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
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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.

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    ^ Vi '('. 4m V ■“‘''Itnyli, leo Wii: N, '■^‘areiixi, P>i«tti]i2 ,^-‘‘'‘4'Oyanl,l, '■’ ^ lit Vi '■'!-‘«'utll!:,^5fr.„,;J :iias ifire is irartnei !«A(i(imebf abriJgeatLi 'Jnir ;iist stcre the cotfiaence of Eure, jiid the railnv prcceeds ijiPt ft. bank of the Sane for 3 irt'ustjtceto ;t Pont 4e VMtk, stat.atilie itteimn « the bridge ladinj to lut tiwi! ip. :Ul lueitpses bn5':f! tie hill ofToiitrilebya ,’n.r 5ei34 heff ''’tiribe flhtime.by a dieWetePisDtw tofll ' Tf' irni ^ JS ui ,;;p thtw?: , Iistennus® .-ortc'n' ■■',■ Pcri!^ Ien:3“^ ■p»£J iobo“'a( tb<J ®, .Jti i’:' Normandy, Houie 9 Paris to Rouen {Lower Road). 29 opened 1843, so that the high road is nearly deserted. This road to Rouen is far more generally interesting and more pic- turesque in scenery than the upper one, through Gisors, but is nearly 7 miles longer than it. It is carried down the valley of the Seine, quitting the bank of the river only to avoid its e.vcessive windings. The high road from Paris to St. Germain com- mences at the “ star,” or radiation of routes which gives a name to the Arc de Triumph de T Etoile, the largest triumphal arch iu the world, and the finest entrance into the French capi- tal. Yet the eye scarcely appreciates its vastness; few would suspect that it was as wide and lofty as the fa9ade of Notre Dame, or that the aperture of the arch equalled that of its nave. The road skirts on the 1. the Bois de Boulogne, famous for promenades, duels, and suicides, now shorn of its proportions to form a glacis for the new fortifications. It next passes on the rt. the chateau de Neiiilly, the most fre- quented residence of King Louis Philippe; and beyond that village crosses the Seine by the celebrated bridge of 5 arches, each of 120 ft. span, the masterpiece of the archi- tect Perronet, built 1772. Henri IV. and his queen were dragged into the water here in their cumbrous state coach, and narrowly escaped drowning ; an accident which caused the ferry to be superseded by a bridge of wood. The park of Neuilly ex- tends for some distance down the rt. bank of the Seine, and into the islands which here divide its stream. On the 1. bank is seen the village and large barrack of 9 Courbevoie. A little beyond tlie post house, our road, a perfectly straight line hitherto, separating from the Route d’en haut (Route 10.), bends to the 1. and passes the Ver- sailles railroad (rive droite). Mont Valerien, on the 1., recently converted into the citadel of the fortifications of Paris, is not more than U m. dis- tant from the chateau of Neuilly. The hill was once called Mont Cal- vaire, from a Calvary established on it before the Revolution ; an exact representation of the Holy Se- pulchre iu Jerusalem contained in the church. Madame de Genlis, the preceptress of the present king, was buried in the cemetery. The aqueduct of Marly and chateau of St. Germain are now seen in the distance. The large barrack at Ruel, on the 1. of the road, was occupied in the time of the elder Bourbons by the Swiss guard. In the little church of the village, built 1584 from the designs of Lemercier, is buried the Empress Josephine. A simple monu- ment bearing her statue kneeling, by Cartellier, has been erected by her children. Prince Eugene (Due of Leuchtenberg), and Hortense Beau- harnois (ex-queen of Holland). She died. May 1814, at her favourite villa, hard by Ruel, Mahnaison, which, hav- ing been sold since her death, has lost much of its beauty. Her plea- sure grounds have been cut up to be sold in lots ; her conservatoire and menageries in which she took much delight, and the Swiss dairy and Merino farm, are swept away. The house itself is now occupied by the Queen Christina of Spain. It must be confessed that the spot seems to have owed its charms chiefly to art; the soil is very sterile. Buonaparte spent 5 days here in June 1815, be- tween his second abdication and his final departure for Rochefort, having been sent out of Paris by Fouche and the provisional government. The road skirts the enclosing wall of Malniaison for some distance, and soon after reaching the 1. bank of the Seine passes La Chaussee, where La Belle Gabrielle had a house, and Marly la Machine, so called from the cumbrous ])ile of wooden scafl’olding and wheels constructed to raise the water of the Seine :300 feet to supply Versailles, but now partly replaced by
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