AN ITALIAN CO(R)N JOB!

Seems a pity to start a travelogue like this…But this incident has been the pebble in my shoes ever since it happened that after returning home I was waiting impatiently for the pictures to get downloaded so that I can give vent to my irritation.

We had a brief trip to Milan on the third day of our Europe tour. The tour director gave us 3 hours to visit the Milan Duomo and the surroundings. He told us we would not be able to see the The Last Supper, Da Vinci’s fresco in Santa Maria Delle Grazie since booking had to be done well in advance…like 3 to 4 months prior to visit. They are overbooked thanks to Dan Brown!
Well, we were not disappointed much, for the Duomo di Milano is in itself a magnificent piece of 16th century architecture with its majestic pillars and stained glass windows.

Piazza del Duomo, the central square of Milan is a place where visitors, Italians and pigeons congregate. We were typical tourists wielding cameras and clicked away happily at the base of the imposing statue of Vittorio Emmanuele II.

The thousands of pigeons were a sight to behold and we could see tourists feeding the friendly birds who didn’t baulk at perching on the heads and hands to peck at the corn doled around by some good Samaritans.

My sister Rat, on a whim, went right in their midst and extended her hand…A curious pigeon hovered in the air near her. Soon, Matsy, my niece joined her…More pigeons flocked towards them…A young man approached them and dropped a few kernels into their palms and the birds started eating from their hands…Soon I too joined them. The man now put a few kernels on my sister’s head and the birds flew up and perched on her head.

She started shrieking and shooed them away…The birds flew away…but the young man did not. He demanded money. We gave him 2 euros…he started off menacingly in Italian and demanded 5 Euros. We refused…but soon he was joined by three more youngsters who surrounded us threateningly. We had to shell out 5 euros.
Later on we came to know from others that actually for 2 Euros, they take your picture feeding the birds…and we, we were victims of an Italian con…er…corn…job!