Maggie in Venice

ABOVE: Maggie enjoys a pat from la Nuova reporter Francesco Furlan, who has a dog of his own.

Today, Maggie was interviewed by a journalist from a newspaper, la Nuova di Venezia e Mestre. The reporter, Francesco Furlan, ran across this blog during a Web search on another topic and now claims to be a "Maggie fan."

Maggie didn't have much to say, because she was too busy wagging and angling for pats to engage in conversation.

However, Maggie did pose for photographs--including one on top of the pozzo shown above. (The photographer asked us to lift her onto the wellhead and pose for a family photo. We complied, silently thanking our good judgment in not adopting a Newfoundland or a St. Bernard.)

Here's a short video of Maggie cooperating with la Nuova's photographer back on the ground--or, rather, the paving stones--in the Campo San Polo, which is near our temporary home in the Campiello Albrizzi:

ABOVE: Maggie gets up close and personal with Johnny Depp's familiar scent.

In our Venice Travel Blog, we posted a video earlier today titled "Johnny Depp's Palazzo in Venice." The video shows a house on the Grand Canal that the star of Edward Scissorhands, Pirates of the Caribbean, and (more recently) The Tourist just bought for a reported 10 million euros.

Since this blog is about Maggie, we thought you might be interested in hearing about the role that she played in helping us scoop the mainstream media with our paparazzi video. In the clip below, you'll see the palazzo, followed by actual footage of Maggie sniffing at the back door of Johnny Depp's new holiday home to confirm that the star had been there recently.

Trivia notes for "Making of" fans:

• Before finding our way to the palazzo, we refreshed Maggie's scent memory from last year by having her sniff a photo of Johnny Depp from a local newspaper, La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre.

• We also downloaded a digitized scent file from a Hollywood film-industry site,  Scentsofthestars.com.

• Maggie had no trouble remembering Johnny's scent, since she spent a considerable time trying to track him down during the filming of The Tourist in Venice.

Here's our video, shot earlier today, of Maggie putting her nose to the grindstone (or at least to the stone sill of Johnny Depp's back door) as a service dog for the entertainment-gossip industry:

ABOVE: Maggie is inspired by one of the Gustavus Choir's signature pieces, "How Can I Keep from Singing?"

Last night, we attended an outstanding Gustavus Choir concert at the Church of San Salvador near the Rialto Bridge. Maggie was so impressed by our enthusiasm that she wanted to audition for a mascot position with the choir, even though we don't live anywhere near the Gustavus Adolphus college campus in St. Peter, Minnesota, USA.

Fortunately, Maggie got cold feet (or possibly a sore throat) after rehearsing her audition piece near the Frari Church. Here's a video: