Dining in Italy : Catching Up

Recently I returned from a five-week trip abroad and have been trying to catch up on those marvelous Travel Sections in the Sunday Times. I have a few remarks to make on a few articles. First the health report by Dr. Neumann Sept. 28. He mentioned taking an immersion heater abroad, and that one would need a converter. Three years ago I found an immersion heater that works on either 110 or 220. I have taken it abroad twice now and it works beautifully--boils almost instantly on the 220. I found it right at my Larchmont Boulevard pharmacy.

On Sept 21 I was pleased to find the article by Ben Irwin on Lake Almanor. My father was the one who “bought the land from the Indians to build the lake,” as I frequently heard as a child. He was the younger partner of four who founded Great Western Power Co. As I recall, I was told that they had to move a village, or perhaps some of it sits at the bottom of the lake now.

On Oct. 5 there was an interesting article by Shirley Slater and Harry Basch about the Independence and Constitution, which now ply Hawaiian waters. They said they were built for troop carriers, and I am puzzled. American Export Lines built these ships at Bethlehem in Quincy, Mass., in the early ‘50s. I was living in Boston at the time and have photos I took just after each of the ships was launched. They were never troop carriers at any time that I know of, not when owned by American Export Lines.

LORNA GENTILE

Los Angeles