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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1975-08-21, Page 200 pe of lights, height, w • �' • 4 (i o 4in from front page) August afternoon was splintered by the flying mountain top whose Rhine,, built iqthe year 1245, and dust and fumes killed three cities, IP r0111041able that it was the only the largest of which was Pompei. Ca$40 never overwhelmed Perhaps Pompei was a "sin old road", until three years' ago the only road ... and we would not have been able to pass through for another fortnight. Why, says Leslie our courier, who Victoria Station had info- and *Wettest stores and faeto cover thing to offer but chocolate baits: ries. The exquisite cathedral, take courage, children, WO. will Santa Maria del. Ei9ree (Sts, Marx get breakfast on the tram to of the Flower) contains many Dover. But, no, there is no: food on huge painttngB, the ,bottom 18 that train; and the only faucets inches of each having been ,byanene mY! Down, down below strip", the centre of an orgiastic , avelled the old road many, damaged irreparably by the Rhine twinkled in the sun- read "This water is not for water Italian and foreign 1�.'th���' Roman society which deserved to �� y times, a fortnight ago we are crowned by little signs which ; e just as it had 700 years ago die because it was too hedonistic could not have driven on this new funds have been used, with the when some intrepid feudal lord to live. Whatever the moral road! We would have had to pile • drinking." build the greatest The Island of Capri, just � off help of experts and volunteer tided to reasoning, the result was the ourselves onto the train and B and build itof Stratford hurtle through the tunnel which o Naples in southwest Italy, was students from all over the world castle of them a same: a city the size er(except Cominuni$t Russia, we HERE. or Woodstock just disappeared cuts for miles through the mourn- was not for drinking. Capri has were told) to repair Florence's Two, days later, in a morning under a sea of ash. Centuries tains and_ we ' would have as et we bought bananas in an no-one disturbed the . missed all this height and all this no wells; it rises sheer clff from flood fstare flat been done gto, ut not ti the sage drizzle, g passed, and the Mediterranean; roofs open market and tipped our sealed tomb of Pompei until two beauty. d cis store the rainwater thing happening again should heads back to look up into the hundred years ago. Today, fortu- And we are at the top, the very heavens to the tie of the cathedral nately preserved by careful top of the world it seems... and at Ulm, in Bavaria, its 534 -foot archeology and inventiveness, 14 -year-old Douglas Wilson from spire the highest in the world, an Pompei exposes its remains to South Africa turtle out into the amazing tribute to those Gothic the tourist. Devoid of roofs, the snow to have his first snowball builders who learned to lay layer walls stretch barely, the columns "fight" of a lifetime! upon layer of stone, angling their and brickwork, the stones and Next morning, Douglas, joined sharp peaks to dizzy heights, streets outlining a life as it really by our Canadian children more building so well that tourists five was, not •a life later covered by used to snow, clambered out at centuries later would enjoy their the changes of other people the top of Mount Titlis, near tribute to God just as had they. building upon it. Aside from the Lucerne, a blizzard raging Michelangelo's David graffiti and pornography on the around them, iO,00Q feet in the Height means height plus total walls, Pompei demonstrates air, their lungs hurting from the immensity very often. Height some marvellously inventive lack of oxygen. And we knew we means proportion and beauty things, such as the little triaegu- were at the top of the world, and very often. And we found them in lar stones in' the chinks of the even if it had meant taking that the Academy in Florence, rising road blocks, white travertine to funicular railway, and those out of the stark white beauty of reflect moonlight, so pedestrians three successive cable cars, and Carrara marble, emanating from could walk abroad at night swaying sickeningly from the the most impressive mass of without falling ... because it you cable as lightning and thunderture we have ever seen sculpture fell in Pompei's streets, you -Tell crashed ar � ' k.� us, even if it had Michelangelo's "David". Un- into some filthy muck left by meant looking down to a blue bl derneath a dome which sheds horses and wagons! \ glacier far below the ca a car beautiful buildings for their own But we journey natural light down and over him At the other end of the scale of and wondering how any human not for our viewing centuries vainly looking for cascades: the an c for them for washing purposes. torrential rains come once more. But the drinking water is brought Dirty water can be cleaned, of daily from the mainland, under course. A few years ago, when we conditions of dubious sanitation . toured the Rhine River, its sur- so once again, the Coca*Cola face Was marred by pollution; company made a profit on today, as we enjoyed it all the Jamie! We inquired about the way from Cologne up to Basle, process of removing salt from the water ran pure and clean, sea water, and saw a desalination- boats cutting its calm surface plant beside the funicular rail- with white no debris trailing in their way to the north beach, with deadThere were wet paradoxes, vegetation all around it ... and no significant amount of salt -free though. Rome, the great city of water produced. Try again, fountains, is suffering a water chemists and mechanics! shortage due to recent drought. Venice, of course, was a wet Areas of Rome are being sight to behold. Everyone -who rationed; mercifully, our hotel knows the name of the city knows area (just two blocks down 'the that this marvellous and fascinat- street from St. Peter's Square, ing city is sinking slowly but right in front) was not cut off definitely into its canals. The while we were perspiring aroun Venetians of long ago built their in the heat of The Eternal Cit he fountains in a great indirect glow, David morality, the ceiling of the Sistine ever built it, even if it meant use, his mammoth bulk far, Vatican reminds trying to forget that the bell rang later, but nevertheless they built Trevi Fountain still had coins stands, Chapel in the on soft islands of mud, their (being fished out by a bare -leg - far larger than we had expected. you that one . man worked for and the car stopped because you ed man who did b seem carry water to Italy's communi- ledge an elo's perfect know- his face had gained too much speed and buildings supported on pilings ged years, in cold and damp, driven into this mud. As mendicant needing the money!) ties, two thousand years later. ledge of human anatomy is a few inches from wet plaster as the driver must slow your crazy before You :crashed into. the mechanization and industrialize- in its poql.but no water flowed. It The Romans were amazing en - everywhere evident: the chest he painted it, forgetting food and ride Ytion (the former because of- the was the same with each fountain gineers . everywhere we saw muscles, the gigantic, powerful sleep and other people, laboring pilon ...even if it meant all that, Y hands of the youth who killed wild to meet the demands of a venge- even so you' knewyou . were motorboats canals, the latter .now plying Venice's we vbecause 'of tains! • visited. Rome with dry foun- the permanence of n ht it work ve later „ animals with his bare hands to ful Pope while remaining true to THERE, higher than you had Paris was almost as dry ...few builders., protect his sheep, the veins tours -been beforewhile still earth- mainland industry) have pro- there was this his inner feelings toward God and ar, the back of those hands asto please Him. bound, and height was glorious .. duced greater water flowce the flowed; out at Versailleins s, whose Cardinaled or For (notan early baseball Mg up his own ability . veins do course up the arms of a • You stand in the Sistine Chapel and you said to yourself, "Will I ebb,.and more turbulence, again be afraid of height? water has actually risen, as well fountains have long bewitched eXpert!) a member of the in - Man who has used his hands for gazing upward at Michelangelo's ever g as the buildings sinking. Not only tourists by their complexity and famous Borgia family, a nephew real work. At 12, Chuck seems a masterpiece, your neck hurting This height makes a hu an into a in eniousness, lay at the of the current Pope. In those bigboy, but how small he was as " . does Venice sink ... it can also'be g as you follow his portrayal li God monarch!" and hen you said in some winds, to stink. The bases of many fountains, either days, Cardinals were sometimes he tilted his head, squinting up at giving man "life"; marvelling at began your descent, downd all canals especially the smaller clean and bluish or green and a - secular -lot, fond of the p ea- • V_-- Jamie, Ruth and Chuck Tatham, formerly of List � Rome. Fundinge tured TIVOLI GARDENS in front of some of the hundreds of fountains in long Tivoli past went into the architecture and from the reigning Catholic hierarchy of ane garden creation, built to impress\ rather than to satisfy. construction of this magnificent the great stone figure above him, the perspective depicted by a those wicked miles again, an an side ones, demonstrate unman- sludgy, but none ran in. its pedestal taller than he! man who could never stand back hour later you emerged into It is one thing to look up at to view the paintings as you do torrents of rain at the bottom of tionable floating garbage, lap- Italian Plumbing Rhine castles, Ulm Cathedral and in shame, you rub your the mountain, and you knew ,ping against the ancient brick But.I'll tail non where the water_ was getting on a little in years, and Mighty hu David. Ito another aching neck muscles and re- yourself for what you were, a and stone walls, in wd4er that is DID run ...all night a much g and realized he should nick his thing to hurtle precariously up a member how Michelangelo's puny human, a speck of life at- often green and. slimy, eroding D the Italian plumbing! Sorrel- uncle, the Pope, for whatever the wooden bases of the doors. narrow "road" carved � right neck and back hurt him all the tempting to say you ruled the There is a glamour' to gliding to's bathroom necessity required `fancy funds he needed soon while against the side of a mountainous rest of his life because he worked earth just because you couldan ex ert climb onto a high the supply lasted. Accordingly, cliff, cramped in a little tiny up at that. height, in that damp, crawl around on its heights and around in a gondola, but the Trus- p theplacingof a ' live! tration of moving through a bt�si- window ledge, he had his engineers divert a "bus" on the islandel of Capri,wtoo cramped spot. Where are the still cloth (ours'.) under a lever, and small river, 30 miles or so outside., enthralled M. realize how din- ness day so slowly, even by water people gone who slaved for years Find you crossed the little river, bus, would soon°daunt a Nord the removal of before the .;Rome, at}d run it through his es* erous isyour situation, too para -by anext removal salary Mussame idle idea t tat@.' During its through , the dim g to create perfection? are we now swollen the rain/and you Amgri�an tycoon, ,even; - loin r °' tat During was run throudh con irida' tb jiuti�a.great lump l• about as ing themanagement to t lyzed eby .the realization to. enjoy o y knew. thatheights and water were . r ., s fu`l'fy iiia iatotitiding'aziire depths the one: The ; ecjeetriing featu>'Q f ' fix it was abandoned after we had bank after dank of .fountains, ,p of licass* or rock; u bl i aqua and bigger than you were. Venice is the incredibly beautif 1 . each nk a tier lower than the last, of the Mediterranean below you. amorphous, in a public square in requested replacement bulbs for You wish you had not sat by the heights and water. interiors of places like the Doge s g shelving down from his high villa Toronto, and label it, and pretend Lights, our bedli his ... and the electri- window, or at least not by that a person can really SEE some- Those are the things we remem., Palace and St. Marks, and the cityfor the entire hotel had to be to the valley floor ...fountains of, window because it is yet the out- reallylovelyexteriors of many of onthing beautiful or inspring in it? bar about Europe. the chur hes, bridges and cut off three times in order to f'n- every type and description, foun- the "road", ,secretlyEiffel Tower Water, Water ... Mussolini, before he _ ish the job. (I forget what we r ad tains which squirted and poured side of The �� squares ... Musso , you pity the poor chap beside you Height after height after . Sometimes, it wa>, water, those nights we were too and trickled and ran, which who is wedged in the jump seat, g g b p became a megalomaniac, in one weary from climbing Capri and gurgled and paused in pools and gheight. The bei ht of the Eiffel water everywhere, ut pot a oro because he can't see all that you Tower in Paris, its close ugliness to drink! " As we had found be- of those . fine times when he travelling in a bus whose air con- gushed on down. AO the - ` helped his people mightily, built a floor, the water ran back into valley can see. You peer up ahead, and made beautiful and lacy by dis- fore, one of the hardest things to four -lane highway from ditioning had quit, to worryabout see a snake of road spiralling far the tante. Inside it, we creaked and find in some restaurants was just greatvery much.reading at all!) original riverbed. And so was above, and think, "Thank good- Mestre, the mainland city, to the Such are the vicissitudes of created the Tivoli Gardens . , .all d!'." and groaned upward in the "lifts", a drink of pure water ... even its' heart of Venice, and this is the ness, that's not OUR rt, past greasy cogged wheels, past countries in which we were sur- travel ...and the fun to remem- this for one man's pleasure. In water, city's commercial artery ever rain, and some sunshine, we suddenly you are on it, aloe it is girders grimed with soot and oil, rounded by swimming since. bar. Water memories include the your road. And then you are until we emerged on an upper boating water, rain water, flood Flood Water tdownpour in Lucerne, when I gaped and gasped our way there, at Anaeapri, the "above" landing, and beneath us in every water, and water just for tried to get over to the main sta- through the gardens, lost in. the The destructiveness of water tion square, and was trapped in a greenery, much of it from the was impressed brutally again bank doorway for ten minutes overgrown trees planted two when we went for our first meal centuries ago. "Ludo", our ex - in the dining room of our hotel in with a delightful Swiss ladywho Florence. On the right wall as we spoke nothing but German . . ex- ceedingly curvaceous and know - such wavings of umbrellas as we ledgeable Roman guide, led us entered, perhaps 12 feet up a behind the "Niagara" fountain, pillar, was a mark demonstrating underwent in the cause of inter- national communication! cautioning us that white marble the height of the flood water one The Romans built high ,ague- is far more slippery than the day in November, 1966 when ducts to carry the water from the blank (and she was right! ) the Arno River burst its banks. hills and mountains down to their. Memories to Ponder Pitiful onlookers watched it flow some We pondered this southern two storeys above the bridge- still Italian water. Barren, yellowed hills stretched to ;the horizon in the .bright sun; rarely, a bit of irrigation appeared, and the land bloomed like a paradise. Could southern Italy with its glorious sunshine, produce food for more nations if only the Roman -Italian engineering genius were devoted to irrigation? We suspect it could . . . if the Italian people could organize themselves, and spend their energy in purposeful pur- suits rather than defacing statues of Garibaldi with local election posters for the Communist Party! - And so it was ... too little water here, too much there ... we saw early flood -waters in the Swiss rivers when we descended from our 10,000 foot ascent of Mount Titlis; we saw azure sea water encircling Capri ; we drenched ourselves in rain time and again. After our return to England, we journeyed out to Wargrave (near Maidenhead) on the Thames, right at the time of the. rowing of the Henley ... and realized what great enjoyment man can derive from controlled water. And we are left with these many thoughts to turn over in our minds, and with so many more that we can never total them all, but can only say, once again, that travel can be one of the greatest sures of the flesh, devoted to their lady friends, and sometimes their boy friends. Anyway, this chap the ine from the height of the Eif eel Tower? Will we once more watch the west sun stream through the rose window of Notre Dame, illustrating the Old Testa- ment stories in stained glass of a hue whose formula is apparently forgotten? - In memory, we will return again and again .... until some day, hopefully, we can add more memories to the storehouse of thought, and multiply the friend- --ships as we did this time when we toured Europe with all those fine folk from New Zealand, Austra- lia, South Africa, California and Canada. Meanwhile, Ontario is a won- derful place to call "home"! Navajo Nation plans for future In conjunction with the Bi- centennial observation, the Navajo Nation of Arizona has planned an u': igation project which will provide water for cultivating 11,000 acres of oth- erwise arid land. There will also be a $2.5 mil- lion Navajo Heritage Center • to -display and sell arta and crafts of all tribes, a Navajo Land Outdoor Theater and an amphitheater in the Canyon de Chelly National Monu- ment. Capri village, the highest part direction spread the avenues of now inhabited, and below you Paris, treed parks, flowing stretches the clear, clear blue of water, twin spires of Notre the sea, boats moving like tiny Dame, bulbous spires of Sacre toys on a -thick blue glass, rocks Coeur in the distance ... and two jutting out like humps on a ser- tiny dogs chasing each other in a pent's back, waiting to snag the little park, the whole park a centi- innocent sailor as they have. for metre in diameter from that thousands of years. You look height. Thank you,. people of across at a higher tip of land, a Paris, for leaving, up Georges height from which the Roman Eiffel's Tower long after the Ex - Emperor Tiberius is said to have hibition of 1889 was over! Thank tossed his wives and !servants to you very much, indeed. their deaths when they failed to •But what is a description of. please him : he lived on Capri. for 12 years, and had 12 wives, which makes a startling wife -life average if the years were coinci- dent! And you turn to look down from your dizzy height, and far below, beyond the waves of purple bou- gainvillia, the vill age of Maria Piccolo- gains its fame because Gracie Fields married an Italian and together they run a wonder- fully . luxurious hotel there, to cater to the wealthy who no longer care -mu ch if "There'll Always be an England" but only that there will al ways be a Capri! A Sea of Ash Up past the c urves of the\ Sor- rento highway, where the tourist buses drive a : tightrope between edelweis blooms in fragile snowy death from plihnging over a cliff bloom. Now the trees are below and death frl em hitting a wild us, and we have only the grass. Italian motorist, Mount Vesuvius And what is that serpentine track lifts its height into the clouds, down there, snow piled across rounded on top since "the great many of its curves"? That is "the eruption" of 79 A.D. when one Europe's fascinating heights without a glimpse at the Alps? Here we are in the St. Gotthard Pass, winding our way down from Italy to Switzerland. Andre, our wonderful Belgian bus driver, calmly stops the "coach" at this hairpin turn, backs it up, and curves on around and up to the next turn. A stubborn Teuton in an orange Porsche zooms down at us, expecting Andre to tele- scope the bus to let him wiggle past. Firmly, Andre inches for- ward, and the Porsche backs up the mountain to let us turn. The trees thin, the snowcaps become greater, the wild flowers more sparse. Below, the road we have left switches back and forth like an angry rope. Here a clump of watching ! Scene one:47 tour members (including 10 former Listowel- ites, the members of the George Tatham family of Guelph acid the Keith Coates family of Toronto) have arisen at dawn, and dragged their luggage to the Victoria Rail Station in London early on a Sunday morning, to meet the Global Tour courier, Leslie, and set off for the Conti- nent. Breakfastless, Cirossroads: they dis- flooring sweeping into homes cities and private villas of those open aqueducts WATER WELL DRILLING DAVIDSON WELL DRILLING LIMITED OFFERS YOU- - 75 years of successful water development - The most modern, fast equipment available - Highly trained personnel - Fast service.and free estimates - Guaranteed wells at lowest cost PUT EXPERIENCE TO WORK FOR YOU! DAV IDSON , Rotary and Percussion Drills PHONE 357-1960 WINGHAM WELL DRILLING LIMITED "ONTARIO'S FINEST WATER WELLS SINCE 1900" Published every Wednesday as the big, action cross-country section in The Listovvel Banner, The Wingham Advance -Times and The Mount Forest Ccinfederate. Wenger Bros. Limited, publishers, Box 390, Wingham Barry Wenger, Pres. Robert O. ,Tenger, Sec.-Treas. Display and Classified ad deadline— Tuesday, week prior to publication date. REPRESENTATIVES Candia n Community Newspa pers Association, Suite 51 , Bloor St., West, Toronto 06214000 Ontario Weekly Newspaper Assoc., 127 George St., Oakville 884-0184 DOUBLE STANDARD-- Milan Cathedral in the dusk, Where the garment of the visitor must cover knees and elbows white viewing the nakedness of marble tstatues inside. church in his is the largest Gothic Cathedral in Italy, and perhaps the most ornate in � Naples. tte Milan IA contrast to a sinking Venice and i '9 p g world. 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