ABOVE: A nighttime view of the Palazzo Pisani-Moretta, where scenes from The Tourist are being shot.

Late in the evening of Thursday, March 4, we were walking Maggie (our celebrity-sniffing service dog) when we discovered that the Palazzo Pisani-Moretta and several palazzi on the other side of the Grand Canal were lit for nighttime film shooting. Principal photography for The Tourist is now underway in Venice, and members of the film crew--along with a posse of paparazzi--have been hard at work over the last few days.

The lighting crew had done a beautiful job of illuminating Venice's canalside palaces, stringing electrical cables down narrow alleyways and placing lights wherever they'd fit--even hanging lights on signposts when necessary. (Surprisingly--at least to us--the lights were unattended.)

In front of the Palazzo Pisani-Moretta, shadowy figures conferred next to a water taxi. Was it possible that Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie were getting ready for a love scene, with Brad Pitt playing referee and chaperone in an orange safety vest?

One of the more exciting moments of the evening--at least for us--was when an ambulance interrupted the shooting by racing up the Grand Canal with its siren blaring. (I mistakenly called it a fireboat when editing and titling the video clip. -- di)

A short while later, we filmed this clutch of paparazzi keeping watch on the Palazzo Pisani-Moretta. Had they seen Johnny and Angelina? Were they aware that they were being stalked by paparazzi hunters? We didn't ask, and they weren't telling.

March 5 follow-up: When Cheryl returned to the Sant'Angelo vaporetto stop ands its surroundings this morning, last night's movie lights were gone and members of the film crew were making temporary changes to the signage on the boat platform. (See photo below.) Cheryl also noticed two private shuttle boats dropping people off at the fermata or vaporetto stop--something you normally don't see in Venice.