EADING A good travel book can be almost as much fun as travelling, especially if you aren’t due , for holidays until ‘whenever’ or your Visa and Amex are displaying dangerous stress cracks. Unfortunately, in this age of global rapid transit, a good travel writer is a lot harder to find than a good travel agent. The 19th century was the great heyday of travel writing, when ac- counts of travels were aimed at an affluent but largely armchair au- dience, the people who today watch documentaries about exotic places on TV but who have no desire to experience 99% humidi- ty, -60°F temperatures or what it feels like to have a spider the size of a baseball crawl into your shorts. ; i'm currently taking a leisurely John Moore . BOOK REVIEW good writing than accurate guiding. His approach was quickly sup- planted by true guides like the lit- Little wonder Rick Steves’ unique books like Europe Through the Back Door have proved so popular. Now in its 11th edition. this book shows you how to avoid bringing home the anjyiession that Europe is not actually an aggrega- tion of adjacent countries, but really a giant Swiss-run theme park bent on relieving you of your traveller’s cheques as quickly as possible. His 2 to 22 Days in Europe or Great Britain books ($17.95 & $13.95) do likewise for travellers on tight schedules, providing an irreverent, often iconoclastic, “underview”’ of the grand tour. Steves co-authored Mona Winks, a self-guided tour of . Europe's top museums, with Gene Openshaw, an essential book for advance reading so you can 4 HARRISON GALLERIES Exhibition of original paintings that include paintings from his recent visit to the South of England, “Catchin’ Some Sun” Exhibition runs February 25 to March 5/93. Park Royal, South Mall, West Vancouver Hungarian Chicken f Paprikach, or j Roast Beef "Burgundy" inwine sauce decide what vou want to see, m painting by painting, in Europe’s major and minor musees without winding up, as! did a few years i ago in Paris, refusing to enter the Louvre on the grounds that one more reverent afternoon in any museum would precipitate irra- : . . . Each meat Inciudes: Dally soup, bread, cucumber saiad 4&4... tourism was becoming accessible to the formerly chair-bound bourgeoisie. 99 PRESENT TrlS AD FOR YOUR LOW PRICE UNTIL MARCH 15/03 H.V. Morton, a sentimental favorite because his In The Steps of St. Paul travelogues of the Holy Land was the only book my father had to read during four years ina POW camp. Ironically, Dad never expressed any interest in visiting Palestine. Morton was a popular travel writer just when the “grand tours’’ were ceasing to be an aris- tocratic perk and tourism was becoming accessible te the formerly chair-bound bourgeoisie. His “‘secret'’ of writing good travel was superficially simple: “There is no secret. You either enjoy yourself or you do not. If you do, say so; if you do not — say sol’ Morton was one of the last of the old-style writers whose em- . Phasis lay more on local color and Most offers come with a hook. This is OUrS. We simply offer the best sclection of frames and mats for prints, pictures or keepsakes. Plus superb craftsmanship and expert advice, No strings attached. BILTON'S 109 East Ist Street North Vancouver 985-4033 filled, smalt-print dry-as-dust prose seemed calculated to drive ex- plorers no further than the nearest pub or bistro. Contemporary travel books follow the Baedecker model (ex- cepting specialist loons like railroad nut, Paul Theroux) or de- _ scend into the purple prose of tourist bureau boosterism in which “quaint charm’’ may be translated as “‘the latrine is a jungle clearing 1 km south and . don’t mind the huge centipede.”’ HA tional violence. I've had years to regret that moment of intransigent Philistinism, which ranks with Herman Goering’s remark, “When | hear the word Kultur, | reach for my revolver.” Reach for Afona Winks instead; at $21.95, it's cheaper than am- munition and the outrageous “Art History — Five Millenia in Seven Pages” is brilliant; your old fine arts teacher is chewing the pages of Janson's History of Art as you read this. Bon voyage. 1R DESIGN| NORTH VANCOUVER Lonsdale & 21st: 984-8453 Marine Dr & Pemberton: 985-7311 LYNN VALLEY Lynn Valley Centre» 986-0772 SPECIALS! 100% Cotton — Quality Spring Rompers & 2-pce. Sets. Reg. to $99.99. O% OFF All Quilts & Bumper Pads. a REG. tO $49.99... cesccsssecrersetcsssesserees 50% OFF Padders Baby Bootzes. Cord and 5 0 % . . © OFF Suede. Reg. to $16.99, 50% orr Diaper Bags. 50% orr Reg. to $29.99........ Buster Brown Baby Socks. Reg. t Sizes 12-24 MO. REG. $22.99... SALE $4 6°? vias SALE *4 8? Sizes 2-3X. Reg. $24.99....... Spring Fashion Collections for Boys and Girls. Sizes 12-24 mo........00. SALE 95 % OFF Sleepers for Newborn to XL. Selected styles.:......0.0.... SALE 20-50% OFF: MANY MORE UNADVERTISED SPECIALS FOR INFANTS & TODDLERS (2-3X} Don’t forget to enter our Baby Draw!