My Trip to Florence and Pisa

Florence, or ‘Firenze’, has always been one of my humans’ favourite cities. They had often told me how the place was filled with sights to see and was the ‘capital’ of Renaissance art.

So, imagine how excited I was when they said that they were going there again and that this time they would be taking me with them! Not only that, during our trip, we were also going to take in a visit to Pisa. Man, I couldn’t wait to set off.

View Larger Map

Here’s a road map showing our journey from Milan to Florence to Pisa and back again.

We had a long journey from Milan down to Florence on Friday night. Eventually, we arrived at our hotel...

Ta da! This is me making myself at home in our hotel room in Florence.

The room had an excellent view over the Arno River.

Let me show you some of the wonderful places we visited during our trip around the city...

First, we stopped at the Basilica of Santa Croce. This was right next to our hotel. It contains the tombs of many famous Italians, including Michelangelo and Galileo.

Here’s Dad and me walking around Florence’s Duomo...

... and here we are outside of the Baptistery.

Next, we gazed at the world famous Ponte Vecchio.


Doesn’t it look booti-ful by night?

From the Ponte Vecchio, it was a short stroll to Piazza della Signoria.

This is the heart of Florence and it is crammed with artistic masterpieces.

Palazzo Vecchio by night.

Me and Missus in front of the Loggia dei Lanzi .

We decided to stop and pose with some of the wonderful sculptures on view...

The statue behind me and dad is by Giambologna and is called the 'Rape of the Sabine Women' .

This is 'Perseus with the head of Medusa' by Cellini.

Behind us is a replica of 'David', the world famous sculpture by Michalangelo.

The statuesque man in the background is 'Hercules'. (The not-so-statuesque man in the foreground is ‘Dad’).

On our travels through Florence, we came across loads of other doggies. Here’s a few...

This human was more eager to pose than his dog!

A booti-ful Labrador...

... and another.

However, none of the dogs of Florence were as popular as yours truly...

... Man, they couldn’t take their hands off me.

Even the booti-ful girls were clamouring to have their photos taken with me.

Anyway, our time in Florence was soon over. I got a little excited when I thought I heard my humans mention something about Pizza! Yeah, I love Pizza...

... Unfortunately, it turned out that they meant Pisa. D’oh!

Me, Missus and Dad in front of the 'Leaning Tower of Pisa'.

Me and Dad in front of Pisa’s Duomo.

Dad stuffing his face, while I went hungry. Sigh!

Of course, we met even more dogs whilst in Pisa...

... Look at this odd couple.

But, as usual, I continued to soak up the attention...

...me and the little humans of Pisa.What a great trip!

I can’t wait for my next holiday in Italy. Ciao!

A Nice Day Out

It was a booti-ful day and, as usual, my humans took me for my morning walk in Milan. Today, we went to a different park from the one we normally go to.

Here I am checking the surroundings.

“Wait, what’s happening over there?”

This place turned out to be a doggy paradise. There were little four-legged friends everywhere!

This booti-ful lady reminded me of Chewbacca.

“Excuse me while I get to know you better!”

Look at these Jack Russell ladies. They were a bundle of fun!

This little lady sure knew how to travel in style.

Although my humans haven’t mastered Italian yet, they never have a problem communicating when they are out with me. Most Italians love dogs and are always friendly to us when we get together.

Here are a few more photos from today’s adventures in the park:

On the way home, my humans decided to drop by their local ‘tavola’ (snack bar) for some traditional Italian fare.

Here’s Dad and I outside of the Tavola.

Once inside, I waited patiently for my Italian meal to come.

Man, look at the delicious food on offer!

Look at what Missus and Dad were having. Drool…

Unfortunately, my meal never came. Sigh!

Alas, I wasn’t the only dog waiting for food in vain…

Look at this guy. He never stopped sniffing around.

And this poor fellow had just resigned himself to fate!

Anyway, even if I didn’t get to sample the exquisite Italian food, it was certainly a great day out for me.

Ciao!

Homer’s Dog Park in Milan

We’ve been staying in Milan for almost two months now but we’re still not really settled here. When we first arrived here, we were staying in an apartment right next to the city center. This was a great location for the humans to go sightseeing, but not so good for yours truly. The place was a bit of a ‘concrete jungle’ for me...

See what I mean? Where are the parks? Where are the other dogs?

I was even overjoyed when I found the smallest patch of greenery.

Recently, however, we have moved to a new apartment, a little further out of town. It’s not going to be our permanent home in Milan [watch this space in a couple of month’s time], but at least it has something going for it...

... Ta da! This is me arriving in my new local dog park.

I thought I’d better “announce myself” before exploring further.

Then off I went in search of adventure.

Within a few seconds, I thought I was seeing double? No, this is not me, it's another Golden Retriever called Blake. He’s ten months old and very good looking. (That’s probably why I thought I was seeing double!).

“Mama mia!” Aren’t we both booti-ful?

Anyway, Blake and I hit it off straight away, despite the fact that Blake only speaks Italian.

He was soon following my every move.

Two peas in a pod! Blake and me (on the right).

Pretty soon, Blake and I were joined by a few other doggies...

This is Luna. A very friendly female Jack Russell.

Me and Luna introducing ourselves.

Next, this little lady showed up. Her name is Chanel.

This is Blake trying to smell “Chanel’s No. 2”!...

...now Chanel’s trying to smell “Luna’s No. 1”!

Thankfully, as an escape from all of these ‘perfumery shenanigans’, another dog showed up. (Unfortunately, we didn’t catch his name)...

...and then another dog showed up...

...and then another dog showed up...

...pretty soon, it was doggie mayhem.

As I hinted above, we will be moving in to a new home in a couple of months. For the time being, though, I think I’m going to enjoy my sessions at “Homer’s Dog Park in Milan”.

Happy Halloween 2009

I thought today was just like any other day.

Here I am, sniffing around as usual and minding my own business.

Unfortunately, in the human world, this was not just an ordinary day. Suddenly, my mind was racing back to last year and the year before. Yes, today is Halloween and this can only mean one thing... Missus will be dressing me up again...

... Ta da! Meet Count Dogula, the Canine Vampire!

Unfortunately, rather than looking scary, Missus just thought that I looked rather ‘dashing’ in this cape. She felt that my costume needed a little more ‘Oomph’. ..

... so she added a pair of horns and an ‘evil’ wig.

At first, Missus thought I looked more cute than scary.

So, I put on my sinister stare. (I’m sorry if I scared you.)

Suddenly, I looked into the mirror and saw how scary I looked. I mean...I couldn’t see myself because I’m a vampire, right?

Anyway, Missus had prepared a special meal for me for Halloween.

Human eye balls. Yummy, my favourites.

Here I am with my favourite dish.

I can’t wait to get stuck in.

I am Count Dogula (Evil laughter: MUAH HA HA ha ha ha ha...)

Happy Halloween to everyone!

My 'Bestest' Friend in Holland

Recently, as I was doing some housekeeping on my photograph files, I came across some pictures which I had totally forgotten about (oops!). They relate to a visit by my ‘bestest’ friend Shanni while I was still living in Rotterdam. I had meant to blog about the photos at that time, but, you know how absent-minded I can be?!? Anyway, better late than never…

Shanni had come to help us pack for our move to Italy. “Where the heck is she?”

Shanni’s idea of packing was to play hide and seek. Tsk!


Anyway, I prefer Shanni’s idea of having fun rather than doing chores any day! Here we are lazing around while Missus did all the packing by herself.

Pretty soon, Shanni and I were goofing around in the garden. Here she is trying to make monkey faces… on me!

Now we’re making our best ‘miserable’ faces. I think she won. (Heh! Heh!)

A sloppy kiss for Shanni.

Me and my ‘bestest’ friend.

Here’s Missus and Shanni, before they said their fond farewells. We’re both missing her a lot.

When Homer Met Paco (and Milo and Maya)

As you know, I’ve been blogging for several years now and I’ve made many ‘blogging buddies’ during that time. Unfortunately, all of them (I mean you!) have remained ‘virtual’ friends, confined to the pages of the Internet.

Recently, however, a momentous event occurred. Missus and Dad packed me into a car and we all drove off into the Italian countryside. I had no idea what was in store for me, but what a great surprise I got when we arrived at our destination!

Guess who was there to meet us?

Ta-da! It was none other than Milo and Paco. These are two of my most favourite characters from the blogging world…

... and, of course Maya...

... not to mention their humans, Simona and Marco.

Simona, Paco and Milo were waiting to greet me when I arrived...

... but it was Maya who introduced herself first.

To begin with, we were a bit cautious about getting to know each other. You know how us boys are?

But pretty soon, we were all good pals.

Let me introduce you to my new family of friends:

This is Paco. Missus made the mistake of saying that he looked a bit ‘fat’. Simona insisted that he’s just big boned!

Here’s Milo. Simona really loves him...


... see what I mean?


Even Dad was smitten by Milo!


And this is Maya. She’s always in a crazy pose!


For instance, you’ll often see her chewing sticks, stones or anything she can get her paws on.

Maya took a particular liking to me...

She was always following me.



And trying to get me to play with her.



Here’s Simona with Missus. Aren’t they booti-ful?

And finally, here’s Marco.

Missus thinks he looks like Gary Oldman.

Marco, Simona, Paco, Milo and Maya live in a booti-ful villa with an idyllic setting.

Wow! Look at this amazing view from their home.

Anyway, enough of these formalities. Here’s some photos of us all frolicking around.

“Right, which way should we go?”



Maya and me headed straight for Marco...



... and then Maya headed for Simona...



... and then Maya headed for Dad.



Milo just wanted to be petted by his humans...



... whereas Paco just made funny faces at us.



The four boys altogether...



...and here we are all (minus Missus who’s taking the photo) milling around in the booti-ful setting.

We all had a truly wonderful day and can’t wait for our next get-together .

Sight Seeing in Milan

Buon giorno! I know it has taken me a while to blog again but it is taking some time for us to get settled in Milan. Here are a few photos of my first sight-seeing tour in the city.

Here I am, guide book in paw, ready for the off. I wonder if there will be anything interesting to see...

...Ta-da! Look at this photo. It’s booti-ful! (So is the magnificent Duomo behind us – heh heh).

Me and Dad outside of the Duomo.

Another booti-ful photo of me and Missus in Piazza del Duomo.

The building behind me is called the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II ...

...isn’t it grand?

At the other end of the ‘Galleria’ is a statue of Leonardo da Vinci. He’s my second favourite historical figure after a certain Greek poet.

Here we are, standing in front of the world famous opera house – Teatro Alla Scala (La Scala).

I had a great time exploring a small part of Milan and seeing the sights. More importantly, I was touched by how friendly all the humans were to me. Take a look at all the friends I made...

“Oi! I’m trying to sniff something”.

“Is there any food in that shopping bag?”

“I think I’m going to like it here...

...Even the booti-ful humans like me!”

OK folks, that’s my first impressions of Milano. I’ll keep you posted on my developments.

PS: To Dad, I want to wish you a 'Happy Birthday' and I 'woof' you soooooo much!!! Lots of slobbers and waggy tails, Homer.