September 9 Monday – Sam and Livy wrote from Geneva to Joe Twichell, thanking him for his visit, bemoaning the fact that “the pleasant tramping & talking” were “at an end.” It had been a “rich holiday” for Sam; the Clemens even missed having Joe knock on their door to wake them in the mornings [MTLE 3: 89]. The letter may have beaten Joe home to Hartford.
September 8 Sunday – Joe Twichell left Switzerland to return home. Sam saw him off at the station [MTLE 3: 85, 89]. He arranged for Joe to pick up expense money for the trip home, writing from Geneva, Switzerland to Chatto & Windus, asking them to pay ten pounds to Joseph H. Twichell. Sam wrote: “I am compelled to trouble you because the hotel has no English money & the banks are not open here on Sunday” [MTLE 3: 87].
September 7 Saturday – Sam and Joe returned by rail to Geneva, where the family waited [MTNJ 2: 154]
September 6 Friday – Sam and Joe took the one-day excursion recommended by the Baedecker travel guide, and climbed the Montanvert. From there they “crossed the Mer de Glace & ascended the confounded moraine.” Sam noted that the most delicious water he had in Europe was from the glacier [MTNJ 2: 185]. Sam’s smooth shoes made him uncomfortable on the ice and had a touch of acrophobia 70 feet above the glacier.
September 5 Thursday – The two “tramps” left Martigny on foot at 8 AM, bound for Chamonix, nineteen uphill miles in the hot sun. They skirted the Tête Noir Mountain. Sam noted the beauty of Argientiere as they approached [MTNJ 2: 171, 173]. They dined at Argientiere and hired a wagon for the last six miles into Chamonix [Rodney 109; MTNJ 2: 172]. In his notebook, Sam wrote:
During its history of nearly four centuries, the Hôtel de l'Ecu de Genève, which no longer exists, had four different locations. Originally established on the side of the rue de la Rivière (the current rue de la Confédération), it was moved for the first time to the south front of the rue du Rhône, then occupied a house on the banks of the river and, finally, the plot neighbour, located near the Place du Rhône. The first mention of the hotel dates back to 1560. Ref: The monuments of art and history of the canton of Geneva. Volume I - Geneva on the water.
September 4 Wednesday – From Sam’s notebook at the Beau Rivage Hotel, Ouchy:
Furious at breakfast…have read French 25 years & now could not say “breakfast” —could think of nothing but aujourdhui—then demain!—then—& so on, tearing my hair (figuratively) and raging inwardly while outwardly calm—one idiot french word after another while waiter stood bewildered.
There were indications wh[ich] showed that this egg was an antique [MTNJ 2: 170].
September 2 Monday – Sam’s notebook: –
“To Chillon—humbug—no chamois—hired Bonneval for his role. Enterprise of the canton in building a castle around the living rock to fit Byron’s poem. This dungeon is much cleaner & pleasanter than Visp or any of those places” [MTNJ 2: 169].
September 1 Sunday – In the morning Sam went to the:
“English church… At 5 PM Rev. Mr. [Robert] Eden called & in the evening our friends the Dawsons took coffee with us in our room in the Hotel Beau Rivage. A pleasant evening” [MTNJ 2: 169].
September – Sam’s notebook referred to Thomas Woodbine Hinchliff’s Summer Months Among the Alps (1857) [Gribben 314] Ch 34 of TA has a long extract from Hinchliff’s story of the Monte Rosa climb.