit we parted with 2 extra horses we had been obliged to have from Spondinig here– The other side of the pass was totally different– The snow lay by the road side & the aspect was cold & dreary– At Sta Maria is the Italian custom house & the horses had a feed; after poking up our old driver we got him to harness the horses & we went down the valley going at a good pace down the zigzags. There was a lovely large waterfall all along the road wh torrent is the source of the Adda. We passed thro a great many galleries built to preserve the road from avalanches but wh are in a very shaky state & badly kept up so that it seems to me there is as much danger of the galleries as the avalanches. Just as we got to Bormio our old German jumped from the box & disappeared down the side of the cliffs– He came back with some Edleweiss he had got me—& then at ½ 6 we got to the Baths of Bormio where there is a large hotel. We dined at table d’hôte at 6½. All English people– No one we knew. | |
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