Wednesday, September 15:
A bad night, nasty smells, the lack of cleanliness in Germany. We leave the hotel.
Breakfast in the Kurhaus, climbed up to the Schlackenburg. R. shows me the pheasant reserve in which he read the text of Tannhäuser to his mother. Also the house Zum Paradies, where he paid a surprise visit to his family as a young man, having walked from Leipzig to Teplitz, only to be told by them in consternation that they were leaving the next day. Very early in the morning Cäcilie had led him up to the Schlackenburg.
Walk in the lovely palace gardens, full of memories, then to Schönau, saw the Eiche, where R. had lived when he was a conductor, was shown the path where he met Baumgarten, the headmaster whose granddaughter is now our children’s governess; the farmhouse in which he ate. Bathed in the Kaisersbad, splendid, and stayed there overnight.
In the afternoon drove up to the Wilhelmshöhe, splendid evening, lovely atmosphere, lovely country.