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Letter XV

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 November 2021

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Summary

Preparations for departure. Farewell. Packing. Travel companions. Beautiful views. Dover. The steamship. Calais. Customs. My passport. The French diligence. Arrival in Paris.

At first I was planning to stay not more than eight or nine days in London, but, not having enough time to see all the interesting sights in detail, I decided to extend my visit for another couple of days. To force myself to leave on the appointed date, however, I purchased, in advance, a seat in a diligence all the way to Paris. It costs 4 p. st., 8 shill., that is 110 rubles ass. Unbelievably cheap! The price includes everything: the fee for the seat in a diligence in England and in France, the fee for the sea crossing, the fee for vodka, etc., etc. I had to pay only five francs more for extra luggage. My departure was scheduled at ten o’clock in the morning on the 27th of May. I got my things ready and was waiting for this time, I have to confess, without much regret; I saw a lot of interesting, memorable things in London, but my life there was boring, and with the exception of two dinners at Count Pozzo di Borgo's and another three or four quarters of an hour spent with people I knew from Petersburg, I can say that for the rest of the time, I was only a staring machine. The company and conversation with Count Ugarte brought me some pleasure; otherwise, it seems, I would have fled from this great Carthaginian capital on the third day. On the day of my departure, the count said goodbye to me early—very early, according to London time, i.e., at nine o’clock in the morning: he left for the horse race at Ascot. But right before my departure, two of my acquaintances visited me and left in my soul the most pleasant memory of the last minutes of my stay in London. The first of them was Allan, and the other—my good countryman, Nikolai Kuzmich Ivanov, a singer of the local Italian Opera, a graduate of our St. Petersburg Singing Chapel, who had been in my house when he was still a young singer. In foreign lands, he perfected his musical talent and now stands second only to the famous Rubini.

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Publisher: Anthem Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Letter XV
  • Nikolai Gretsch
  • Book: Nikolai Gretsch's Travel Letters: Volume 1 - Letters from England
  • Online publication: 13 November 2021
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  • Letter XV
  • Nikolai Gretsch
  • Book: Nikolai Gretsch's Travel Letters: Volume 1 - Letters from England
  • Online publication: 13 November 2021
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Letter XV
  • Nikolai Gretsch
  • Book: Nikolai Gretsch's Travel Letters: Volume 1 - Letters from England
  • Online publication: 13 November 2021
Available formats
×