A realist in Venice would become a romantic by mere faithfulness to what he saw before him.

A group of us started a community center in Santa Monica. We've tried different programs and three have worked really well. A poetry group. Once a week we visit Venice High and talk to girls at risk.

I came to Venice for the first time in 1968 and was lucky enough to make the acquaintanceship and then the friendship of two Venetians Roberta and Franco who remain my best friends here after almost 50 years.

I will never forget experiencing Venice for the first time. It feels like you are transported to another time - the art music food and pure romance in the air is like no other place.

Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go.

The cool parts - the parts that have won Dubai its reputation as 'the Vegas of the Middle East' or 'the Venice of the Middle East' or 'the Disney World of the Middle East if Disney World were the size of San Francisco and out in a desert' - have been built in the last ten years.

I don't want to be in my car all day. I love getting up in the morning in Venice and walking my dogs down to the cafe to get my tea and then perhaps going to a bookstore and sitting and reading then walking to the beach.

Venice is the perfect place for a phase of art to die. No other city on earth embraces entropy quite like this magical floating mall.