Back home...

After a week traveling around USA and stopping a couple of days in New York, here I am, in front of my computer, watching the Parc Monceau through my open windows and smelling the scent of the first mock oranges to blossom (premature, I must say... they usually appear around May 12th-15th).

As I spent time in the US, I've realized most Americans wished they were somewhere else, based on the amount of articles, magazine covers and special TV broadcasts... In fact, they all want to be in London to witness first hand Catherine's and William's wedding.

I do not remember such a huge and popular frenzy on, what we could call, a "mundane" event.

I even saw in the airport a magazine called "Kate"! And she isn't even a princess yet!

Most TV channels announce live broadcasts for Friday 29th, starting at 4 am in  NYC and at 1 am in Los Angeles... Many won't go to bed to see the Bride and Groom. All top American journalists are to travel to London, from Diane Sawyer to... Barbara Walters!

My friend Roberto Funes Ugarte is already on the plane to London, as a special correspondent for C5N.

I read a piece in the New York Times which said that many tailors (mostly from Corea, China and India) will be ready to copy all the details of the yet mysterious wedding dress. A few days after the ceremony, these copies will be ready, at low prices, around the world, for all those women dying to feel like Kate... to feel like princesses, at least for a day.

All eyes will be also on the 1900 guests that from 8 am (local time) will arrive to Westminster Abbey... Among them, Elton John and his husband David, the Beckhams, Guy Ritchie and many Lords and Ladies. I heard today that the dress code for the event allows women accompanied by men using uniform to wear long dresses. Weird, considering the time of the ceremony. For all others, knee-lenght skirts are mandatory... better if a little under the knee than over. 

Married women should wear hats, single women can go for a feather or flower arrangement.

Of course, no white, nor beige, nor black.

Apart from the wedding frenzy, I found New York ok... Lots of tourists and the usual lines outside Abercrombie & Fitch and also outside Hollister, both on 5th Avenue.

In Paris there's also some madness over the Royal Wedding, specially to find out who will be designing the wedding gown. Many bet on Sarah Burton, from Alexander McQueen. Others believe that Kate herself designed her dress... We'll have to wait till Friday, at 10 am, or even later, to satisfy our legitimate curiosity...