RAILCAR GOLD Chapter 21 . . Weddings . . Part 1
RAILCAR GOLD is a historically accurate multi-generational fictional tale of hidden treasure, primarily set in York County, Pennsylvania during the latter half of the Nineteenth Century. This is Part 1 of Chapter 21 . . . Weddings. A new part will be posted every Thursday. Recent chapters stand alone, starting here; however new readers may want to start at the beginning.
CHAPTER 21 . . . WEDDINGS . . . Part 1
From Vienna, George and Emma Billmeyer took a train, journeying in the foothills of the Alps through Salzburg and Oberammergau to Zurich, Switzerland. In Zurich they stayed at Hotel Bauer au Lac, where Emma did not intend to accompany George into the mountainous countryside, as he examined freight transfers between standard gauge and narrow gauge railways. However after Emma’s first trip into the Swiss Alps with George, she thought the scenery was just too amazing, to pass up. While in Zurich, they did take the tour of Lake Zurich by boat and enjoyed the Concerts at the Tonhalle every evening.
George discovered nothing significant from their base in Zurich. He decided to cut their stay short by two days and sent the majority of their baggage ahead to their hotel in Geneva. The following day Emma and George took the somewhat longer, but advertised to be more picturesque, train route through the Alps to Geneva, Switzerland. Again, the scenery was something to behold; without a doubt, Emma and George agreed, the train journeys through the Alps in Switzerland were one of the highlights of this trip to Europe.
George took one last excursion to see a narrow gauge railway that operated close to Geneva; again nothing of significance was discovered. Emma and George enjoyed relaxing along Lake Geneva at the Grand Hotel de la Paix. In the past week they had read only a snippet of news from home, so they were delighted to discover The Continental Times, published weekly in Geneva; containing all Cable News from the United States during the week.
Emma could not wait to get back to Paris, however they had a one-night stay in Dijon before getting there. Dijon, in eastern France, was a lovely town on the Ouche and Suzon Rivers. The accommodations at the Grand Hotel de Burgoyne were first class. The next morning, before catching the early afternoon train to Paris, they had time to visit the museum and gallery of paintings in the Duke of Burgundy’s Palace.
On the train to Paris, George and Emma found themselves facing a French couple; or at least that was the first impression. Emma was anxious to try her hand at French again. However, it was not long before the discovery was made that the “French couple” was from America; deciding to see if they could pass for natives, by only speaking French.
Glenn and Verna were from Philadelphia. They were visiting France to attend the wedding of a nephew and were returning to Paris after spending a few days sightseeing in the French countryside.
Verna described her nephew, “Grant graduated from Swarthmore earlier this year. He decided to take a year off, traveling around Europe, before staring graduate studies at Princeton. His finance, Jeanne, is from Paris. Though Jeanne attended college in America; also graduating in the same class at Swarthmore. Grant and Jeanne were friends, although they never dated while in college. When Grant was touring Paris, he met Jeanne by chance; they have been together ever since.”
Emma noted, “George attended Princeton. Maybe Grant would like to meet him.”
Verna had a better idea, “George, I’m sure Grant would like to meet you; however I’m pretty sure he might also extend an invitation to attend their wedding, that is if you’ll be in Paris on Saturday. You see, very few are attending the wedding from America. Grant mentioned to me that he wished more from America could be here.”
Emma asked George, “I know our plans are for three days in Paris, followed by three days in London, before catching the steamship in Liverpool. However if we change that to five days in Paris and only one day in London, we’ll be in Paris this weekend.”
George squeezed Emma’s hand, “Irrespective of any wedding invitation, I’ll make those changes, because I know how much you love Paris.”
Go to Part 2
