Wednesday, September 27th 1854 ~ Ghent, Belgium

Hotel Royale ~ We breakfasted in London at half past six this morning and at seven took a carriage for the South Eastern railway, and at eight we were en route for the Continent. Hack hire in London is regulated according to distance, a hackman having a right to charge six pence for each mile if only two people ride, if more than two then an additional 6 d is charged for each additional person for the whole trip, not per mile. The miles of an English drive are always very short!! We have purchased tickets right through to Cologne and begin to feel quite like travelers. The ticket is given in a book of checks which the conductor tears off a leaf from, from time to time. An English Railway car is a very different thing from our own – they are long nearly as long as our own, but subdivided so that there are only two seats in each car, or rather in each partition. These seats run across and hold four persons each, so that four ride backward and four ride forward in stage coach fashion. The first class cars are nicely lined with cloth or leather and the seats and backs well stuffed, but the second class which are made just as well in every other respect have no cushions either for the back or seat and are therefore of course much more fatiguing. The third class are generally uncovered. Many gentlemen travel in the second class cars and sometimes ladies take them but not so often. The prices for second class in England is about the same as for first class at home. The ride to Dover is tolerably pleasant, but not as much as that from Liverpool to London. The country not as fine though having the same characteristics, until near Dover where it is more barren and where there are several long tunnels in which the road is carried through the chalk cliffs. Arriving at Dover at eleven o’clock we took the boat immediately for Calais. The water was perfectly smooth and although the boat was very small there was no motion. In two hours we landed in Calais and at halfway we could distinguish the land on either side. At first the French language sounded very strange and incomprehensible to us, but we are gradually getting accustomed to the sound and able to understand conversations. We walked to the custom hous and passport offices between a file of French soldiers in their brick red pants and blue coats. This is a great place for imposition on English and Americans where we experienced a small degree. We dined here and then took our place in the cars for Lille and Ghent. Between these two places by the way we came very near being left by the cars. For on crossing the frontier of Belgium I did not know what was going on and therefore did not get out and have any trunks opened and examined until just as the train was ready to start again and then they waited it for me some moments until a hasty custom house examination could be made. Our passports have been [visiid?] three times today, and it is a great nuisance, this being our first experience with a passport. The country here (France) has entirely a different appearance from that of England. There we saw generally beautiful meadowland divided by live hedges. Here one sees nothing but ploughed land. The houses are poorer, built mostly of stone or brick, and not picturesque, while men and women in queer costumes are working the ground. We arrived at Ghent at eight o’clock and were very much struck by its odd appearance in our drive to the hotel. The streets are narrow, entirely without sidewalks and paved with round stones. The houses are all tiled (at least the roofs of the houses) and this is entirely new to us. The tiles are made of red clay. Our rooms look out on a canal, one of several that run through the city.