172 SECTION III. GERMANY. PRELIMINARY INFORMATION.' 26. Passports.-27. Inns and Expenses.-28. Beds.-29. Valels-de-Place. 30. Custom-Houses.-31. Distances.-32. Modes of Travelling. Posting. 33. Diligences, or Eilwagen.-34. Voiturier, or Lohnkutscher.-35. Cost of Travelling.-36. Baggage.—37. Some peculiarities of German Manners, Titles, Salutations, Recreations, Public Gardens, Kirmes, The Turnpikeman, Travelling Journeymen.—38. German Watering Places.-39. German Towns, Fire-watch, Woodcutters.-40. Clubs-41. Burial Grounds. IN. B.-The information contained in this Section is of a general character, and applicable to the whole of Germany. The details peculiar to different kingdoms of Germany will be found respectively under the HeadsPrussia, Saxony, Bavaria, Austria, &c. &c. &c.] 26. PASSPORTS AND POLICE REGULATIONS. On entering a frontier town of Prussia, or any other part of Germany, and in most of the large towns of Austria and Bavaria, the traveller is requested at the gate to produce his passport; if it be a town of some importance, and he intend to sleep there, in all probability the passport must be forwarded to the Police-bureau to be examined and counter-signed (visé,) in which case he will receive in exchange a ticket or receipt (schein), enabling him to get his passport back: in minor towns this proceeding may not be necessary, and the passport is merely detained two or three minutes, till the name be registered, and then is respectfully returned to the owner. It generally happens, however, that the traveller is requested to name the inn at which he proposes to take up his residence in order that the passport may be sent after him: he is glad to avoid unnecessary delay, and the gate-keeper to have an opportunity of receiving a gratuity for his trouble, in taking the passport to the inn. As matters of this sort are totally foreign to English habits, and it is to travellers of this nation that this work is addressed, we shall dwell on a few particulars, which may be new to them, and useful to know. All innkeepers are compelled to submit to the inspection of the police, the daily arrivals and departure of their guests; and not merely the name, surname, and country, but frequently the age, condition whether married or single, profession, religion, motives for travelling, and other particulars are required; and a book (called das Fremden Buch, Strangers' Book) ruled into columns, and methodically classed, is presented to the traveller for him to fill up. Simple as the queries are, one cannot but be surprised to see how often our countrymen in particular mistake their object, and how vaguely they write their insertions: two of the principal questions-namely, the place last left, and the place intended to be next visited, always refer to such towns of importance as may be within a reasonable distance; and a moment's reflection will show the utility of such a proceeding; what then can be more absurd than for a traveller, when at Mannheim or at Darmstadt, to name the capital of a kingdom some hundreds of miles off, as Rome or Naples, because he happens to have left his home for the sole purpose of wintering there: and yet how often Italy, or Switzerland, or some place equally vague, are heedlessly inserted, when perhaps the next town, en route, may be the capital of a grand duchy! [S.] Before he has remained two days in the place (the period of time is different in different countries), he is required, under penalty of a fine, to present himself in person at the Police Office (Polizei Direction). He must take with him the ticket he received at the gate, and if he intends remaining any time on the spot, he will, upon showing it, receive a permission of residence (Aufenthalts schein-permission de sejour) for a certain period, at the expiration of which, he must again repair to the Police, to obtain a renewal of the same. When he has made up his mind to quit the place, his passport will be returned to him. It must be then visé: first, by the Police; next by his own minister (if there be any resident English minister); and lastly, by the Ambassadors of the countries to which he is going, and through which he may pass. The arrangement of the passport should be attended to a day or two before the traveller's departure, as the necessary signatures are often not to be got in a single day. As a general rule, never pass out of one state into another without having the signature of the minister of the state you are about to enter, upon your passport. On leaving a great Capital to pass through the dominions of several sovereigns, the passport should be signed by the ministers of all these sovereigns resident at the capital. Attention to the passport is particularly necessary when the traveller intends to enter Italy, or any part of the Austrian dominions; it cannot be too often repeated, to impress it on the traveller's mind, that without the signature of some Austrian ambassador, or minister, no one is ever allowed on any condition to cross the Austrian frontier. The instances of delay, vexation, and trouble which annually occur to persons who, from ignorance of this, proceed to the frontier, and are there stopped, are innumerable. Great care has been taken in this work, to furnish the traveller with the names of the best inns throughout Germany and the north of Europe, derived principally from personal experience, or that of friends, and trusting as little as possible to the usual recommendation of Guide Books, unless they were ascertained to be well founded. As it is the first information which a traveller requires on reaching a place, the names of the inns in all instances stand first. German innkeepers are on the whole a very respectable class; they usually preside at their own tables-d'hôte, entering familiarly into conversation with their guests. It is rarely necessary to make a bargain beforehand with a German landlord, a precaution almost indispensable in Holland, Italy, and Switzerland. When, however, a traveller intends to take up his residence for several weeks or longer in an hotel, it is a good plan, as well as customary, to come to an agreement with the landlord, who under these circumstances is usually willing to make an abatement of one third from his usual charges. It is also a common practice to purchase a dozen or twenty tickets for the table-d'hôte, which when taken in such a number are charged at a lower rate. The apartments are classed as to price, according to the stories on which they are situated, the size, and the look-out-the highest and those turned to the back being least expensive. Average charges of Inns in Northern Germany : In Prussia. Dollars. Bed-rooms, varying according to from 2 Frankfort, Nassau, Baden, &c. Florins. Kreutzers. size and situation Sto 0 Dinner at Table-d'hôte 18 to 20 to 1 from 1 These prices do not apply to Austria and Southern Germany; they will be given under their proper heads. An English gentleman who travelled in Germany in 1834-5, in his own carriage, with a party of six (himself included), found his daily expenses at inns vary from 18ff.-which was very high-to 10fl., which was very low indeed. Persons who travel for pleasure must expect to pay liberally, and any attempt on their part to make close bargains will generally fail; there is a sort of ordinary charge, which the traveller soon finds out, and, with common tact and judgment, he may manage to visit all places without having recourse to annoying squabbles; but should a bill contain items of an unreasonably high price, instead of pointing them out to the waiter, and clamorously insisting on an immediate reduction, he should go himself to the master's room and speak to him, when no servants are by; a remonstrance, founded on reason, and politely made, will then generally have its effect: this mode cannot be too strongly recommended. It is a curious circumstance, but true as far as the writer is concerned, and he has journeyed a great deal, he never could prevail on any landlady to submit to the reduction of a bill-on the master always; and he invariably adopted a soothing, and sometimes a complimentary tone: the fact is, a conscientious wife feels it to be her duty to study her husband's interest, and she fancies she best proves her excellence by getting all she can: when the traveller is informed that the master is not in the way, he may consider the chance of reduction as hopeless. [S.] Servants in German inns can exact no fee as in England; the head waiter (Oberkellner) usually receives something above the bill, and the chambermaid will be contented with 5 groschen or 18 kr. from a traveller who has been several days in the house. The boots (Hausknecht) is paid in the same proportion. At the same time the English have already introduced this custom of feeing servants into continental inns, and something is expected of them now-a-days, more especially as they must remember they often give much more trouble to the servants than the natives. A traveller's daily expenditure for board and lodging at a German inn will, on the average, vary between 4 and 5 florins, exclusive of expensive wines. For 8fl. a-week he ought to procure a very good room. Tables-d'hôte. The usual hour of dining is one o'clock; in the north of Germany it is as late as two or three; in the south it is even as early as twelve. The table-d'hôte is frequented by both ladies and gentlemen, and especially at the Watering-places by persons of the highest ranks, from Grand Dukes and Princes, downwards. The stranger will find much more general urbanity than in a similarly mixed assemblage in England; the topics and news of the day are discussed without restraint; and if the traveller be anxious to gain general or local information, he will frequently succeed at the table-d'hôte: and should his visit to a town or place be somewhat rapid, perhaps he will have no other source to go to. Added to this, the best dinner is always to be had at the table-d'hôte. It answers the landlord's purpose to provide sumptuously, en gros, for a large company, and he therefore discourages dining in private. They who prefer taking their meals alone at a later hour of the day, will probably dine on the refuse of the table-d'hôte, and pay double price for a bottle of the same wine which at the public table passed for vin ordinaire. In fact it disconcerts the system of a German household (and in Germany every thing is done systematically) to dress a dinner, or even a mutton-chop, out of the usual hours; and when master and waiters put themselves out of their way to comply with the foreign habits of English travellers, an extra price is regarded by many as hardly a sufficient compensation. German innkeepers, however, are beginning now to be better accustomed to Englishmen's habits of dining late; but not many years ago (and even at present in the remoter parts of Germany), they who happened to reach an inn after the hour of table-d'hôte, stood a very poor chance of getting anything to eat at all, and they who adhere to late hours may bear in mind that the price of dinner will be doubled, when served in a private room. Those who intend to dine at a table-d'hôte in a frequented inn at a full season should choose their seats an hour or so beforehand, and desire the waiter to keep their places. Few German inns afford what in England would be termed sitting-rooms; even the best apartments, on the lower floor, though furnished elegantly as a parlour, serve as bed-rooms, and contain one or more beds. The price of a room depends upon the number of beds in it, but the double-bedded rooms are invariably superior to those with only one bed. 28. GERMAN BEDS. One of the first complaints of an Englishman on arriving in Germany will be directed against the beds. It is, therefore, as well to make him aware beforehand of the full extent of misery to which he will be subjected on this score. A German bed is made only for one; may be compared to an open wooden box, often hardly wide enough to turn in, and rarely long enough for an Englishman of moderate stature to lie down in. The pillows encroach nearly half-way down, and form such an angle with the bed, that it is scarcely possible to lie at full length, or assume any other than a half sitting posture. Curtains are always wanting. The place of blankets is sometimes supplied by a light puffy feather-bed, which in cold weather is likely to be kicked off, and to forsake in his utmost need the sleeper, who on awaking finds himself frozen; should it remain in its position in warm weather, the opposite alternative is, that of suffocation beneath it. Mr. Coleridge has recorded his abhorrence of a German bed, declaring," he would rather carry his blanket 'about him like a wild Indian, than submit to this abominable custom." The Germans themselves say that they use the feather-bed merely to cover their feet in cold weather. The stranger who appreciates this nuisance to its full extent is recommended to ask the chamber-maid for a counterpane (Bett-decke), instead of the usual federbett. 29. VALETS-DE-PLACE; OR, LOHNBEDIENTER. It has been the custom of many travellers who have published tours, to speak very contemptuously of the class of guides who go by the name of 176 Germany. 29. VALETS-DE-PLACE.-30. CUSTOM-HOUSES. valets-de-place, though it may fairly be suspected that they owe much of the best part of their books to that despised caste. The fact is, that when a tra veller arrives for the first time at a spot which he is desirous of seeing thoroughly, and at the same time does not intend to remain long in it, a valet de-place is indispensable, unless he has friends who will perform the part of ciceroni for him. There are always a certain number of persons experienced in the duties of a guide attached to every inn; and if the traveller, instead of engaging a person nominated by the landlord, for the sake of sparing a franc or two, put his trust in the boys who may accost him in the streets, he runs the risk of falling into bad hands, or of finding himself in situations in which it will be neither agreeable nor creditable to be placed. This hint refers par ticularly to Belgium and Holland, and is brought forward because Boyce, a most excellent guide in many respects, gives opposite advice, which would often lead to disagreeable results, which it is the object of the present caution to guard against. The utility of a valet-de-place consists in his knowledge of the hours at which each church, picture gallery, palace, or other sight, is open, or visible; how to procure tickets of admission, and where to find the keepers of them; which spares the traveller much time in running about in search of them, and if he have a spare hour, furnishes the means of spending it advan tageously. The valet-de-place will also know the residences of all the ambassadors, and the mode of obtaining passports, and will undertake to have them properly visé. Nothing is so annoying as to have to traverse the streets of a large town in search of ministers and consuls, and on arriving, perhaps to find you have come at the wrong time, or at least to be compelled to dance attendance for hours. It is far preferable to promise your valetde-place a frank or two if he secures the proper signatures within a fixed time. At the same time, it is necessary to put the traveller on his guard against the tricks of a valet-de-place. For his own advantage and the interest of his master, he will often endeavour to detain the traveller as long as he can, by framing excuses-that collections are not open-that the passport-office is closed, or the minister out of town. It is better to state beforehand to the man what objects you desire to see, and how much time you can devote to seeing them; to ascertain from him at once at what hours different sights are thrown open to the public, and to make him arrange the order of proceeding accordingly. With respect to passports, it may be borne in mind that the hours of attendance at police-offices are, with very few exceptions, so regulated as never to detain persons who are anxious to proceed; and if the valet-de-place maintains there is any impediment, it is best to settle the matter by calling in the landlord, or if that will not do, by going in person to the police office. The fee paid to a valet-de-place varies in different parts of Germany, and it will be found particularized in the description of almost all the great cities. It is not always necessary to engage him for the whole day; he may be hired by the hour, and paid accordingly. It is advisable not to take a valet-de-place into shops when you wish to make purchases, as he usually exacts from all tradesmen a per-centage on articles bought, which is, of course, added to the price paid by the purchaser. 30. GERMAN CUSTOM-HOUSES. Until within a very few years, almost every state in Germany had its own tariff, and system of duties, and the traveller was subjected to the inconvenience of custom-house visitations on the frontier of each state however insignificant; while the vexations and impediments thrown in the way of trade were |