Diary, March 9-15, 1919

x Mar 9 Sun- light, & at Trevoux. Stopped at Lyon. followed Saone R. & then the Rhone, long tunnels, thru V[ ]ne, From here to Valence, you can see snow capped Alps, rugged but beautiful. mounts along road are terraced & are Vinyards, trees in bloom. castles on those great hills, monasteries, great walls over hills, rugged beauty

Mar. 10 Mon Went thru Montlimar, Avignon and at 2:30 Marseilles, light and at Toulon. hit the sea coast again at St Raphael, and followed it thru Cannes to Nice. most beautiful scenery imaginable. arrived in Nice at 2:30 P.M. In hotel Atlantic. visited casino, over the sea. beautiful women every where. Grande hotels. wonderful parks - & the Italian alps - snow capped to the rear.

Mar 11. Tue - got lunch at hotel, left casino at 9 - arrived in Tourette -De, Levens at 9:30, started the climb up the mountain To Chateauneuf. got to top at a little past 11. reviewed the ruins of this place, built on the peak, by Romans, hundreds of yrs B.C. Earth quake destroyed water supply and the place was deserted in 1630. It is a human ant hill. on a peak of the alps. Decended to New Contes. then to Old Contes, another ant hill covering about 2 sq acr. very queer and old.

Mar. 12 Wed - An early start from our casino, thru Villerfranche, past Cap Ferrat, thru Beauli[ ], past Cap Roux. past the ancient Saracen town of Eze on the Mt peak, visited principality of Monaco, the palace and acquarium. then Monte Carlo, went thru Casino. Gorgeous it is. Ate dinner at La Condamiese [ ] lower Monaco. passed under Roquebrune, then thru Menton. Spent some time in Italy. Returned by upper Corneche road thru Roquebrune 1500 ft alt Stopped at La Turbie alt. 1600 ft. Highest point was 1750 ft. fine drive constructed by order of Napoleon I. Our road lead on side of Mt. Agel. from here you see Eze far below. The scenery in this trip. for its variety & beauty is absolutely unique in the world. a little Y girl was our guide. in Nice we saw the Paroisse Notre Dames.

Mar 13 Thur 7:20-train to Cannes - Y.M.C.A. crowd, took motor boat to Island St Honorat. two nurses with us. fine sail in Mediterranean. went thru monastery founded by St Honorat in AD. 375. - 30 monks here - 500 at one time, raided many times by Saracens, St Patrick rec. part of education here. Saw fort, where the entrance is to tunnel to sister island. Roman architecture of B.C. 13. Bones of Saints. Chapel built in 400 A.D. then to Island St. Marguerite. saw fort here And prison. very massive. Man of the Iron Mask sa[w ]as in room he was imprisoned in by order of Louis 14th. Y-using the wonderful casino at Cannes. Stoul throughout. very richly decorated. Saw work of german prisoner & chapel. Was in room where Marshal Bezzain, was imprisoned, escaped. he gave up Metz in 1870, not firing a shot

Nov 14 Fri- Met Y man - went to old roman arena built & used in the time of Nero A.D. 64, destroyed in 261. This was built on the ruins of the Temple of Diana. (Site 4) Temple of Apollo is near by. Then we saw ruins of monastery. partialy destroyed & th[ ] began restoration in 10th century. now quite in ruins. beautiful view from the gardens, saw inside the chappel, then the garden of tombs. We wound around to Chapel of St Pons. who was martyred by loosing head in 253. Beasts would not harm him in arena. very fine inside a hanging ship is seen on right of altar. in afternoon saw Chateau hill ruins. parks & drives, came down to Old Nice went into Parvisse St Jaques church, then. cathredal. Justice Depaix. prison, Theatre municiple, church St. Francois De Paule.

x Mar 15 Sat- got Roman coin, Verdun medals 5. Saw Palace of Lascaris built in 1500. Old but grande. visited busy market place and prononaded. Afternoon took in Italian Cemetire on Chateau hill. Most extensive & impressive I ever saw. Loafed in streets of Old Nice, like canyons. revisited the old Cathedral. More wonderful each time. got Belg. "Crois De Guerre". Dad got pet. of Nonast. at Cannes. Little chamber maid fell in love with me. had quite a bit of fun this evening with her.