Tomorrow, we are taking off for Germany! Our journey starts from the Central Station in Stockholm and the train will take us to Southern Sweden where we will take the overnight ferry to Germany. We will be visiting Lübeck, Berlin, Dresden, Bad Schandau, Prague, and Hamburg before we return to Stockholm on the 12th of October.
During our 2-week journey, we will be posting to Facebook and Instagram. Please look for updates from our journey there:
Augusta had a deep interest in music and she had a good voice. She even had a waltz dedicated to her: “La Belle du Nord – Valse pour le Piano. Offerte à Mademoiselle Augusta Söderholm par Gustav Eklund.”
Augusta took singing lessons from one of Stockholm’s famous opera singers, Mr. Isidor Dannström. He was already famous in the 1840’s along with Jenny Lind. So when Augusta and her mother traveled through Germany in 1847, they made sure to visit the opera in both Berlin and Dresden.
The opera in Dresden was designed by architect Gottfried Semper. When Augusta visited the magnificent opera house – the Semperoper – it was new, having opened in 1841.
Dresden, July 1847
In the evening we went to the Opera where the walls are blue and white with gold. The cushions and chairs are covered with red velvet. Irresistibly, however, one’s gaze is drawn to the circular, white ceiling which is adorned with golden arabesques and four oval medallions depicting in allegorical figures – the music, the tragedy, the comedy, and the arts – painted in the clearest of colors. Between them, four smaller medallions appear which represent Goethe’s, Schiller’s, Mozart’s, and Beethoven’s portraits. A tasteful lamp with 96 gas flames throw their rays over this masterpiece. The curtain is made of red velvet with golden fringes and it hangs with beautiful folds. The foyer is semicircular, from which glass doors lead into the loges. The walls in this foyer are white lacquered and the only ornaments are rich, bronze candelabra which are surrounded by milk-white glass. By the windows are placed elegant couches with large mirrors above which are niches with busts of Weber, Mozart, and Lessing.
Unfortunately, the opera house was destroyed by fire in 1869. It was rebuilt and opened again in 1878. The Semperoper was again destroyed during the bombing of Dresden in 1945, and again rebuilt in 1985.
On the 4th of October, we are delighted to have tickets to the Semperoper – we will be thinking of Augusta!
We have never been to Lübeck. Nevertheless, each day, we walk the streets of Lübeck, but in the world described by Thomas Mann in his book about the family Buddenbrooks. It is a fascinating book about 4 generations of a bourgeoisie family in the old town of Lübeck in the 1800s. Augusta’s world, but in Germany!
Augusta started her journey in Lübeck in July of 1847 and, therefore, that is where we will also start our journey through Germany.
Augusta brother-in-law, Gustaf Lejdenfrost, was a textile manufacturer and later a wool importer with business connections in Lübeck. The business contact was A.P. Rehder, whose family took care of Augusta and her mother on their arrival.
The Rehders lived at Alfstrasse 72 (in today’s numbering, Alfstrasse 41). When looking up the address in Google Maps, a familiar name showed up on a parallel street, Mengstrasse: Weinhandel Tesdorpf. One of Augusta’s best friend at home in Norrköping was Mina (Vilhelmina) Tesdorpf, whose father was the wine merchant in town! This could not be a coincident.
A genealogy search revealed that Mina was indeed related to the Tesdorpf family with the wine shop on Mengstrasse. Mina’s grandfather was Peter Hinrich Tesdorpf (1746-1811), who in 1782 married Susanne Schyler in Bordeaux. Mina’s father, Johan Jakob Tesdorpf (b. 1799), was the youngest of 8 children. He moved to Sweden and established himself in Norrköping as a wine retailer. He became very successful and his house in Norrköping is still standing.
Johan Jakob Tesdorpf
Besides Johan Jacob Tesdorpf, his nephew, Franz Hinrich Tesdorpf, was also a wine merchant in Norrköping.
Did Augusta visit the Tesdorpf’s in Lübeck? She doesn’t mention them in her diary. But we will sure visit Weinhandel Tesdorpf on our trip and try some of their famous Rotspon.
During Augusta’s time, women in her circles would have worn gloves. Men also wore gloves – all the time. There were lots of etiquette rules about when you could take them off, how to take them off, and what to do with them when eating.
Fashion dictated the length, material, and color of the gloves.
And then there were fingerless gloves. Fingerless gloves were often knitted or crocheted, and light or white in color. They allowed the woman to write and embroider without having to remove her gloves. Another advantage was that she could wear and display any expensive rings she might have, while still being modest and elegant.
Eureka! Fingerless gloves would be perfect for texting – Kerstin and I could be modest and elegant and display our rings AND we could use our iPhones without having to remove our gloves according to some complicated etiquette rules!
What you need for your iPhone
Margie, my longtime friend and kindred spirit – always up for creative projects – had invited me over to her house for doing creative art. And, she had already done research on the kind of gloves I might need for Augusta’s Journey.
– Did you know that during the Irish Potato Famine, the women of Ireland resorted to producing beautiful crochet lace in order to help their families, and that Queen Victoria’s interest in the Irish crocheted lace made it fashionable in England?
I had no idea! I had only admired the interesting, 3-dimensional characteristics of Irish crochet.
Would any Irish crocheted lace have reached Sweden in the 1850s? Maybe.
Would I like to get a pair of such, fingerless gloves? Of course; I would love too!!!
Next week, Margie presented me with these beautiful, well-fitting, white lace gloves. She had even embellished them with 3-dimensional little Irish roses – all made in Irish Crochet! What a gift!
Little Irish Roses
It will be great on the trip – I will be very fashionable while taking pictures with my iPhone. I might even be able to write a real letter with a quill pen without having to take them off!
When Kerstin and I started Augusta’s Journey, we decided that in order to get into character of a wealthy 1840s girl (or to be honest, her mother), we should construct garments based on historical records and wear them when we follow in Augusta’s footsteps. We would need a travel wardrobe!
For our first leg of this journey, the cruise on Göta Canal, we made 3 different dresses each, and bonnets to match. And of course we also made petticoats, corsets, hat boxes, carpet bags, and parasols.
In a couple of weeks, we are embarking on our German journey, and we realized that this would necessitate new outfits suitable for traveling by train and hiking in national parks. And as Augusta visited the opera in both Berlin and Dresden, we would also have to make ball gowns suitable for going to the opera.
The fall dresses should be in fine wool and dark, fall colors. Kerstin soon found beautiful fabrics in Sweden and sent me pictures. I found nothing in Lincoln, because as Joanne Fabrics told me “we don’t stock any wool or silk fabrics”. So I scoured the local thrift stores for large pieces of clothing with a fabric label of 100% wool. The first one I found was a dark green women’s suit jacket for $1. That would make a fantastic pelerine. And then I also found 3 yards of checkered orange and green cotton for $5. What I had in mind was something like the outfit of Emilie Bronte in BBCs series To Walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters. The Bronte sisters were contemporary with Augusta and the similarities between their world and Augusta’s warrants a blog entry just by itself.
Anyway, I cut up the jacket. The wool fabric was just enough for the pelerine after I had done some little patchwork of pieces. The lining of the jacket was also just enough for making a matching bonnet. The checkered fabric would not be enough for a full dress, which usually requires 5 yards. But it would be enough for one with short sleeves and not quite as wide a skirt. In the end, I was satisfied with the outfit. The only problem I foresee is having short sleeves in October! Maybe I can find a thin cardigan to wear over it.
Having made one outfit, I realized that I would need to make two more – I would have to resort to ordering fabric online. A heavy package containing 5 meters of brown, twill wool fabric arrived last week. That would be enough for one dress. I would still need to figure out one more dress or skirt.
In the meanwhile, I started on the ball gown. First you need to figure out the pattern – then make a test dress in cheap cotton – and then, finally make the gown in silk. Figuring out the pattern took several days – I actually used sturdy paper towel that I could stitch together and try. The benefit was that I didn’t have to buy special paper and I could then reuse the paper towel pieces in the kitchen. I then purchased $2.97/yard clearance cotton fabric from Walmart and made a prototype ball gown. That took another week. Will I ever use this one?
And last Friday, I started on my silk fabric that I bought last fall in the Gold Souk area of Deira, Dubai. It is ox blood color and will have black lace. I am hoping to finish it this week so I can make my wool dresses.
So what I have I learned?
The best places for cheap fabric, lace, and spools of thread are thrift stores or charity shops. And the best place for safety pins are dollar stores.
Paper towel is great for making and testing patterns – you could sew a whole outfit just of paper towel!
Zip ties or duct tie straps make good substitutes for whale bone, and buckram is also a very useful material for clothing construction.
Hand sewing takes less time than one thinks, and you make fewer mistakes than when you use a sewing machine. Undoing mistakes take a lot of time and is frustrating.
Making bias tape is quicker than going around trying to find bias tape of the right color.
Finally, and most importantly (at least to my husband)
It is easier to find pins on the floor if they have the colorful heads.
“Early in the morning on the 5 July, we left Berlin behind us and arrived in the evening to the so highly praised Dresden, where we are staying at Hôtel de Saxe, the city’s most splendid hotel.
Our stay here at Hôtel de Saxe is very nice and I would say elegant, if I had not just arrived from Berlin, with its fabulous, luxurious furnishings. There are certainly not, as at Hôtel de Rome, six or seven doormen in livery to greet you on the stairs and to take the things you carry. I have to admit that these elegant and conversable domestics made me embarrassed upon my arrival in the great Prussian capital. Here in Dresden, you miss the elegant, carpeted vestibules and staircases, this wealth of stuffed armchairs, canapés, and sofas; however, Hôtel de Saxe, although not as brilliant as Hôtel de Rome, is both gentile and comfortable.”
Augusta is not the only Swedish woman who has written about Hotel de Saxe. We recently found the writings of Sophie von Knorring who published “Letters home during a summer trip 1846” (Swedish: Bref till hemmet under en sommarresa 1846 av Författarinnan till kusinerna). Like Augusta, she also traveled through Germany and documented her journey. Sophie wrote that they absolutely wanted to stay at Hôtel de Saxe “which is perfectly situated by the grand market at Neumarkt; close to theater, museum, the royal palace, and everything that is worth seeing.” Unfortunately, they did not get rooms on the first floor, but had to go upstairs which seemed to be a big problem for Sophie. But they slept well and met many other Swedes staying at the hotel.
Hotel de Saxe and Franz Liszt
Hotel de Saxe was indeed perfectly situated. It was also famous and had a concert hall. In 1840, Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt stayed at the hotel and gave a concert:
“Liszt arrived in Dresden on the morning of 14 March and secured rooms for himself and his entourage at the Hôtel de Saxe. No soon had he unpacked his bags, however, than he was asked to perform privately at two soirees. At one of these events he joined Dresden violinist Karl Lipinski in a Beethoven violin sonata. Gossip about Liszt must have whetted the appetites of Dresden concert-goers, for the crowded hall of his hotel fell silent, then burst into applause, when he stepped to the piano at his first public appearance on 16 March.”
In 1844, Liszt returned to Dresden and again lodged at Hotel de Saxe and again gave a performance at the hotel.
Hotel de Saxe – This old-established House, having upwards of 250 beds, reputed one of the best in Europe, is still conducted with the utmost attention to cleanliness and comfort, which has hitherto given so much satisfaction the English Nobility and Gentry. This { ? } will be found one of the largest and most comfortable. Baths in the house.
The hotel was demolished in 1888 and replaced by a neo-baroque post office. During the bombing of Dresden in 1945 and the resulting firestorm, the Neumarkt area was completely destroyed. After the German reunification in 1990, a decision was made to restore Neumarkt. One of the buildings to be restored was Hotel de Saxe. In April 2006, Hotel de Saxe again welcomed guests to Dresden.
Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we could re-create Augusta’s stay at Hotel de Saxe!
