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16 November 1897 — Trent | |
Tuesday. 16th [November 1897]. Directly after 9 o’cl breakfast we set out on a great expedition to climb up a hill near here. I drove with the Empress in a small carriage—Herr Oesterreicher on the box. In the 2nd carriage came Count Seckendorff, Herr von Wedel & Bss Verschür. We drove a long way up hill to a valley where we at last came to a church & there we left the carriages & began our ascent on foot. An Alpine guide also accompanied us one Giuseppe Seoz & brought our luncheon on donkey back. It was a brilliant day & the sun was a burning one—so that H.M. & I were obliged to use parasols. For 2 hours we went up—getting very hot & tired & the last part of the way was rather alarming there being only a narrow path on the face of the steep mountain. I only got stuck fast once where the soil was so loose & the precipice so uncomfortable that I stood still until Herr Oesterreicher saw my dilemma & came & gave me a hand & helped me over the difficult part. When we got to the plateau we were making for & which is called Malta Merangola we found it to be a delicious spot. Large beech trees lent us their shade & in the thick smooth turf we found lovely blue gentians. We quickly got our lunch out & refreshed ourselves after our fatigues. The Empress had got very hot & took some time to cool. After lunch she lay full length on the grass & rested & we sat talking till abt 2 we set off to walk down to Matarello—the descent tho’ the views were very lovely, was anything but pleasant—on account of the sharp rolling stones—however the road we took was a broad one—made for communication between two forts—& we had no more precipices to cope with. My knees were dreadfully shaky before we reached our carriage & I could scarcely get on– However by the time we reached our hotel at Trent I was a little recovered. H.M. begged me to let her send me tea upstairs but I would not hear of it—& I went down with the rest & there rested till (dinner) supper– We went to bed at 10 as usual. | |
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