December 20th, 1872. Fine.

Today we went for a tour of the city. There are so many places to see in Paris that it is difficult to enumerate them all, but there is one sight in particular which visitors arriving for the first time marvel at. This is an exhibition hall of oil-paintings known as the ‘Panorama’. Located on the western side of the Champs-Elysées near the Arc de Triomphe, it is a low, circular construction set among superb multi-storey buildings. On paying a fee of one franc and entering, we saw a street before us which resembled one of the boulevards. When we looked more carefully, we noticed that this was a battlefield, with projectiles flying in all directions, soldiers running about, an old man with blood pouring from a wound in his forehead, and weeping ladies and terrified housemaids making their escape on carts laden with household goods. To our amazement, it was not until we noticed that this was a depiction of the scene of the Prussian army's siege two years previously that we realised it was actually one of the paintings on display.

December 22nd. Cloudy.

Today we were told by the British chargé d'affaires that a telegraph had arrived informing us of the adoption of a new calendar in Japan and reforms in dress regulations.

December 26th. Cloudy.

At two o'clock this afternoon Mr. Conches and Mr. Mallard, the officials who had been charged with welcoming the Embassy, arrived to meet our party, while Captain de Noailles appeared at the head of two platoons of cavalry, together with carriages provided by the government.