On our final day in Venice dad and I walked into St. Marks Square for breakfast and to catch a view of the place without all the tourists. We picked up a couple hot sandwiches on the way. Note, do not eat a sandwich while walking through St. Marks Square you are liable to be attacked by seagulls and pigeons and pecked to death for your stupidity. I actually caught myself doing this very thing on video; I also scream like a little kid. It is not very flattering but I’ll post it here for your general amusement. Unfortunately in the video you don’t see how close these birds come to my head. (bad wifi connections – video will have to wait…)

We walked through the square and out to the promenade. Dad wanted to sit in a chair rather than on the steps. The chairs, of course, belong to a restaurant and a waiter was by within a few moments to take an order. He probably could have said “oh, I’m just an old man taking a rest” and the waiter would have moved on. Its not like the 250 other tables were occupied. Dad felt bad, naturally, and ordered a hot chocolate. The hot chocolate soon came and with it the bill, 10 euros! We laughed at our own idiocy and dad enjoyed the best cup of hot chocolate he has ever had. He let me have a sip and then tried to charge me 2 euros. There must have been 30 or more chickadees around our table earnestly waiting for the merest crumb. We enjoyed watching the birds.

We spent the rest of the day wandering the city as we waited for the train to return us to Rome. All week we’ve laughed at the selfie sticks every other tourist has and street sellers have desperately tried to sell us. I finally broke down and bought one. The guy tried to charge me 10 euros for it. I paid 5 (which is about 4.5 more than it is worth). Okay, selfie sticks are pretty awesome I’ll admit. I know selfies are absurd and narcissistic but I don’t care. I include a few selfies here for your enjoyment and my ego.