We have been at home for two weeks now after 2,5 months travel around Europe (Finland - Germany - Luxembourg - France - UK - Ireland - Switzerland - Italy - Austria - Netherlands - Denmark - Sweden). The journey was lovely, 12 000 kilometres in a camping car full of experiences, lovely landscapes, 9 dog shows in six countries. We enjoyed the company of our friends and their dogs, local cuisine and wine, fresh fruits and vegetables, a lot of sun.
Fascinating about Europe is that European countries are at the same time similar and different from each other. There were differences in behaviour: how people interact with each other, how they treat authorities and regulations and what is their attitude towards dogs. People reflect their culture and history which makes Europeans both challenging and fascinating to understand. Variety of languages is vast. I spoke six languages during the journey but was still unable to communicate with some natives in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium or Denmark.
At dog shows there were more similarities than differences. Written critiques we received in most countries (but not in the UK or Ireland), judging was pretty much the same in each country but rules & practices in ring differed.
Vini had a good journey show-wise. He was placed once BIG1 (Turin int. in Italy), once BIG2 (Echt int. in the Netherlands), was BOB at 4 shows and gained the titles of IRL & S & INT CH, EUW-09. He was also happy to meet his relatives (sister, father, granny) and a number of other dogs around Europe.
Arja & Vini
