They walked to the Lustgarten, an open space at the end of _Unter den Linden_, on the three sides of which are the Royal Palace, the Cathedral, and the Museum. The first is a vast structure, owing more of its grandeur to its size than to its beauty. At the gate are some bronze horses, held by grooms, like those on Monte Cavallo, at Rome, presented by Nicholas of Russia. The ascent to the second story is by a winding inclined plane, up which a carriage can be driven. In the guard-room the visitors were provided with felt slippers, worn over the boots or shoes, to avoid scratching the polished floors. The apartments are magnificently furnished, but they need not be described, for every palace contains substantially the same series of rooms. The White Hall is the most elegant, containing the statues of the Brandenburg Electors, and allegorical figures of the eight Prussian Provinces before the recent wholesale annexation. In one room there is a silver gilt mantel, representing one of pure metal which Frederick the Great melted down to obtain the money to build the new palace at Potsdam, in order to show the princes of Europe that his funds were not exhausted. The new chapel is very rich, and has a lofty dome, from which it is lighted. The floor is of the most beautiful marble, and the walls and ceiling are elegantly frescoed. The palace formerly had the reputation of being haunted by a "White Lady" who appeared only to announce the death of a member of the royal family. The company passed through the Cathedral, and entered the Museum, which is a very handsome edifice. Its art collections are hardly excelled in Europe. Besides vast galleries of painting and sculpture, it contains antiquities from the north, and from Egypt, and curiosities from distant lands, which are among the finest in the world; but the students were more interested in the historical collection than in anything else, particularly the relics of Frederick the Great. Among the latter are the cast of him taken after death, the bullet with which he was wounded at Rossbach, a wax figure of him, clothed in the uniform he wore on the day of his death, his books, cane, and a flute. A dress of the Great Elector, his pipes, and a glass case containing the stars, orders, and decorations of Napoleon, taken at Waterloo by the Prussians, in the carriage now at Madame Tussaud's exhibition in London, are also to be seen in this Museum. The beautiful frescoes in the grand hall were carefully examined, and their allegorical meaning explained. The party went through the Arsenal, and then visited the Aquarium, a private exhibition. The various apartments were in the shape of grottoes of artificial rocks, in which the tanks were ingeniously arranged. The animals were fishes, reptiles, and birds, of which there was an endless variety; and the students generally were more pleased with this exhibition than with anything else they saw in Berlin.