Evening star., 1953-12-20

free to any one who would build
a residence.
Superhighwoy on Excursions
Cruise passengers will be
among the first Americans to
travel over Venezuela's super
highway connecting La Guarda
with Caracas, the capital. In
the heavy cruise period between
mid-January and mid February,
there will be nearly so sailings
from New York and New Orleans
into the Caribbean area, and
about 80 will put into La Guardia.
The six-lane highway, which
opened only this month, will be
one of the sightseeing treats of
shore excursions.
Edinburgh Swomped
Drawing visitors from more
than 40 countries, the Interna-
tional Festival of Music and
Drama overf1owed the hotels and
boarding houses of Edinburgh,
Scotland. with $4,000 guests in
its record year. That means
advance reservations should be
arranged months ahead. Next
year, the 9th annual festival
will be held from August % to
September II. And here is the
place to write for reservations,
should one want to undertake
the job himself: Edinburgh Fes-
tival Society. Ltd, Synod Hall,
Castle Terrace. Edinburgh, Scot
land. That's the place to write
for festival tickets, too.
Cut for Tourists Delayed
Those tourists who jumped at
the announcement of a general
IS per cent reduction in Italian
travel during the low season
struck a disappointment. When
Pietro Romani, Italy's high COM
missioner of touriSm, announced
late in October that the railroads
would apply the cut to tickets
bought in America for use No
vember l through February %,
he also said road transportation
companies, hotel groups and res
taurant organizations had
agreed to grant similar reduc-
ton. The rub was that the
agreement was only in principle,
and that some time would be
necessary to implement the de-
tails. But the announcement
served to formalize a reduced,
off season period for future
years, at leaSt-November l
through February % in Rome,
November l through March 81
in other areas of Italy.
Popular Aircooch Trovel
The popularity of aircoach
travel has grown tremendously
in the last five years. Together
with that, other fare-reducing
device known as the airline fam
lily plan, the aircoach accounted
for about 1925 billion passenger
miles on domestic airlines in 1852
and the mileage this year is esti-
mated at billion. So Ameri-
can Airlines was right on the
beam when it instituted one
carrier aircoach service between
Washington and Mexico City
last Sunday. Departures from
National Airport are daily at
1915 am; one-way fare. SGT,
plus nearly SIS Federal trans
portation tax.
| Michigan Winter Attractions
Michigan goes into all winter
sports, as we'll as skiing, with
February as perhaps the stellar
month. February events there
include the Winter Sports Car
nival, Presque Isle County, dur
ing the first week: the Winter
Carnival at Grayling, the first
week end; the Tip-up Town Ice
Fishing Festival, Houghton Lake,
February 1914; the Thunder
Bay Winter Carnival, Alpena.
same dates, and the Escanaba
Ice Revue, Escanaba, the third
week.
Warm Weather Guorqnteed
The management of the Vir-
gin Isles Hotel, outside of Char
lotte Amalie, again is betting
on warm weather, with Lloyd's
of London as its backstop. A
Lloyd's policy insures each guest
free room rental if the tempera-
ture falls below 10 degrees
Lloyd's hasn't had to pay off
yet ahd the policy has been in
effect two years.
Spore Thot Totem Pole!
British Columbia is taking ac-
ton to perpetuate it's trade
mark"-totem poles. Most of the
existing poles are in advanced
stages of decay and few Indians
of the present generation have
the skill and the traditional
knowledge needed to produce
authentic carvings. So the Pro-
vincial Museum has arranged to
replace the fine examples of
totem pole art in Thunderbird
Park. Indian craftsmen will do
the work, and examples of this
peculiar art form will be per-
petuated. Modern methods of
preserving new wood assures a
lifetime of centuries.