Show ve Z all S 4 gw k 44 wy n U scene on the grand canal venice prepared by the national gebb society Wh washington ington D C ITH ta the 1 e opening of the summer AX WITH I 1 mer r travel tr avel season the paths s of travelers in europe lead again to venice wilch with its unique streets of water seems to exercise a lure more potent than cities wholly of the land te T e traveler should not expect too much of venice it Is hardly fair no great city can exist on narrow canals and be entirely a thing of beauty one necessarily has had dreams dreama of venice and goes there with marked preconceptions this follows reasonably enough for so much has been written about this city of the sea and of course the rosy romantic aspect hasi been presented if one does not set his mark inordinately high venice will charm him novelty will pinch hit bit whenever beauty strikes out by all means the visitor should arrange to arrive in venice by night under soft moonlight or under the rays of the dim and infrequent street lamps venice puts her very best toot forward and strives to make the most extravagant dreams come true the deep shadows under its bridges and the palace arches the mysterious narrow black canal entrances the picturesque tur esque leaning posts the gentle lopping lapping of the waves against the walls and steps the swish of the paddles the half brusque arif songlike vails calls of the gondoliers gondo liers as they approach blind corners perhaps the musical song of a gondolier in rhe distance all combine to give ond ona an entrancing entrance into the city of canals ue he leans leang back on tits his cushions during the long boot boat ride to the hotel for of course traveler and luggage must go by boat quite contented with life this is venice and it Is quite as it shou should ld be what the day reveals A night arrival Is a rue but a successful one it la Is as though one should contrive to meet a once beautiful lady no longer young at af an evening garden party her wrinkles become soft lines when they face you in the pitiless light of the morrow they will have a certain suggestion of familiarity and memory will make them less harsh the first day in venice discloses indubitable signs of ugliness as well as of beauty picturesque gont gondolas mina pass on the grand cana so do the venetian street cars ars squat steamboats little but ali all too large beside the gondolas their sawed off stocks stacks belching dl dirty arty muck black smoke they raise choppy waves as do the swifter little moor hoats the gondoliers gondo liers alard at them and the traveler joins them in spirit in the amlee italian cur curses ses that they must be uttering u under their breath more alore gondolas pass and the tras h bouts boats of the municipality in the waters that seemed so fair lust last might floats every conceivable sort of rubbish yonder Is the beautiful treacle cade of a fine old palace and healer it a building from which the stucco has fallen in great patches disclosing ugly bricks beneath perhaps the stones are falling away too at the waterline letting the waves reach in n tor for an inevitably evit ably greater destruction green slime covers the steps and the tilted wooden posts are rotting time Is not the only desecrater of venett venetian an walls the hand of the advertiser has been busy too and some of the walls that dandolo loved and that scores of poets have sung about now In inform the occupants of gondolas and street cars of products that can be purchased to their supposed advantage but thanks to a night arrival these things do not worry the visitor over much he ie turns rather to the domes of santa marto maria delta salute sainte with a tangle of masts against the eky to the arch of the history encrusted old ponte rialto to the incomparable spires and domes of the cathedral of san marco I 1 one binds that there la Is a surprising amount of dry land life in venice A veritable maze of alleys and caell little littie I 1 streets and canal sidewalks side walks exist the best beat one can hope to do in a short stay la Is to gain a superficial acquaintance with the main way between son san marco and the rialto Ill alto plazza piazza san mareo marco the ways whether narrow alleys or somewhat wid wider er calles have no sidewalks of course the entire space such as it Is Is for pedestrians at intervals the narrow ways open up op into camal as the little squares are called the name piazza has been reserved for the great square of san marco facing the cathedral the ultimate in dry spaciousness in venice if one has only a picture knowledge of venice as all the world has not been there has the piazza san marco will prove a surprise the little open space that holds the famous statue of the lion of san marco Is not the real piazza but only the anteroom the pl azetta well wel behind the lion column around the campanile ties hea a square greater than many a city with an unlimited supply of terra term firms firma can boast no wheeled or tour four tooted footed traffic uses this great square it la Is given over entirely to humans and pigeons thousands of the latter make the piazza san marco heir home borne and there Is seldom a time during the day when one can cross the square square without carefully picking his way to avoid stepping rg on them when night falls again and cloaks the inevitable tawdry spots of an old city built on piles one forgets hla his criticisms of the day out on the lagoon go on at the mouth of the arand canal in it a boat lighted by gaily colored lanterns a company of musicians and singers begins a serenade the gondolas of tourists join the throng of slender black forms bobbins bobbing gracefully up and down each with a silent statuesque figure standing at its stern stem soft music and the gentle swish of wavelets waveless wave lets oil fill the air the lights of the 1 ados lidos gleam in the distance while nearer at hand black masts and spires stand out against the sky the soaring shaft of the campanile topping them all the three aldos Ve nices playground Is tho the bidos lidos the ch chain aln of low sand islands across the lagoon which have ever guarded the fly city from the adriatic without these isles and the tide they control venice or at least the venice that Is so well known would never have been born on the lidos bidos merethe we were rethe the original settlements tle ments that led to the establishment of the city of venice on the islands of the lagoons when attila and hla his aun un hordes swept down on europe in A D many of the inhabitants of the regions farther inland took refuge on the aldos lidos F from rom to the sent seat of government of the region was lit malamocco Mala mocco a few miles south of the present lido bathing resort on the island the encroach encroachment ments of the waves luring during the afie spring and autumn storms and the vulnerability to attacks from enemy navies led in to a general exodus to the islands on which the present city Is built the lados today consist or of three principal tong long sandy islands divided by narrow water channels and scarcely far enough above the water waler to be distinguished from clouds when seen from a distance the 11 Ll torale or beach of malamocco Mala mocco Is the largest and most important Import as it contat contains hs both the famous bathing resort and the small village of Malaro Mala macco occo the Li torale of Pel pellestrina lestrina Is a strung out village of fishermen and gardeners alona it are portions of the gret seawall for although the adriatic pio protected its daughter from the guns guna of the henry heavy draught vessels of the middle middie akes it exacted cons constant const twit homage in ID stone walls and breakwaters |