eleven o'clock in the morning
The Linden exhibited a most imposing and brilliant spectacle ; still it seemed as though the crowd were to celebrate a funeral pageant , and as though they had come as mourners for such an occasion . Nowhere joyous faces were to be seen -- nowhere were heard outbursts of mirth , or those gay , amusing remarks with which the populace of Berlin seldom fail to season a festival . The faces of the people were grave and gloomy ; and the ladies , standing at the open windows , were not festively adorned , but wore black dresses , and black veils fell from their heads . Suddenly the bells on all the steeples commenced ringing , and the booming of artillery announced to the spectators , who had patiently awaited this moment from eleven o'clock in the morning till four in the afternoon , that the emperor was approaching the Brandenburg Gate from Charlottenburg . The thousands assembled maintained a breathless silence ; even the trees did not move , for the restless boys who had climbed them seemed petrified with astonishment at the extraordinary spectacle . The men , who were now entering the gate , were not such soldiers as the people of Berlin had hitherto been accustomed to see . They were not fine-looking , neat young men in handsome uniforms , with bright leather belts , stiff cravats , and well-powdered pigtails , but soldiers of strange and truly marvellous appearance .