Friday 2 December 2016

Friday 2 December 2016: A Piece Of Timbo's Secret Venice.

Suddenly, it seems, today is Friday. I was going to do so much on this visit and now I have no idea where the time has gone and I have not even started on my plans.

After I had eaten my special holiday breakfast, Timbo very kindly finished off my blog for Thursday. We were rushing and so we had made a few mistakes which Timbo has kindly put right since. He needs closer supervision.

Now we went for a walk to a part of Venice that is not as spectacular as San Marco and other such places, but it holds a very special affection for Timbo. Many years ago he went to this part of Venice and there were hardly any tourists there. He likes it very much. He said it does not have walls and chapels and churches overflowing with Titians and Tintorettos and the like (he has not explained that bit to me yet), but it has a certain charm.

Apparently this part of Venice was made famous in a really ancient movie that is very frightening. I am not allowed to tell you anything as Timbo wants this to be a secret that only a select few are allowed to know about. He will tell you privately, but you have to swear to only tell the special people and their bears, or else the Biggest Baddest Bears will come and that will not be nice for anybody.

Timbo takes funny peculiar pictures with his cameras. I am trying my bear one's  bests to understand what he is doing, but it is strange. He says he has different projects that he is doing. These projects may never end, but he loves doing them. So he was doing lots of those project photos today. I am amazed how patient he is waiting for people who stand right in the middle of the photo he was to take just as he is about to take it. They should have a visit from the Biggest Baddest Bears. 

To go to our walk we went where tourists seldom go, unless they are lost or clever people. 

One of Timbo's favourite canals away from most tourists.
At one street, Timbo suddenly said "This is a rio terà." Now in proper school book Italian this should be rio terrà I think, but in Venice they do not use up all the letters when they speak, unlike other Italians, so they can talk more about the important things that need really special long words. This is short for rio terà canal which means 'a street that once was a canal but got filled in'. You know, I think the Venetians have got the right idea with these words. They use two words where in English I have just used eleven. 

"This is a rio terà."
Obviously.
We then saw another boat yard but this had no gondolas. I wonder if it is called still called a squero? Most people travel around Venice on foot or by water and some people have their own boats. I would love to travel around in my own boat in Venice.

The boat yard with no gondolas.
I am allowed to give you difficult clues about this special part of Venice. One clue is it is one of those parishes which can also be known by the Venetian version of the proper Italian name. For instance, up by the hospital, or ospedale in Italian, there is the church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, but those two names are scrunched up and so it is called Zanipolo in Venetian. Easy when you know how, says Timb (bear joke, ha! ha!). These two churches are very close to each other, but not as close as some.

The rest of the clues are in photos.

Clue number 1a.

Clue number 1b.

Clue number 2.

Clue number 3.
On our way to clue number 3, I saw this alley. I said it was narrow, only just wide enough for Timbo in his winter coat to walk along. Two people need to be Bärli sized to walk by each other easily enough. Apparently this is not the narrowest street in Venice.

The Narrow Alley (but not the narrowest).
As we were making our way to lunch I saw a man making deliveries, Venetian style. I grabbed my camera and hoped for the best. Timbo has tried his human one's bests to adjust for the way the light fell. You simply do not have time to compose a photo like this, you snatch it and hope for the best. I am rather pleased with the result.

Venetian style deliveries.
It looks like very hard work.
After lunch, home made lasagne by Domenico, washed down with a glass of wine, followed by a coffee and special biscuit, it was time to return to the hotel and write the blog. It is now dark outside. I expect it will get cold too.

I also realised after I posted yesterday's blog I had not shown you me with my new friend Stefano, who is a very old friend of Timbo, but he is nowhere near as old as Timbo. So here is my lovely new friend. I am sorry I forgot, Stefano. Please forgive me. I am sure he will because Timbo is allowed back there later this evening.

Me with my lovely new friend Stefano.
I have had a fabulous day. I have seen a secret part of Venice other visitors do not get to see, and it is all because my human loves the city and walks around a lot of it. It is a small place, but Timbo and I spend a lot of time looking, exploring, chatting about what we have seen. 

Timbo has a wonderful book that is sadly no longer in print called "Venice: Thirty walks to explore the city". I think we will do all thirty. Would anybody like to join us? It would be massive huge fun!!!

We are going out now. I am back up to date on my blog. Phew!

Bye-bye all for now.

Bärli Secret Venice: Five Paws
Bärli Forgetfulness: One Paw

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