I've heard that the pigeons in Venice have become a problem for the city and that they are looking for ways to curb their numbers. The vendors that used to sell birdseed in St Mark's Square are now gone. They were forced to close. Because of that, I felt a bit guilty stuffing our leftover rolls from lunch into a bag to take down to St Mark's Square but I just couldn't imagine taking the girls to this city without giving them that experience. So with our rolls in hand, off we went.
St. Mark's Square was shining on this cool, sunny day and filled with throngs of tourists and throngs of pigeons. Many of these tourists were feeding the pigeons. This helped to alleviate my guilt. I watched one young guy, with arms outstretched, being covered in birdseed by his friend. In seconds, he was covered with birds. Our rolls came out and the pigeons swarmed. Steve and I had a conversation that went something like this (you can guess who is who in the conversation). "Oh God, was that pigeon poop?" "No, that was a piece of bread falling." "Ahhhh! Now THAT was pigeon poop!" "No, that was another piece of bread. Can you please stop?" The kids on the other hand were blissfully unaware of the risks of pigeon poop. They wanted the pigeons all over them, until of course the pigeons were on them, and then it freaked them out a little. Steve patiently stood with Ella and helped her learn to hold her arm out straight and how to keep it steady when the pigeons landed. I tried to calm some of Samantha's fears but I'm not sure I was a great example. While I know that some refer to these birds as "flying rats", watching Ella and Samantha's eyes light up, their giggles and screams, feeding the pigeons with the icon of St Mark's Basilica as the backdrop held a bit of magic for me. They said it was their favorite part of Venice and it may have been mine as well. I'm not sure if Samantha will remember some of our excursions on this trip. Will Pompeii or the museums in Florence still be there for her a couple of years later? I don't know. But I think she will remember feeding the pigeons in the square of a beautiful city surrounded by water.
Ella has continued her pigeon feeding since our trip up north. She always wants to have a spare roll in hand to feed the birds. This makes getting through the train stations more difficult. I have to say, feeding the pigeons in the train station doesn't hold the same magic that it did that afternoon in Venice. At least not for me.
In Rick Steve's audio guide of St. Mark's square he suggests resisting the urge to immediately wipe pigeon droppings off. He says if you allow it to dry you can easily flake it away. That could be a tough tactic to explain to people if say the pigeon dropping landed on your nose. "Ummm…I'm just allowing this to harden in the sun." To be fair, I think he was just talking about clothing. Luckily, we didn't need to use the advice.
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| Getting some instruction from Dad. |
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| Just starting out. |
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| Posing with the lions in the square. |
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