I give you Herr von Schlözer's account in his own language.
"I had no extra toilet things to put into the Emperor's room, but, fortunately, I had bought a cake of soap in Berlin; this I put on a piece of marble I had picked up in the Forum, which I thought would do for a soap-dish. The Emperor went into the adjoining room to change his uniform, and suddenly appeared in the doorway, holding out his wet hands, and said, '_Mein liebe_ Schlözer, can't you give me a towel?' _Donnerwetter!_ said Schlözer, that was the one thing that I had forgotten."
The luncheon was (excepting the famous wines on which he prides himself) of the simplest kind of Italian repasts, of which macaroni, frittura mista, and cutlets with saffron (_à la Milanais_) formed the chief feature. The Emperor was in the best of spirits and enjoyed it all, interlarded as it was with Schlözer's unique remarks.
The Emperor's own horses and carriages and _piqueurs_ (brought expressly from Berlin for this one visit to the Pope) were waiting before the German Legation to convey his Majesty and Herr von Schlözer to the Vatican. The whole route through which they drove was lined with a double row of the national troops to the very steps of the Vatican. Every window was filled with people anxious to catch a glimpse of the handsome and youthful Emperor as he passed by in his open victoria; Prince Henry and Count Bismarck followed in another of the Emperor's carriages.
At the early hour of half past nine the _haute société_, the Ministers, the Senators and Deputies--in fact, _all Rome_--were summoned to meet the Emperor at the Campidoglia. It was to be lighted for the first time with electricity--a great event. People were to meet in the statue-gallery. After all were assembled, the King, the Queen, and the Emperor entered, followed by the princes and their different suites. The Emperor was dressed in the uniform of the _garde de corps_ (all white) with a silver breastplate and silver helmet. He was an apparition! and did not look unlike one of the statues. Or was he a Lohengrin who had come in a swan-drawn skiff down the Tiber to save some Italian Elsa?
There were some presentations made. I, for one, was presented to his Imperial Majesty, and was charmed with his graciousness. We talked English, which I think rather pleased him, for he made some facetious remarks on things and people and actually laughed.