May 29 Monday – At the Villa Viviani in Florence, Sam wrote to William Walter Phelps, congratulating him and his daughter, Marian Phelps (four years older than Susy Clemens), on her recent wedding to Dr. Franz von Rottenberg. Marian was a close friend of Clara Clemens in Berlin.
May 27 Saturday – Sam reached the Villa Viviani outside of Florence on the road to Settignano [June 9 to Twichell].
May 26 Friday – Sam’s notebook from Genoa to Florence:
Left for Florence 12.32 p.m. Friday, first class (about 30 fr.) in a car that goes through ohne Umsteigen [NB 33 TS 13].
Sam did not reach Florence until May 27; his first extant letter from Florence was written on May 29.
May 25 Thursday– Sam reached Genoa on the Kaiser Wilhelm II. His notebook gives 7 p.m. as the time of arrival [NB 33 TS 13]. Note: He spent the night in Genoa as he did when going to the US.
May 24 Wednesday – Sam was en route to Genoa on the Kaiser Wilhelm II. Sam’s notebook:
Wednesday, May 24. Sailing along the Balearic Isles this forenoon. Due at Genoa tomorrow night. A perfectly smooth voyage, but unspeakably tedious. I am older by ten years than I was when I left New York. That fact is, the voyage is too smooth [NB 33 TS 13].
May 23 Tuesday – En route from New York to Genoa, Italy on the Kaiser Wilhelm II, Sam wrote a short note to Chatto & Windus, asking them to send a volume of his sketches containing The Jumping Frog to Captain Störmer of the Kaiser Wilhelm II, in care of Leupold Fratelli, Genoa, and charge it to his account [MTP].
Sam’s notebook:
Reached Gibraltar Tuesday at dawn. I did not go ashore. We sailed again at 8 o’clock [NB 33 TS 11].
May 22 Monday – Sam was en route to Genoa on the Kaiser Wilhelm II.
May 21 Sunday – Sam was en route to Genoa on the Kaiser Wilhelm II. Sam’s notebook:
Sunday, May 21. Eight days out. Shall reach Gibraltar Tuesday morning & Genoa Thursday night. / Day after day of “considerable” swell, but the ship moves on a level keel, unaffected by it. Apples lie on my table in my room day & night undisturbed. It is a wonderful ship in this regard [NB 33 TS 12].
May 20 Saturday – Sam was en route to Genoa on the Kaiser Wilhelm II.
May 19 Friday – Sam was en route to Genoa on the Kaiser Wilhelm II. Based on an account of the voyage by H. W. Mead to the editor of the Brooklyn Eagle, June 25, 1893 p.6, “Brooklyn People in Lucerne,” “On the sixth day we came to and passed the Azores, with two of the islands in sight.” The article relates some of the entertainment on the voyage, including a contribution by Mark Twain: