Outing . 432 OUTING FOR FEBRUARY. black coffee completed the repast, andthere was a bottle of good wine withwhich to wash it all down. Could any-thing have been better, even at a first-class Parisian restaurant ? Quite- certainit is that the appetites which lent itgusto could not have been acquiredanywhere within a league of the our accommodation for the night, per-haps the least said the better ; but inthe morning we enjoyed copious andwholesome ablutions upon an elevatedterrace, overlooking the blue sea of centimes, or exactly sixty-eight cents,for dinner, breakfast, and a nightsl
Outing . 432 OUTING FOR FEBRUARY. black coffee completed the repast, andthere was a bottle of good wine withwhich to wash it all down. Could any-thing have been better, even at a first-class Parisian restaurant ? Quite- certainit is that the appetites which lent itgusto could not have been acquiredanywhere within a league of the our accommodation for the night, per-haps the least said the better ; but inthe morning we enjoyed copious andwholesome ablutions upon an elevatedterrace, overlooking the blue sea of centimes, or exactly sixty-eight cents,for dinner, breakfast, and a nightslodging for ourselves and our steed. We were on foot again by eightoclock. The air was brisk and lively;the white roads gleamed in the sun-shine, and Les Pennes with its ruinedcastle made a fine, dark silhouetteagainst the eastern sky. The landscapein advance of us was sharp, bare, savageand intensely satisfying. On the leftstretched the limitless etang, whippedblue by the mistral; on the right rose. IN THE GLOAMING. Berre, from whence the view was in-expressibly glorious and we had our coffee served us, andthe bill which followed was the mostremarkable document of its kind whichtwenty years of pretty constant travelhad thrown in my way. Its itemscovered a sheet and a half of note-paper ; even the bread and the butterserved at each meal were separatelynoted. Its total footed up to the aston-ishing sum of three francs and forty an escarpment of white cliffs reachingaway in endless perspective ; betweenlay a vast, sandy plain, bespotted hereand there with small, white fishing vil-lages and occasional dark patches ofverdure. A land of whiteness and light-ness ; a land of infinite charm andbeauty to the artist, but of meagerenough attractions, I should fancy, tothe thrifty agriculturist. Man lives notby olives alone, yet during all that daywe saw nothing in the way of culture, THRO THE LAND OF THE MARSEILLAISE. 433
Size: 1727px × 1447px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade, booksubjectsports, booksubjecttravel
