Tarawa (CV 40) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 33 text:

f 4-JL fi W , , 4 lg. A 10 fr , 1 A in ihen you drop your flaps and give a hard rlgH rudder. OFF the 'Funicular and up 'lhe ski row. Beyond rhere ii' fakes wings. . , F 2' A Y1,w,,,,,. M' rf-14 Smiiil PQZ img X ,,,o, , up 'U ,Vw 'W tl 5 4 ,I-J' , , fir The entire area was a paradise for camera bugs and the shutters were click- ing night and day. Numerous St. Bernard dogs were run ragged as the con- tinuous subjects of the film fiends but accepted their fate stoically. No arms or legs were reported lost although several Wrestling matches were won by the woolly mammoths. Most unforgettable to all who went to Switzerland is the fastidious nature of the people, not only in their person but in their surroundings as well. The well-scrubbed faces, the shining white and cream stucco buildings, polished woodwork and swept cobble streets were all representative of the national fetish for cleanliness. WVith so much natural beauty on every side 'it is little wonder that the Swiss make every effort to preserve and enhance it to the best of their ability. ,, mv4.,mh-f-Y Wx ' ' ' , f ' i V, gV,g 'f ii ,tutzz No German aimosphere is compleie wiihoui' a Tyrolean band named Hans and Fritz. Some of 'Phe boys Were awhoopin' il up On good ole Sieinbrau beer . . .'

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X Solemn dignily caplured in sfone. A shrine 'I'o Si. Helena in Geneva. H ERSONAL DAMAGES did not, however, deter the lads from making the y rounds of the local pubs in the evening. Booths made from old wine casks, 5 heavy hand-hewn tables and benches, knotty pine walls decorated with stags' heads and cowbells and broken skis, earthenware mugs brimming with the F finest beer in the world, Tyrolean bands and cheery voices raised in hearty l boughl' one of +hose a1'ln+erlaken! Excellent meals in copious quantities were served three times a day without exception. Late evening snacks of cold chipped beef dried and smoked in the open air, sweet sausages and spiced pickles washed down with tangy beer satisfied the ravenous appetites engendered by a day in the mountains. At midnight small cubes of steak skewered on sticks of pine and broiled over charcoal saved everyone from starvation until morning ham and eggs. Thoughis of home were in all hearis ai' supper Chrisimas Eve. 3 German drinking songs all blended to make every evening an unforgettable 5 experience. The Swiss found the swabs to be as fun-loving as themselves and T laughter and gaiety were the keynotes to good cheer. l .I Berefed and becaped Swiss +roops found fas+ friends in fhe firsi' American sailors ihey had ever seen.

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I , 1 V The Goihic caihedral of Palma, which was commenced in fhe year I230, siis wiih maiesiy ,. ' ihai rivals ihe surrounding 'Mallorcan ierrain. ALLORCA BALEARIC I LE ALLORCA was a real treat. It is the largest of the Balearic Islands lying 100 miles from the southeast coast of the Spanish mainland. Low 1500-foot hills roll out of the sea along its southern coast and give way to a wide valley that runs the sixty-mile length of the island. The valley rising northward sweeps up to a 4000-foot mountain range that drops abruptly into the sea. We entered the harbor of Palma at daybreak just in time to see the city waking up. Directly behind the city were mountains. An old Spanish castle was perched on a small hill near the shoreline and a huge Gothic cathedral dominated the center of town. Smoke from thousands of breakfast fires filled the air making sand-colored buildings vague and indistinct in the early morning light. It was enough to make you yawn just looking at it. Avenue Generalissimo Franco, Palma. Dances-We were enrerfained by 'this group who in I949 won firsf prize as a resulf of 'rheir pariicipaiion in an iniernaiional coniesi of folk dancing in Greai' Brifain.