Lovely pictures, a great holiday! Homers been to France with us a few times both summer hols and winter skiing. Here's a more local pic. This is Homer outside Kensington Palace a few years ago, visiting Lupo
Excellent! He looks like he's giving a running commentary: "And here we are outside of the lovely palace, where we are waiting for the imminent arrival of celebrity dog Lupo (though I myself am more handsome, if I may say so)...."
Something from me that actually does have to do with LABRADORS! "Betty and Rita la Dolce Vita" is a picture book (or photography book if you want to get technical) about two Labradors having adventures in Rome. It is a follow up to "Betty and Rita Go to Paris". Both appeared in the early 2000's, though you can still get them on Amazon. I got the books when they came out and thought, "That would be the coolest thing ever, to go to Europe with my dog!". The idea kind of percolated, became more real and finally Brogan and I headed off together on our own adventures many years later. Not co-incidentally, I made it a special point to take Brogan to both Paris and Rome. Guess you could say that I am a Betty and Rita fan girl! You can see the most of the photos and more about the books on the author's page here: http://www.malyszko.com/BOOKS/BETTY-AND-RITA-LA-DOLCE-VITA/1 And the Paris adventures here: http://www.malyszko.com/BOOKS/BETTY-AND-RITA-GO-TO-PARIS/1 Just click on the little "next" area at the bottom of the page to scroll through the photos.
Some great photos on here. Always take the dogs on holiday with us. We have been to numerous places in Scotland, England and Wales. Haven't ventured to Ireland yet, but maybe the year after next as we have holidays booked in the Lake District, Dumfries & Galloway, Cotswolds and Northumberland next year. Haven't worked out how to post pics though
Since you are already a forum supporter, it's very easy to post photos. There's a nice tutorial in the site info forum, but pretty much you just click "Upload a File", chose the file (photo) from your computer that you want to add, and click add. Then you can chose to upload a thumbnail or the full sized photo. The only trick is that you may have to re-size the photos as there is a size limit to upload. Let's see those dog holiday photos! You definitely need to venture to Ireland - it is doggie paradise! My avatar photo was taken on my favourite beach in Dingle, County Kerry.
Yay! Scotland! And gorgeous pups! So is that Scottish "bracken" then? I read all these cheesy romance novels set in Scotland and have always wondered about all the rolling about in bracken that they do. I think it would be more fun for dogs than humans.
No, that's not bracken! Have you never seen it? It's beautiful. Bracken is lush, curling fronds of green. Beautiful. Google it
You are right - no idea why I never just Googled it. I guess my Scottish romance novel days were pre-Google - ugh, now I feel old.
Sunday morning, time to share more pics! I've now been settled into Florence and back to work for a week. The first time in 10 years here without Brogan and my, what a difference. I never have had to worry about getting my Italian back into shape because Italians love dogs (a close second to kids) and will stop you on the street during walkies and get into long and involved conversations about your dog. This time around I'm completely invisible and have spoken to no one but the pharmacists and the supermarket checker. It's a little sad. Brogan and my main outpost in Italy was Venice, but we always visited Florence for a couple days when we were in Venice (it's only 2 hours by train). This is where I learned Italian and I still love to visit my school and teachers every year. For short trips, we used to stay in a little very basic hotel in the centre. The first time they were so nice to Brogan and immediately pulled out the stops to get him water and whatever food they had on hand, which ended up being baguettes left over from breakfast. Which I didn't really want him to have as bread = tetchy tummy, but honestly, it takes a stronger person than myself to say no to an Italian grandmother type. The second visit, a whole year later, we arrived to even greater fanfare and they had saved pasta, chicken and broth for him. The third time I didn't even bother bringing food along on the trip! My boring chicken and broccoli couldn't hold a candle to Italian cooking! The last couple of years, we also had month-long stays here. Little did I know that last year's stay would be our very last trip together. But it was a good one and I'm so glad we had that one last adventure. I've got a ton of dog (Brogan and others) pics from Florence and I'm here for the next month, so may dig more out as time goes on. For today's I wanted to show the progression between pretty newbie travelling dog and professional travelling dog. Top pic is Brogan's first trip to Florence... you can just see that "Huh? Whaaa?" look on his face. I was pretty green, too, still making him wear a muzzle (if only around his neck) just in case anyone told me I had to stick it on him because of breed laws. The second picture is probably Brogan's 6th trip to Florence and he is striking what I call his "Kind of Florence" pose. You can tell by his face that he's thinking, "I'm one handsome devil and I own this town!". The area where both pics were taken is on a hill above the city and is very frequented by tourists. We could go up there and pretty much spend a Sunday afternoon with him getting petted, cooed over and photographed by tourists for hours. He just sucked up the attention like a sponge! Oh, and the guy at the food truck up there gave him grilled hamburger, so that may have had something to do with his love of the spot as well. And one more as I can't resist - this is the main square in nearby Siena taken last fall.
Gorgeous pictures,didn't he have a wonderful life with you? Spoiled rotten by everyone he met. We went to Venice on our honeymoon and have been lucky enough to go back a couple of times ...although last time was at the end of a cruise and we changed out flights after we had breakfast on the Grand Canal because we missed Dexter and wanted to get back to see him! I love hearing your stories of your adventures with him but I admit to feeling a little sad for you too ,you must miss him a lot.Its so true how dogs break the ice and get you talking to people too x
@Emily_BabbelHund There needs to be a LUUURRRRRVE button -- your photos are simply wonderful! One lucky dog. I might've missed this in your earlier posts, but what kind of service did you carry out with Brogan? And what kind of work brings you to Florence? (PS I also learned Italian at a language school in Florence -- in 1996! Although then the locals I met just wanted to practice English and I didn't really learn much Italian!)
Wow, lovely pictures and narrative. I would love to visit Florence. I don't speak Italian, but slip into Spanish with an Italian accent if I ever talk to an Italian when I'm drunk, and it seems to work for the most part. That and massive gesticulations
Lovely to have such happy memories of beautiful Brogan. I think you need to stop dithering and plump for a new pup!
It's lovely that you live on a continent where you can be so mobile with your dogs, just fabulous. How old was Brogan in the two Florence photos?
Yes, it's pretty lonely to be honest. It made a positively massive difference to have him with me for our travels. Quite literally where he was was "home", the geography was pretty immaterial. As I said in another thread, I really appreciate the chance to share a little of his life here - it's a bit of therapy for me and a way to keep his memory alive. And I totally understanding cutting your trip short for Dexter! If you have a next time in Venice, maybe he could come with you. I'll tell you all the good doggie hang out spots!
