Wednesday 28 October 2009

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.

Tuesday 20 October 2009

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 .

Thursday 15 October 2009

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.

Thursday 1 October 2009

My Actual Road Trip - Rotterdam to Milan

Well folks, I’ve now reached sunny Milano. I’ll let you know more on my initial impressions later.

For now, I wanted to share some of the photos taken during my journey from Rotterdam to Milan.


Missus told me that we would be setting off early on Saturday morning. Here I am, all packed and ready to go. Unfortunately, the humans weren’t as organised as me and it took forever for us to set off. (You can see that I don’t look too happy. Hmmmph!).


Anyway, we eventually got moving...

... but as soon as we reached Belgium, the traffic became gridlocked. Here’s me and Dad waiting on the motorway for everyone to start moving again.


Once we got on our way, we made quick progress through Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and into France.

Next stop, Strasbourg, France. This was to be our mid-way stopover point.



Ta-da! We finally reached our hotel on Saturday night.



Luckily, Dad had arranged a lovely big hotel room for the night. Here I am, making myself at home.



I soon realised that I was ‘bushed’ from all of the travelling. Time for bed. “Je suis fatigué”.



After a good night’s sleep, I had time for a little morning sunbathing on the balcony.



Then, after breakfast, my humans took me for a long walk in one of Strasbourg’s booti-ful parks.



Ooh la la... cést magnifique”!



I spotted these kids, getting ready to take the boats out. “Ahoy there! Do you need a paw? After all, I’m an experienced sailor”.


After my walk, it was time to set-off on the final leg of the journey from Strasbourg down to Milan. Au revoir!

As usual, Missus was prepared to take plenty of photos along the way.



Once we reached Switzerland, we decided to stop off for lunch. This place was near to Interlaken in the Swiss Alps...



...I must say, the backdrop was spectacular.



Look at this river, doesn’t it look inviting? Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to go for a swim. Tsk!


Pretty soon, we were on our way again. We eventually made it to our ‘temporary’ new home in Milano late on Sunday afternoon.

Watch this space for an update on my next adventures in Milano. Ciao!