By the Grand Canal

Re-reading recently William Riviere's By the Grand Canal has reinforced the strong desire I had in Venice to have been able to see this city in the days before mass tourist travel.

(minus the crane and motor-boats - on the Ponte dell'Accademia, straddling the Grand Canal - would this view have looked much different?)
Set in 1918, a British diplomat involved in negotiating the peace after World War I decamps to Venice to stay in a crumbling palazzo on the Grand Canal where he succumbs to intrigues involving old patrician families and mysterious opera singers.

Riviere's Venice is all oil lamps, brackish air, women in silks of Tiepolo's blues and yellows, walled gardens, labyrinthine canals and gloomy churches ...

Finding glimpses of daily life for locals intrigued me (see Venice's vanishing population) ... in backstreets and squares

and behind shuttered houses

amongst the proud history (the winged lion of San Marco in Venice's flag, below, with six tails - one for each sestier of the city)

Passing by a second-hand book shop one day, I noticed this tabby cat on a trestle table covered with old prints and books, determinedly batting its paw under a box of prints (searching for a mouse, I thought?). It was the title of the book next to it  that caught my eye - Non Toccare il Gatto (don't touch the cat) ... I had to take a picture. 

Later I found two photos on Flickr (taken by different people at different times) of what seems to be the same cat on the same table with the same book - clearly fixtures and a good ploy for luring customers. I also discovered that the book is a translation of English writer Mary Stewart's (1976) mystery novel Touch Not the Cat.

Our last evening in Venice fulfilled the purpose of the trip: a birthday celebration! Walking through Piazza San Marco on the way to dinner, the square was glowing in golden light ... 

Dressed to party, my girls paused for a photo under the flags ...

Turning left along the Grand Canal, I snapped these gondoliers putting their boats to bed ...

only realising much later that it was the exact spot where the cover picture on my copy of Riviere's book was taken!

Passing the Bridge of Sighs lit up by the sinking sun ...

we were headed for a wonderful treat - the rooftop terrace of the Danieli ...

where children and adults gathered at a long table on the edge of the terrace with spectacular views of the city and lagoon

The Danieli is built around the Dandolo Palace and a long time ago gave a perfect vantage point for Venice's powerful merchants to watch boats returning from the East with their bounty.

while the sun set around us 

and the moon rose

Much later, walking back through Piazza San Marco, we found it flooded by the high tide (acqua alta) seeping up through the stones ...

Time to whip off the party shoes and prepare to do some serious wading ...

 ... to the accompaniment of musicians who played on regardless through rising waters! Il Titanic?

By early the next morning the square was dried out and quiet. There was just time to find a café open for coffee ...

with a view to the pigeons and early risers on the Piazza, before heading for the waterway and home ...

Arrivederci Venezia!