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17 August 1908 — Milan | |
Monday. 17th [August 1908]. Rose at 5.30—& left Milan by 7 a.m. train. We arrived at Pont St Martin at 11 & there found 2 chauffeurs from Castel Savoia waiting for us with 2 motor cars. One was a big omnibus for luggage & a smaller one with 2 covered in seats into which Baker & I got & we set off at once for Gressoney St Jean. It was a fine day & a lovely drive thro’ the valley & in an hour we reached our destination. Queen Margherita was waiting for me at the foot of the steps leading up to the great hall of the Castle. The building is strongly built of stone & has many turrets in a sort of German fashion & stands very well placed a little way up the side to the steep tree covered hill. H.M. took me herself up to my lodging a pretty little apartment in a turret. Out of this on one side is a small alcove for a bed on the other a toilette room with bath & from the sitting room window is a magnificent view of Monte Rosa which closes the end of the valley & happened at the moment I arrived to be cloudless & the sky above it brilliant blue. It did my heart good to find myself once more under a real Italian blue sky. There were no visitors staying here & I found only the Household Mara de Villamarina & her daughter Mimi, Princess Strongoli of Naples in waiting & Ct Guiccioli & Marchese del Grillo (Ristori’s son). I had half an hour to dress & we lunched at 12.30 & then sat in the glass verandah which describes a semi circle round a tower & had our coffee wh was made for us by Css Mimi Villamarina. I sat near the Q. with a table to hold our cups between us– In front of us sat the 2 ladies in waiting & at another table were the 2 gentlemen & Mimi working away at making paper clown dolls for the Q.’s Christmas trees a thing that goes on from one end of the year to another as H.M. has 6 or 7 trees every Christmas & there is no end to the small articles required. At 4 the Q. rose & we all retired to our rooms till 5.30 when we reassembled for tea. I had written some letters for post & arranged my bags &c before tea. Directly after we went for a walk in the wood clad hill wh is the Q’s property. We climbed up pretty high by a narrow path to a cottage on the hill & made a round back to the castle by 7.15 when we dressed for dinner at 8. After dinner a wood fire was lighted in the drawing room in front of wh the Q. & I sat talking till bed time at 10.30. I was glad to get into a quiet bed in my turret after 2 bad nights while travelling. | |
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