In June 1840, Mary Shelley, Percy Florence (her one surviving child), and a few of his friends—George Defell, Julian Robinson, and Robert Leslie Ellis—began their European tour.[5] They travelled to Paris and then to Metz. From there, they went down the Moselle by boat to Coblenz and then up the Rhine to Mainz, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Baden-Baden, Freiburg, Schaffhausen, Zürich, the Splügen, and Chiavenna.[6] Feeling ill, Shelley rested at a spa in Baden-Baden; she had wracking pains in her head and "convulsive shudders", symptoms of the meningioma that would eventually kill her.[7] This stop dismayed Percy Florence and his friends, as it provided no entertainment for them; moreover, since none of them spoke German, the group was forced to remain together.[5] After crossing Switzerland by carriage and railway, the group spent two months at Lake Como, where Mary relaxed and reminisced about how she and Percy had almost rented a villa with Lord Byron at the lake one summer.[8] The group then travelled on to Milan, and from there, Percy Florence and his friends soon left for Cambridge to take their university finals.[8] Mary Shelley remained, waiting for funds to complete her journey. In September, she returned to England via Geneva and Paris.[6] Upon her return, she became depressed and could not write: "[in Italy] I might live – as once I lived—hoping—loving—aspiring enjoying ...