EUROPE TO-DAY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 74, 24 February 1938, Page 2

EUROPE TO-DAY

VENICE. We turn out of the Adriatic Sea into the' quiet waters bringing us between stone fortresses where endless channel, posts lean this way and that and seem to nod to their reflections in the smooth water. We are drawing near to Venice. Beyond are the Alps with glimmerings of snow, and near at hand, rising magically and marvellously out of the sea, is the wonder city of the world. So often the traveller is disappointed with the spot about which he has heard and read much. Rome, to be quite honest, can be disappointing — the Forum looking no better than an untidy builder’s yard. But Venice, in spite of much that we had not quite expected, Venice enthralls us. As we draw near —the ship hardly moving now —we see the campanile, rebuilt, it is true, but almost stone for stone the same. There on the right is the Palace of the Doges—you have seen it a score - of times in pictures. The brickwork is a delicate pink above the white stone, and there are the arches in a row. _ Turn left and you will notice the Grand Canal whose opening is hardly to be seen at first, so many are the domes of Santa Maria della Salute with its broad steps rising from the water to the main entrance—a brownsailed ship passing by at,this moment. To the left again there is the lovely red" and white tower of San Giogio Maggiore, and all the other buildings that are so familiar. It is all enchanting—the lapping of the water, our first glimpses of _ a gondola, the waterways reflecting windows and roofs and churches, the masts of the ships, the ducal palace, an oncoming steamer, the gardens Napoleon had made, campaniles and brown tiles . . . .all Venice. (G.)