Otto Löwy

Obituary: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?apm=0&aid=nfp&datum=19100911...

There are 3 letters written by Otto who was taken on this wonderful trip by his “dear aunt” Kate. He was 17 years old.

4 September 1909

The Royal Hotel MacGregors in Edinburgh

Much beloved Parents and dear Brothers!

We left Odde on the 31 of August in the afternoon and drove to Bergen where we arrived the nest day, the 1 September at noon. Bergen is a rather large town (90,000 residents) with a large harbor, where numerous small and large steam ships as well as fishing ships are found. First we drove with a car and with our luggage to the steam ship “Venus”, who would be leaving in the evening on route to New Castle. Travel agency Benett had reserved for us room #25. Then we drove to the Benett’s and there was a letter from our dear uncle and a postcard from Traugell from you, dear Emil. Then we drove to the Hotel Norge, where Miss Bloomingdale was staying, she will drive from Bergen, via Christiana, Kopenhagen back to Berlin. We will travel alone now from Bergen. We went to the restaurant across from the hotel and ate “steaks”, a fine dinner. There was good music playing who played among other things “Dollar Princess”. In the afternoon it was raining, which did not hold me back from walking to an overlook where I had a view over the whole town and the harbor. Afterwards I went to the fish market where they sell fish that are larger than I am. That place smells pretty bad and it is quite interesting to watch how many people are gathered at the fish market. At 7:30 PM we ate at small meal at a fine restaurant (as I will call it) and then we slowly walked back to the harbor. Half way to the harbor Miss Blumendel (as the dear father calls her) or Tab Lette (as the dear aunt calls her) turned back and we boarded the ship. The “Venus” is a very long, but very fast ship, it holds 263 passengers in first and second class.

I can not describe to you the busy commotion that took place in the harbor prior to the ships departure. Hundreds of people stood there and there was a yelling back and forth, as the “Venus” was pulled out of the harbor by a small tugboat. At the lighthouse the guide left our boat and we drove into the terrible flood. At 9:30 PM we went to bed Our cabin was about 2 yard high and just as wide and deep with a bunk bed and 1 sofa and a wash table. Warm blankets, a roll and a pillow, which functioned also as a life preserver were included in the cabin. We slept halfway well and got up at 7:30 AM. Our steam ship was docked already for 2 hours loading and unloading freight at the first and last stop, that of Stavanger. We ate a very rich breakfast and walked up on deck. The ship started to move again and took course to the dreaded North Sea. There was a strong wind and the sea raged with white caps waves. The ship was in the water like an eggshell. The rocking of the ship became too much for me and I joined the dear aunt in the women saloon, where the aunt was sitting, reading a British book. Then another lady joined us who told the aunt about the discovery of the North Pole. On the table next to us two ladies were playing cards. It was about 10 AM when the dear aunt said that she needed to step outside for a minute. I had bought in Bergen a Newspaper “Presse” and was reading the audience of Kossuth with King Eduard in Marienbad, when the ship started to “rock” really hard. My collar became felt very tight all of a sudden around the neck, as if my neck size shrunk for the size 39 I have to a size 35. I packed my newspaper and began going down the stairs to our cabin. I opened the curtains and there was the dear Teticke, the aunt, and rested after having vomited.

I had not grasped the situation yet, as the ship engaged in another huge rocking motion, and all my good coffee and the rest in my stomach unloaded itself. Excuse my speech. Afterwards both of us vomited a few times and then rested in our beds and rested peacefully. We did not eat at noon, nor did we eat dinner that night. They told us later that only 10 people did not get seasick, the rest all went through what we had experienced. From the cabins around us I heard all kink of groaning tones. The wind was howling, the waves were so high they hit our window and made noises like that of rolling thunder, the whole shop was rolling terrible, soon my head was on the deep end, than my feet were on the deep end.....

The next day, the 3 September we got us and dressed (I felt like after Yom Kippur) and I drank a cup of tea. The dear aunt told me that she had never experienced wild weather like we had experienced. We packed our luggage and got it all ready. At 10 o’clock we could see the English coast and at 11 o’clock a guide met our ship and came aboard. He steered our ship into the humongous harbor of New-Castle, which took 45 minutes to cross. We passed ship repair yards and customs, which went very fast. A shipmate took our luggage and we were finally on dry land again. All kinds of weird people hang out in the harbor and one has to watch out that they do not steal from us while in this mass of people. We and our luggage were transported to the central railroad station as we traveled through the large, dirty and smoke-filled town of New Castle. We barely caught our train to the beautiful large capital city of Scotland, where we checked in a first class hotel. We each took a welcomed bath and felt refreshed. Afterwards we walked before and after dinner through the streets, where there are wonderful stores. Across from our hotel is a remarkable Gothic Monument building, which houses the statue of W. Scott. We went to bed early last night. Your time was 10:30 :M, our time here was 9:30 PM, our time here was bad it was raining, but we did see much of that town. The dear aunt rented a wagon, driven by a coach driver, who drove us through all the main streets. We visited the Cathedral where several famous men are buried. At 2 PM we drove back to the streets in Edinburgh into the suburb. There are large oil refineries where over 60,000 people work. Since today is Saturday, everything closes early, only the bars are open and we have seen many drunks. The car drove us to the Castle, which we want to see today from the outside and tomorrow we will go inside. Tomorrow the dear aunt intends to visit Lord,Mayor of Edinburgh, Mr. Mackay, who became knighted “Sir” in the meantime and whom she knows from her trip to Egypt. We are both well and hope the same holds true with all of you. Dear Father, I would like to ask you a favor. Would you please send the letter from Cooks to Dr. Fried, which is in the lower right drawer in my desk, to London, in care of the America Express Company, since the dear aunt needs this letter. Please be so good and write me all the news about the store. Has Uncle Simon engaged in business? We have calculated that it is possible that we are home one or two days prior to Yom Kippur. On Rosh Hashonah we should be in Antwerp. You probable get tired of all my talking. I will end now and send my kindest greetings and kisses to you, your loving Otto.