The Duke had told his party to be ready to go ashore soon after breakfast and they embarked to find flowers everywhere, triumphal arches and endless trees in blossom.
The Duke was received by the Khedive and just before noon a launch brought Ferdinand de Lesseps and the Empress Eugénie ashore for luncheon and afterwards they made a tour of the town.
Bettina thought that the Empress, dressed in yellow and wearing a large straw hat with a flowing veil, looked very lovely.
There was a long procession of carriages to drive through the tree-lined boulevards between two rows of Egyptian Cavalry, one mounted on white horses and the other on bays.
They passed through the town and reached the desert plain outside Ismailia.
Here to Bettina’s delight there was an enormous Arab encampment since t
