Friday, July 07, 2006

St Mark's Square

It is raining outside, but the hotel has an umbrella that we can borrow. Venice is full of shops and tourists. The small alleys can leave someone with a predilection for claustrophobia dizzy. Well built hunks offer to take us on a gondola ride, but it isn't a pleasing prospect in the rain. Moreover, the prices they quote are steep. Our travel book suggests that we take a ride on the waterbus instead, which will provide the same experience.

Wife disappears into shops every now and then, while I engage in people watching. Towards the evening the rain subsides and I can finally put away the umbrella.

St Mark's Square has a church on one end, whose shape reminds me of the structures in Kremlin that I have seen in pictures. I find out the next day, that indeed the building has a lot of Russian influence.

The square has scores of people. In the center, a flock of pigeons are being fed by tourists. Every now and then, the pigeons flutter into the sky in a graceful arc and everyone (including me) reach for their cameras to get a picture. There are so many pigeons that the local government injects pigeon feed with birth control.

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