Part II

MOTORING THROUGH THE GOLDEN AGE

I. THE NEW PLAN 143 II. THE NEW START 146 III. INTO THE JURAS 151 IV. A POEM IN ARCHITECTURE 160 V. VIENNE IN THE RAIN 164 VI. THE CHATEAU I DID NOT RENT 168 VII. AN HOUR AT ORANGE 172 VIII. THE ROAD TO PONT DU GARD 178 IX. THE LUXURY OF NIMES 182 X. THROUGH THE CEVENNES 186 XI. INTO THE AUVERGNE 193 XII. LE PUY 196 XIII. THE CENTER OF FRANCE 200 XIV. BETWEEN BILLY AND BESSEY 205 XV. THE HAUTE-LOIRE 209 XVI. NEARING PARIS 213 XVII. SUMMING UP THE COST 219 XVIII. THE ROAD TO CHERBOURG 223 XIX. BAYEUX, CAEN, AND ROUEN 228 XX. WE COME TO GRIEF 234 XXI. THE DAMAGE REPAIRED--BEAUVAIS AND COMPIEGNE 238 XXII. FROM PARIS TO CHARTRES AND CHATEAUDUN 244 XXIII. WE REACH TOURS 250 XXIV. CHINON, WHERE JOAN MET THE KING, AND AZAY 255 XXV. TOURS 260 XXVI. CHENONCEAUX AND AMBOISE 264 XXVII. CHAMBORD AND CLERY 271 XXVIII. ORLEANS 278 XXIX. FONTAINEBLEAU 283 XXX. RHEIMS 288 XXXI. ALONG THE MARNE 295 XXXII. DOMREMY 299 XXXIII. STRASSBURG AND THE BLACK FOREST 306 XXXIV. A LAND WHERE STORKS LIVE 313 XXXV. BACK TO VEVEY 316 XXXVI. THE GREAT UPHEAVAL 320 XXXVII. THE LONG TRAIL ENDS 336

ILLUSTRATIONS

"THE NORMANDY ROAD TO CHERBOURG IS AS WONDERFUL AS ANY IN FRANCE" _Frontispiece_

"WHERE ROADS BRANCH OR CROSS THERE ARE SIGNBOARDS.... YOU CAN'T ASK A MAN 'QUEL EST LE CHEMIN' FOR ANYWHERE WHEN YOU ARE IN FRONT OF A SIGNBOARD WHICH IS SHOUTING THE INFORMATION" _Facing p._ 46

MARK TWAIN'S "LOST NAPOLEON"--"THE COLOSSAL SLEEPING FIGURE IN ITS SUPREME REPOSE" 80

MARCHE VEVEY--"IN EACH TOWN THERE IS AN OPEN SQUARE, WHICH TWICE A WEEK IS PICTURESQUELY CROWDED" 108

"YOU CAN SEE SON LOUP FROM THE HOTEL STEPS IN VEVEY, BUT IT TAKES HOURS TO GET TO IT" 134

DESCENDING THE JURAS 162

THE TOMB OF MARGARET OF AUSTRIA, CHURCH OF BROU 162

"THROUGH HILLSIDE VILLAGES WHERE NEVER A STONE HAD BEEN MOVED, I THINK, IN CENTURIES" 214

BIRTHPLACE OF JOAN OF ARC 308

STRASSBURG, SHOWING THE CATHEDRAL 308

PREFACE

FELLOW-WANDERER:

The curtain that so long darkened many of the world's happy places is lifted at last. Quaint villages, old cities, rolling hills, and velvet valleys once more beckon to the traveler.

The chapters that follow tell the story of a small family who went gypsying through that golden age before the war when the tree-lined highways of France, the cherry-blossom roads of the Black Forest, and the high trails of Switzerland offered welcome to the motor nomad.

The impressions set down, while the colors were fresh and warm with life, are offered now to those who will give a thought to that time and perhaps go happily wandering through the new age whose dawn is here.

A. B. P. _June, 1921._