Daisy Polk
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Milan was a city of water

5/15/2021

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Transportation of commercial goods on the Boffalora Naviglio in 1886. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
Have you ever thought of Milan as a city of water?
When Daisy first visited Milan in 1889 with her mother and older sister Endemial, the city was surrounded by its 5 working canals. 

"Bianca made arrangements for our first night supper in Il Centro and suggested we walk along the canals. Milan was a city of tranquil waterways at this time, with barges navigating the picturesque canal-banks. Naviglio means canal in Italian and navigli is the plural and name for the artificial canals of Milan. They were started during Roman times and by the end of the 13th century, water was seen as a way to transport people and objects, like the marble for the Cathedral. Leonardo da Vinci started working on these projects in 1482. This amelioration started the development of a new system of canals that would have made it possible to travel by canal from the Valtellina wine valley in the far North at the border of Switzerland to Milan, had the work been completed. I was lucky to see the City with its waterways intact, as by the 1920’s rail and motor travel saw many of them covered by streets and buildings with just remnants remaining and few signs that Milan had ever been surrounded by water." 

Read more about Leonardo daVinci's canal designs, why they disappeared and how a growing movement is afoot to uncover them.

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TRAVEL From London to Paris  1900

12/15/2019

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Today we have the Chunnel making London to Paris travel direct and dependable. But in the early 1900's, the distance, currents and trains all created a difficult journey. Just how difficult? Read this first-hand account.

​"The comparatively short journey (
modern editors note: 7 - 10 hours) between one and the other of the great European capitals is one which has demanded almost all the resources of modern science to overcome the natural drawbacks attending its peculiar features. Paris is, by rough calculation, about 260 miles from London which distance must be covered by the voyager in three stages.
  • First, the railway journey to the Channel,
  • then the Crossing thereof, and finally,
  • another railway journey to destination.
The Channel is a notoriously fickle expanse of water, its calmness or commotion ...​


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    Some stories that couldn't make the book in full ... but need to be told! Editors welcomed - sign up below.
    STORIES
    WR HEARST PLANS
    SONG: DAISY
    HOT SPRINGS 1882
    A WILLIS POLK GIFT
    THE RLS CONNECTION 1896

    ​EARTHQUAKE TALES FROM COPPA
    PANDEMIC OF 1889
    ​
    THE BOMB THAT SHOOK SF
    MILAN:CITY OF WATER
    ​
    POLK ON THE MAP
    ​
    FEATHERS, FASHION & FLY FISHING
    ​
    RARE AVIATION FILM - WWI 1914-17
    ​
    1906 SAN FRANCISCO
    ​
    WTF FILES - TECHNOLOGICAL
    ​
    GET ME OUTTA HERE!
    ​
    NO HORSES, NO TENTS, NO $
    DAISY IN FRENCH LITERATURE
    DAISY ON FILM!
    THE WHITE DEATH
    THE SYMBOLISM OF FLOWERS
    POSTE DE SECOURS  WWI
    TRAVEL 1900: LONDON TO PARIS 

    DAISY: REST IN PEACE
    ​
    KEITH'S, DRANE'S & KENTUCKY
    ​MOTHER: MISSOURI COMPROMISE 

    Topics

    All
    Aviation
    Besancon
    Children
    Crossing The Channel
    Daniel Polk
    Earthquake
    Endemial Josephine Polk
    Film
    Henry Clay
    Herbert Hoover
    Hot Springs 1882
    League Of Women Voters
    Lou Henry Hoover
    Milan
    Pandemic
    Paris
    Phoebe Hearst
    Poste De Secours
    Prevenatoriums
    Reverend TJ Drane
    San Francisco
    Suffrage
    Susan Keith
    Travel In 1900's
    Victorians
    War Relief Work
    William Randolph Hearst
    Willis Polk
    Willis Webb Polk
    World War I
    WTF

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