28th December 1938

28th December 1938

Leutstetten to 27 Queen Square, Bath

Dear Madeleine!

Ever so many thanks for your beautiful calendar. I fixed it up in our room and am waiting for the first of January to open it. I have got lovely things for Xmas. A orange coloured kimono, a real Japanese one as a dressing gown. And of course heaps of other things too. Baby and Gottfried are here now. Did I tell you I spent a fortnight with them in Achberg. The house is lovely and old and the whole place seems full of fairies and witches. It looks like “La Belle Au Bois Dormant”. Baby took me to Switzerland for three days. We stayed in Lucerne. It was a pity I didn’t see more as everything was hidden in the thickest fog. It is icy cold here and snowing too. We went skiing once and I bought home some bruises. But now there will be a foot of snow, so it will be softer. Ludwig has gone to the mountains for skiing somewhere behind Kitzbuhel. I went to the opera and saw Verdi’s “Traviata” and parts of Wagner’s “Lohengrin”. It is much too long. Then I saw Turandot by Schiller. He is as famous in Germany as Shakespeare is with you. By the way, I began reading Shakespeare in Achberg. It is really wonderful. He is a marvellous poet. I do hope you got our parcel from Sarvar ok. A very happy New Year.

Loll