IN VENICE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16564, 30 May 1914, Page 17

IN VENICE.

FASCINATION OF THE "QUEEN

OF THE ADRIATIC."

A NEW ZEALANDER ON TOUR. (By Mps J. M. Wiluajison.) From Haifa wc proceeded to Jaffa, whero wo did not go ashore, having boon there before. For several hours a steady stream of oranges camo pouring into our steamer. We took in 251 X) boxes, each box being as largo as a big cabin trunk. We were not sorry at Alexandria to leave our little vessel and change on to the beautiful Uclonan, owned by the Austrian Lloyd Line. This steamer in its up-to-date appointments was quite equal to tho much vaunted Cunarder, whilst tho food and attendance could not have been hector. There was quite an _ illustrious passenger list, a .Russian prince, tho Vamlcrbilts, Baron Rothschild, Ismad Pasha (who has been in tho forefront of the late Albanian affair, and who expected to have been made King of Albanian), being amongst the number on board. The latter looked anything but a kingly figure as ho lounged in his deck-chair, though his face is a keen, clever one. But after all it. was. the steerage passengers who wove most interesting. They sat round tho hold waiting for the loading of the boat to be- comported, and they made a picturesque sight. At one side a barber was busily engaged, lathering and shaving in full view. Everyone's possessions were laid out on the dock, bedding, bird-cages or baskets crammed with food and oranges, and sacks were everywhere. One- woman minded four geese, and another had a flock of turkeys all walking about. A bag of grain had burst in transit, and the live stock were doing their best to follow tho same course, their owners "meanwhile keeping a sharp look-out for tho authorities. Men shrieked directions to each other in weird Arabic, a girl sat combine; her long hair (beautiful brown hair, too), with a hit of broken comb; a little boy lay contentedly sucking his brother's bare toes. On board the Helonan nothing was spoken by the .stewards but Italian and German. As wo could speak neither language, it was at times rather funny. One of our party hit on tho expedient of writing down in English what she required, and proudly wrote for " two eggs, boiled live minutes." Well, the steward returned with eggs boiled two minutes and five toothpicks 1 the latter neatly laid out on a little plate. Wo had the oddest pillows on this boat. They felt hard, so wo began investigating, and found they were the litebelts folded in two and put into a pillow-case. Nice, and handy! VENICE AT MIDNIGHT. Landing at Triesto and getting our baggage through tho Customs took a long time, as there was a great'number of passengers, consequently, we did not get a train till 7 p.m. This landed us in Venice at 11.30 p.m. It poured with rain, and as wo camo shivering down the steps of tho station and took our seats, creeping under the awning of the gondola, we were a very limp party indeed, not an atom romance clinging to our entry into Venice. We went on and on through ono silent and deserted canal after another. It seemed to take hours, though really only a couple of miles were traversed, and as first ono and then another clock solemnly rang out midnight, the ram poured down, and it became colder and colder, wo just wondered if wo were in a bad dream, destined to go on for ever. Once the Grand Hotel was reached the scene was changed. Wo found hot drinks, beautiful big wood fires blas- ■ ing in our rooms (in tho quaintest porcelain stoves), and, best of all, a good big budget of New Zealand letters ancLpapers., . . .... ROYAL VISITORS. After a night's rest wo felt more favourably disposed towards Venice, unci it was not long before wo succumbed to the fascination tho " Queen of tho Adriatic" exercises over most people. Next morning the city was in mourning, its shops all closed during the burial of the thirteen victims of a> dreadful drowning calamity in the Grand Canal three days before. A war-boat ran into a steamer full of people and sent it down. Tins is the oidy calamity of the sort that has occurred in forty year?. In the afternoon everything was bright and gay. The Gorman Emperor had como on a visit to the King, his beautiful white yacht lying out before our hotel. Next morning the King of Italy arrived, so nre have the coming and going of distinguished royalty before our eyes. The hotel at which wo stayed was. like many others in Venice, an old palace, and was known as the " Desdemona Palace," and is said to be where Desdemona dwelt. So far, however, no ghosts have appeared to disturb our slumbers; nothing is heard but the melancholy " plish-plash " of tho water against the walls, or the cry of a belated gondolier. Indeed, the quiet or Venice is one of its greatest charms. There is neither dust nor noise of traffic, not a horse, not an automobile or vehicle of any sort, nothing but tho ewiftly gliding boats. THE DOGES' PALACE. Of sight-seeing in the ordinary sense of the term thero is not a great deal, but what there is has much beauty and charm. One goes again and again to have another look at the quaint vistas or architectural gems. Rusk in. in his "Stones of Venice," has so fully described St Mark's and Venice generally that a hurried description seems an impertinence. Wo visited the Doges' Palace, saw many pictures, and much decoration. The Council room i contains a fine frieze of one hundred ' and twenty dead and gone Doges. One is missing. We were told ho was " a bad man, who raised a rebellion." His empty frame, of course, gains more attention than all the rest, and wo inwardly marvel, was there only one bad man amongst the whole hundred and twenty? Frofei this grandeur wo descended to the dungeons beneath, passing, en route,.the three boxes where, covered outside by carved lions' heads, anonymous letters could be placed, denouncing the 'nobility, political offendes and, worst of all, those who dared to think for themselves on religious questions. The stone dungeons wore not lighted in any way. a small hole in the wall, through which the food was thrust, serving to admit a ray of twilight. In several of these cells we saw stone blocks with Hugs attached, where prisoners wero tortured in those "good old days" some people still pretend to regret. One cell contained a stone and wooden bed, on which Byron, is said to have lain, locked in the coll, whilst composing the "Prisoner of Chillon." Does it not seem strange that the same people who could thus torture human beings set up a very beautiful bath for tho pigeons of tho eitv? No one nmv passes over the " Bridge of Sighs." We wore satisfied to view it from beneath. Indeed, the bridges are quite a feature of Venice. Tlim'i are two hundred and ninety public and twontv-fivo private ones. Some are very old and beautiful, most i aro artistic, a few are merely useful. There are many fine pictures, both in the Art Gallery and the churches, some masterpieces of Titian and Tintoretti , amongst them. ! JULIET'S TOMB AT VERONA. | From Venice we went by rail to i y cro na, a most interesting old citv. Let roe haste to record the fact that it is the most exquisitely clean place {imffinnbTo, even the narrowest streets were spotless. The town is full of i„turcting bits. Old gateways, bridges aiicf churches, fine iron railings and 1 crilles abound. 'Jhe Apennines tower i overvwheiv, their snow-clad summits looking tall and grand. The Coliseum has been carefully restored and is ouito

imposing. It (hates from 00 A.l>. and had seating room for 25.000 people. There wero seventy-five entrance's. A big earthquake in the fifteenth century shook a great deal of it down. Later Napoleon restored if. Of course, no visitor to Verona would fail to sec the tomb of Juliet, Thousand'; of visiting cards and numberless faded bouquets lie in it. Tho cards represent nil nationalities and bear amnio testimony to Shakespeare's undying genius. A lino bust of the poet stands opposite the tomb.