Venice is for the birds...

I'm reading a spectacular new book by John Berendt called The City of Falling Angels. The book is non-fiction and chronicles people and places in Venice during the investigation and reconstruction of the Fenice opera house after it was consumed by fire.

I'm not far along into the book, so I can't judge it a "page turner" or an "instant classic", but I did learn a fascinating fact last night. On page 71, I discovered that Venice has over 120,000 pigeons. And, that they are nasty and overcrowded. (No surprise there.) Which (of course) took me straight back to our last visit to Venice, where I watched people use the hands they eat gelato with to feed the birds. OK, there is that wonderful Mary Poppins song--but that lullaby aside, this is really sick.

Take a look at a picture I took in Venice...and then grab a cup of gelato...yum :)