The interior of the building does not disappoint the promise of the outside.  It is open every afternoon in the absence of the king, for the inspection of visitors; fortunately for us, his majesty is at present on a journey through his provinces on the Rhine.  We went early to the waiting hall, where several travelers were already assembled, and at four o’clock, were admitted into the newer part of the palace, containing the throne hall, ballroom, etc.  On entering the first hall, designed for the lackeys and royal servants, we were all obliged to thrust our feet into cloth slippers to walk over the polished mosaic floor.  The walls are of scagliola marble and the ceilings ornamented brilliantly in fresco.  The second hall, also for servants, gives tokens of increasing splendor in the richer decorations of the walls and the more elaborate mosaic of the floor.  We next entered the receiving saloon, in which the Court Marshal receives the guests.  The ceiling is of arabesque sculpture, profusely painted and gilded.  Passing through a little cabinet, we entered the great dancing saloon.  Its floor is the richest mosaic of wood of different colors, the sides are of polished scagliola marble, and the ceiling a dazzling mixture of sculpture, painting and gold.  At one end is a gallery for the orchestra, supported by six columns of variegated marble, above which are six dancing nymphs, painted so beautifully that they appear like living creatures.  Every decoration which could be devised has been used to heighten its splendor, and the artists appear to have made free use of the Arabian Nights in forming the plan.

We entered next two smaller rooms containing the portraits of beautiful women, principally from the German nobility.  I gave the preference to the daughter of Marco Bozzaris, now maid of honor to the Queen of Greece.  She had a wild dark eye, a beautiful proud lip, and her rich black hair rolled in glossy waves down her neck from under the red Grecian cap stuck jauntily on the side of her head.  She wore a scarf and close-fitting vest embroidered with gold, and there was a free, lofty spirit in her countenance worthy the name she bore.  These pictures form a gallery of beauty, whose equal cannot easily be found.

Returning to the dancing hall, we entered the dining saloon, also called the Hall of Charlemagne.  Each wall has two magnificent fresco paintings of very large size, representing some event in the life of the great emperor, beginning with his anointing at St. Deny’s as a boy of twelve years, and ending with his coronation by Leo III.  A second dining saloon, the Hall of Barbarossa, adjoins the first.  It has also eight frescoes as the former, representing the principal events in the life of Frederic Barbarossa.  Then comes a third, called the Hapsburg Hall, with four grand paintings from the life of Rudolph of Hapsburg, and a triumphal procession along the frieze, showing the improvement in the arts and sciences which was accomplished under his reign.  The drawing, composition and rich tone of coloring of these glorious frescoes, are scarcely excelled by any in existence.