Emilio Aguinaldo is considered by many to be the “George Washington” of the Philippines. His family home is preserved – much like Washington’s at Mount Vernon – and a museum is dedicated to his life and times. Additionally, to the Aguinaldo home, the leader himself is entombed on the grounds behind the house. The grounds became the official Aguinaldo Shrine in 1964 just after his death.
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Standing in the renewed Italian positions of the open-air museum of the Kolovrat, you are rewarded with an all-world view over the Isonzo River valley with the Krn-MonteNero massif rising dramatically on the other side. Of the Bovec-Kobarid open-air museums, the view from here is only matched by what you gain at the former Austrian artillery base on Čelo above Bovec.
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As the Cold War ended, a resurgence in interest took place in France as many of the former fortifications the country spent so much time, money, and hope in keeping war away from the home door. The jury of historical writers seem a bit divided in opinions regarding whether the fortifications built between the late 1920 and 1930’s accomplished much. Forts have had a history of being very expensive and difficult to upgrade, keeping them current with the rapid advances in artillery.
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World War One – La Grande Guerra in Italian – destroyed four of the great ruling houses of Europe. The House of Savoy was not one of them. That would take another war. The House of Savoy is one of the older families of Europe making it into the rarefied heights of ascendant nobility. Like most of these families, the family history is complicated by time and politics. That history becomes confused further by looking at maps of the feudal lands over the years as they waxed and waned with time. Little bits of color interspersed with each other, seemingly with no rhyme or reason at times. So much of history tied up in abstruse, rarefied, esoteric stories understood by only a few of the most dedicated students.
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Italy remembers World War One – la Grande Guerra – a bit differently than World War Two. First off, they were on the winning side in the first war. Second, a little over a hundred thousand more Italians died during the First than the Second – 651,000 to 689,000 compared to approximately 500,000. The vast cost of the First War in treasure and men along with THE thought by Italians as unfair results of their sacrifices at the treaty tables at the war’s end ended destabilizing the nation. Enter the Blackshirts and Benito Mussolini.
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Long-distance paths have acquired quite a following in the past few decades. In the US you have ways like the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail standing as the Big Three. There are plenty of other long-distance paths to spend days upon days on, as well, such as the Arizona Trail, the Green Mountain Trail, and on and on. Of course, the American examples pale in number when compared to the Old World.
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Monte San Michele. Welcome to one of the battlefields upon where so many Italians, as well as their opponents from Austria-Hungary, spilled blood during the 1915 to 1916. These campaigns fought in the harsh limestone hills just east off the Isonzo River. The extreme efforts of that long year and three months remembered by King Vittorio Emanuele III’s proclamation in 1922 of the hill’s inclusion as a zona sacra, a place of special memory to the Italian nation. At least three zone sacra in Italy relate to World War 1 – Pasubio and Monte Grappa are the other two. There might be more but those along with Monte San Michele are the big three.
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Always new things to learn in Panama. One is the airstrip which the Panamerican highway tunnels under about 1-2 hours west of Panama City. I have been driven under the runway on six occasions and have never seen a plane nor really much in the way of any activity at all. Local Lions club members told me it was just an expensive affair on the government’s part to attract tourists to an underdeveloped area of the coast. This is true regarding the last decade or so of the airstrip’s life but does not explain the rest of the history of the site.
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Rombon sits at the eastern end of the dolomitic Kanin massif. It is a serious mountain. The climb is relatively straightforward, but it entails 1,750 meters of elevation gain over 5 ½ to 7 hours of climbing. Once you are up there, you have all of that elevation to lose. There is no water nor alpine huts up here. The mountain rises to 2298 meters while Bovec, the normal starting point, sits at a mere 460 meters. For over two years, Italians and soldiers from the Austro-Hungarian Empire grappled with each other amidst the alpine splendor. The fighting conducted sporadically, but when fought, bitterly.
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The 1840’s saw emigrants begin to make Oregon – especially the Willamette Valley – a destination of choice. After a brief struggle, newcomers chose to make Salem the capital of the new Territory instead of Oregon City. But Salem was definitely an inland choice. Transportation to the sea was needed to enable easier communication with the rest of the World as opposed to a six-month jaunt across the Rockies. As the 1850’s rolled on, the best choice of a seaport lay at the mouth of the Columbia River – enter the Astoria to Salem Road, military in purported purpose, but strategic thinking lay at the heart.
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