Hand-book for travellers in France. Being a guide to Normandy, Brittany, the rivers Loire, Seine, Rhone and Garonne, the French Alps, Dauphiné, Provence and the Pyrenees : with descriptions of the principal routes, railways, the approaches to Italy, the chief watering places, etc / [Anon].

John Murray

Date:: 1843

Credit: Hand-book for travellers in France. Being a guide to Normandy, Brittany, the rivers Loire, Seine, Rhone and Garonne, the French Alps, Dauphiné, Provence and the Pyrenees : with descriptions of the principal routes, railways, the approaches to Italy, the chief watering places, etc / [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

35/656

$h. INNS — tables-d’mote, etc. XXlS • ’ “lifwtioiii llimjti ®^' tars before they mteajy !.ille, ValencicDDes, aoii to the Nancy, Sta«burg,-Stosliurj .;onsiui4Mirs6ills,Cette,be- : Wraaa 1 !zaafljn4Ntei\\K. ^ ' by Touts, .hnjoulme, Poitiefi, | Vitrt and Tours in pfD?®’-' ' .11 the ::,«ja!n sidJ ... ^ijd-• ,ei«ee« ■3 duty The rivers of France, however, are more liable than those of Britain to rise and fall, and a sudden elevation caused by rains, or a want of water owing to drought, has equally the effect of ar- restino- the navigation ; the last by withdrawing the necessary depth of warer, the first by filling the arches of the bridges so as to leave no room for the steamers to pass under them. There are also a great number of coasting steamers ; but the tra- veller should be cautious in trusting himself to them, unless the character of the captains and engineers be well ascertained to be of tried experience, as accidents not unfrequently happen, and even the French themselves do not place unlimited confidence in coasting steamers. k. INNS — TABLES-d’iIOTE, ETC. On the whole, the inns of France are very inferior to those of Germany and Switzerland, in the want of general comfort, and above all of cleanliness—their greatest drawback. There is an exception to this, however, in the bed and table linen. Even the filthy cabaret, whose kitchen and salon are scarcely endurable to look at, commonly affords napkins and table-cloths of the purest white, though coarse, and beds with unsullied sheets and white draperies, together with well-stuffed mattresses and pillows, which put German cribs and feather-beds to shame. Many of the most important essentials, on the other hand, are utterly dis- regarded, and evince a state of grossness and barbarism hardly to be expected in a civilised country ; the provisions for personal ablution are very defective, the washing of floors, whether of timber or tile, seems unknown. In the better hotels, indeed, the floors are polished as tables are in England, with brushes attached to the feet instead of hands ; but in most cases they are black with the accu- mulated filth of years, a little water being sprinkled on them from time to time to lay the dust and increase the dark crust of dirt. French inns may be divided into two classes; a. Those which make some pretension to study English tastes and habits (and many of them have some claim to be considered comfortable), and, being frequented by Englishmen, are very exorbitant in their charges. Such are met with along the great roads to Paris, and thence to Geneva, Lyons, and Marseilles, b. Those in remote situ- ations, not yet spoiled by the English and their couriers, where the traveller who can conform with the customs of the country is treated fairly, and charged no higher than a Frenchman. The ex- pense of living in these country inns is moderate, 6 francs a-day board andlodging, and 10 sous to the servants. In one respect the inns of France are more accommodating than those ot Germany, that they will furnish at almost any hour of the day, at 10 minutes, or J hour’s notice, a well dressed dinner of 8 or 10 dishes at a cost not greatly exceeding that of the table- d hote. When ordering dinner in private, the traveller should specify the price at which he chooses to be served, fixing the sum a 3 L$

Hand-book for travellers in France. Being a guide to Normandy, Brittany, the rivers Loire, Seine, Rhone and Garonne, the French Alps, Dauphiné, Provence and the Pyrenees : with descriptions of the principal routes, railways, the approaches to Italy, the chief watering places, etc / [Anon].

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