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(Venice, Italy) Let's start with this new comment by "Anonymous" in case any of you miss it, since it was posted on an old blog just a bit after the three alarm siren went off tonight.

<<Venice Underwater - Eyewitness Report": "Why did you scold the tourists? Who do you think you are?! You have photographs of people in the water in your blog. You know you've been in Venice too long when... you think you are superior to everyone else in the city."

Posted by Anonymous to Venetian Cat Bauer - The Venice Blog at April 27, 2009 8:40 PM>>

To read the blog and the comment yourselves, click here:

http://venetiancat.blogspot.com/2008/12/venice-underwater-eyewitness-report.html

I don't particularly like to answer "Anonymous" comments because I like to look my enemies in the eyes. But, Dear Anonymous, in honor of the Aqua Alta tonight (strangely coinciding with your comment), I will make an exception. I did not take a single photo. I think our mayor was a tad upset -- and rightly so -- and I was supporting him because it is not very pleasant to vacation in any area on this planet during an emergency. And I think the photographers came from all over the world to record the event, since when I did the live webcam interview for SKY TV, they told me they had contacted me because the Venice flooding was a top story on the Internet. I merely used existing photos found on the web (giving credit where it was due), taken by people with cameras, as I have no camera of my own. I did say, however, that I became upset when tourists were photographing me as I trudged through the high water from the gym. Honestly, I felt as if I were an animal in a zoo. In my later blogs, after the emergency had passed, I believe I strongly encouraged tourists to visit.

With that in mind, tonight we have again a Three Alarm Siren, just before the visit to the Magic Kingdom by Prince Charles. If you read yesterday's Venetian Cat - Venice Blog:

http://venetiancat.blogspot.com/2009/04/lightning-strikes-venice.html

you will see The Prince was scheduled to meet with The Pope today, and indeed he did. This from ANSA:

(ANSA) - Rome, April 27 - Britain's Prince Charles on Monday presented his wife, Camilla, to Pope Benedict XVI in his first papal audience since his divorce, the death of Princess Diana and his remarriage. The royal couple spoke to Benedict for 15 minutes in English and without interpreters, according to the Vatican, discussing the environment among ''several issues of common interest''.

So, tomorrow, The Prince is due to come to Venice, and his schedule remains basically as reported before:

On Tuesday the prince will meet with Italian businessmen from the association of industrial employers Confindustria to discuss environmental issues while Camilla pays a visit to the Keats-Shelley Museum at the Spanish Steps.The couple will then leave for Venice, where they plan to visit the restored Fenice opera house.Charles will then join a seminar on preserving the lagoon while Camilla visits the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.In the evening the royals will attend a performance of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda at the Fenice.The couple are due to travel to Germany later in the week.

To read the entire article, click here:

http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2009-04-27_127359470.html

With all this excitement, I realized I completely forgot to mention that Kathleen Kennedy was in Venice on the same night as the big Salam Hayek-Pinault bash at La Fenice, apparently to drum up support for a branch of Democrats Abroad here in Venice. Sorry 'bout that!

When it comes to the high water tonight in Venice, I am still of the same mind as before -- this has been going on for centuries. It is nothing new. It has to do with solar activity, in combination with lunar activity. Nothing mysterious. Just look up at the sky.

Ciao from Venice,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog
http://venetiancat.blogspot.com/

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(Venice, Italy) Wendy Taylor, the Editor of Blogs.com from Six Apart, "a new site that helps readers find great blogs and helps blogs find new readers," asked me to contribute to their Guest Top 10 lists "where bloggers, writers, celebrities and big thinkers pick their 10 favorite blogs on a topic." They have some prestigious guests, such as Chris Andersen of The Long Tail, Marc Andreessen of Ning and Netscape, Stephen Baker of Businessweek, etc., and I readily agreed to do the Top 10 Venice Blogs. You can find my list here at Cat Bauer's Top 10 Venice Blogs:

http://www.blogs.com/topten/cat-bauers-top-10-venice-blogs/index.html

Since there are so many blogs about Venice these days, I tried to find blogs that were pretty much up-front and without hidden agendas. (I spend way too much time fending off attacks against my blog feed and other annoyances -- right now Google reports that I have 379 URLS restricted by robots.txt, which, apparently have been attached to all of my labels. If the Internet had been around during Shakespeare's time, he probably would have had robots.txt restrictions attached to The Merchant of Venice! )

In any event, I am happy to see most of you intrepid readers keep finding your way over to Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog. I am free to update my Top 10 list at Blogs.com, so if anyone has stumbled upon any interesting blogs that feature Venice, please drop me a line.

I suppose these shenanigans can only be expected, since Venice is teeming with celebrities these days, and competition is growing fierce. Salma Hayek just had her big second-wedding bash with husband François-Henri Pinault, and we were packed with stars -- even Bono made an appearance (that image you see is by Luigi Costantini). Other celebs to arrive in our little Magic Kingdom were actor Woody Harrelson, Ed Norton, French president Jacques Chirac, Olivier Martinez, the designer Philippe Starck, Valeria Golino, Penelope Cruz, Charlize Theron, and, of course, Francois Pinault himself, among many others. The rehearsal dinner was at the Punta Della Dogana, which Pinault owns; the wedding was at Palazzo Grassi, which Pinault owns; and there was a big bash last night at La Fenice -- which, last I heard, Pinault does not own:) To read the People article click here:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20274683,00.html

I've had a conversation with Francois Pinault, and I was impressed. It was at the opening of Palazzo Grassi, and even though he was surrounded by VIPs clamoring for his attention, he gave me his full attention, made direct eye contact with me, and had a very firm handshake. Someone pulled him away in the middle of our conversation, and he came back within moments to finish it. I found him polite and respectful -- simple human qualities that I greatly appreciate.

Not to be outdone by the French, Prince Charles himself and his wife, Camilla are scheduled to arrive here on Tuesday, up from Rome where The Prince is meeting with The Pope (wouldn't you like to be a fly on that wall?). They, too, are scheduled to visit La Fenice for a tour, and then enjoy an evening concert. In the afternoon, Prince Charles is supposed to attend a conference about our Beloved Lagoon, while Camilla heads over to the Guggenheim. I've heard some gossip through the Venetian grapevine that The Prince is thinking about "living like a Venetian" for a time. Now that is ONLY GOSSIP, not fact! Imagine how much the real estate would skyrocket in Venice if the Prince began living like a Venetian! When I lived in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles, Madonna (who I think is cool) moved into the neighborhood and the prices of houses increased by about $200,000 just by her "presence!"

With all this international commotion, I think it's time for a little American anecdote, featuring Benjamin Franklin, my greatest hero, and the man who captured lightning. Having been hit by lightning myself as an infant, I have a bit of an affinity with electricity. (I would credit that image if I could figure out who shot it; I think it's someone in Texas.) Ben Franklin wore an old blue suit to sign the French Alliance, the same suit he had worn four years earlier when he had been ridiculed by the British:

On Feb. 6, 1778 he and Silas Deane went over to the French palace to sign the Treaty of Alliance with the King of France. Instead of his usual brown suit, Franklin was wearing a faded blue one, and Deane questioned why he wore old clothes to such an important ceremony. "To give it a little revenge," was the answer. "I wore this suit on the day Wedderburn abused me at Whitehall." The true depth of Franklin's feelings would never have been known if Deane had not asked.

To read more about a fascinating moment in history, head on over to Philadelphia Reflections, "The musings of a Philadelphia Physician who has served the community for nearly six decades:

http://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/blog/626.htm

In this Story-That-Never-Ends, I like to remember another one of my favorite Ben Franklin quotes:

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."

Ciao from Venice,

Cat
Venetian Cat - Venice Blog

http://venetiancat.blogspot.com/

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