Vol 3 Section 0128

Westbahnhof, the western rail terminal in Vienna. There was a steady cold, but light rain. After a search they found two porters (Droschkes) to haul party and luggage [Dolmetsch 24; Sept. 29 to Barr; NB 42 TS 39].

Dolmetsch writes of their difficulties in finding rooms:

Worse still, they were without hotel reservations and had to engage the cabs until they could find suitable lodging. The new Riesenrad (giant Ferris wheel) and the newly opened entertainment “Venice in Vienna,” in the Prater, had brought an unusually large influx of visitors, prolonging Vienna’s tourist season….Undaunted, they doggedly started down Mariahilferstrasse to make the rounds of the Imperial,

the Grand, the Bristol, then Sacher’s Hotel de l’Opera, followed with flagging hopes by the Munsch and the Erzherzog Carl on the Kärtnerstrasse before alighting finally at the Hotel Müller at the very end of the Graben [24].

Clara Clemens recalled arriving in Vienna, where her heart had been set on becoming the piano pupil of Theodor Leschetizky.

I don’t remember why all the hotels happened to be crowded on that particular night, but we drove to nine places before finding rooms, and were then forced to be satisfied with a small suite in a dreadful little hotel called the Hotel Muller, in a dreary, dirty street. It was so late at night by this time, however, that we were glad to find shelter anywhere. No one could have believed, as we turned our lights out in our dingy rooms that night, that Vienna would ever come to seem a pleasant place [MFMT 189].

Orion Clemens finished his Sept. 25 letter. “The Chicago Tribune had an editorial about Stead’s account of yourself, and made the comment that it was a lofty distinction to be credited with cultivating and promoting peace among nations” [MTP]

September 28 Tuesday – Early in the morning the family set out to find more suitable accommodations. In his Sept. 19 to Robert Barr, Sam recounted they’d had to apply at “nineteen hotels” to finally secure rooms at what Dolmetsch calls the “fashionable” Hotel Metropole on Franz-Josefs-Kai [26]. Sam’s

notebook gives the total hotels at fifteen, seven on Sept. 27 and eight on Sept. 28 [NB 42 TS 39]. Dolmetsch describes the hotel Metropole:

A huge, old-fashioned Viennese hostelry, its former elegance slightly faded, it lacked such newfangled amenities as lifts [elevators] and private baths in most of its ninety-six suites. Nevertheless, its guest list included many bona fide aristocrats, such as the sister of the German emperor, partly because of its chef de cuisine, Herold, was reputedly Vienna’s finest. Whatever its other attractions for Clemens, the offer of seven spacious, high -ceilinged rooms, consisting of a parlor with balcony, a music room for Clara, a study for her father, and four

bedrooms, all for $460 per month, including heat, attendants (both usually charged extra), and meals for five persons, was an irresistible bargain.” ….

Their Metropole suite, Number 62, was at a front corner of the top guest floor…overlooking the Donaukanal (Danube Canal) near its busiest bridge….Front right their windows gave a distant prospect of

Vienna’s famed pleasure garden, the Prater, with its glittering brand-new landmark, the giant Ferris wheel, clearly in view [26-7].Insert: Metropole Hotel

Clara writes of the new rooms and her urgent need to see Leschetizky:

The next morning [Sept. 28] Father succeeded in engaging cheerful rooms at the Hotel Metropole and I made an appointment with Leschetizky before we had unpacked our bags, because I could not wait to find out if he

SLC used mourning border for most letters from Susy’s death on, then from Livy’s death on.