Thiergarten is the grand park of Berlin, situated along the banks of
the Spree; it is two miles long by a mile in width, with an abundance of
noble trees, well-kept drives, and clear, picturesque lakes. The ponds
and canals intersecting this park afford a choice resort for the lovers
of skating in winter. In the southwest corner of the Thiergarten is the
famous zooelogical garden of Berlin, established nearly fifty years
since.

The Royal Palace is an imposing structure six hundred and forty feet
long by about half that width, and is over a hundred feet in height. It
was originally a fortress, but has been altered by successive monarchs
until it is now a very perfect royal residence, containing six hundred
rooms and state departments.

We still pursue our course northward, bearing a little to the west,
until we reach Hamburg, which contains some three hundred thousand
inhabitants, and is one of the most important commercial cities on the
continent. It is not only situated on a navigable river, the
Elbe,--seventy miles from its mouth,--but is connected by railway with
every part of Europe. Hamburg was founded by Charlemagne a thousand
years ago, the older portions being dark and dirty; but the modern
section of the city is very fine in the size of its streets and its
architectural aspect. Its commercial connections with America exceed
that of any other northern port, and form its main features of business
importance. Vessels drawing eighteen feet of water can ascend the Elbe
to the wharves at high tide. The city is intersected by canals and
branches of the Alster River, and was once surrounded by a series of
ramparts, but these have been converted into attractive, tree-planted
promenades. The public library of Hamburg contains over two hundred
thousand volumes, and there is no lack in the city of hospitals,
schools, colleges, churches, charitable institutions, museums, and
theatres. The botanical gardens and the zooelogical exhibition are
remarkable for excellence and completeness. It would be difficult to
conceive of a more attractive sight than that afforded by the broad
sheet of water in the centre of the town known as the Alster Basin, a
mile in circumference, bounded on three sides by streets ornamented
liberally with trees, while its surface is dotted with little omnibus
steamers and pleasure boats darting hither and thither like swallows on
the wing. Snow-white swans, tame and graceful, are constantly seen
floa