In Montreux, on Lake Geneva, we noticed a lady sitting on a park bench on the shore of the lake, who would, from time to time, on this same park bench, receive and then dismiss again the most diverse visitors, without moving a muscle. Twice a car stopped in front of her on the lake shore, and a young man in uniform got out, brought her the newspapers, and then drove off again; we thought it must be her private chauffeur. The lady was wrapped in several blankets, and we guessed her age to be well over seventy. Sometimes she would wave at a passerby. Probably, we thought, she is one of those rich and respectable Swiss ladies who live on Lake Geneva in the winter while their business is carried on in the rest of the world. The woman was, as we were soon informed, actually one of the richest and most respectable of the Swiss ladies who spend the winter on Lake Geneva; for twenty years she had been a paraplegic and had had her chauffeur drive her almost every day for those twenty years to the shore of Lake Geneva, had always had herself installed on the same bench, and had had the newspapers brought to her. For decades Montreux has owed fifty percent of its tax revenues to her. The famous hypnotist Fourati had hypnotized her twenty years ago and had been unable to bring her out of the hypnosis. In this way Fourati, as is well known, had ruined not only the lady’s life but his own as well.

Brochure

BROCHURE

At the end of the winter a Salzburg couple, who had always worked separately and were now enjoying a joint double pension, hit upon the idea of taking a trip to Zell-on-the-Lake in the Pinzgau, and for this purpose they obtained a brochure on this highly acclaimed town so that they could glance through it to find a small hotel that might suit their purpose for two or three weeks. The couple, who were fond of traveling, did find a hotel in the brochure that seemed to be what they had in mind and seemed to meet their requirements, and they set out on their journey to Zell-on-the-Lake. When, however, they entered the hotel they had chosen, they were forced to the realization that everything they had expected in the hotel was exactly the contrary of their expectations. For example, the rooms described in the brochure as very pleasant were dark, and it seemed to the horrified couple as if a closed coffin had been set down on the floor of every one of those rooms, always with their own name inscribed upon it.

Pisa and Venice

PISA AND VENICE