Meet Grumpy, our European travel buddy. I know, he looks grumpy hence the rather unimaginative name, Grumpy, but he wasn't really all that grumpy on the trip. He just sort of tagged along, went where we went and was happy to enjoy the sights only pushing to the front for the occasional photo...And the food!
You can see him here in Venice, St Marks Square (Piazza San Marco) with the Basilica di San Marco in the background. We were sitting in one of those cool, (and bloody expensive) caf茅s enjoying an espresso and cannoli - You can see how pleased he was to be there.
Grumpy only travelled on this trip with us; Not because he doesn't like travelling, or the company, more because we lost him somewhere at home after we returned. Well, we didn't really lose him, we just don't know where he is. So yeah, not lost, just currently not found.
Grumpy was given to us by a friend, as a sort of good luck charm for our travels on that trip to France, Belgium and Italy and we took him everywhere. Grumpy got himself into some funny situations, most of which I could show you, and some that Faith would kill me if I did! He had a penchant for ending up in Faith's cleavage...So yeah, you ain't seeing those ones.
Below are a few images of the little grumpy bugger.
Top left to right: Florence, Italy. Spaghetti in Florence and The colosseum in Rome.
Middle left to right: Waffles in Ypres, Belgium, having a snooze
at our B&B in Belgium, enjoying a beverage at the Eiffel Tower.
Bottom left to right: The top of Notre Dame, Paris, a Stella Artois beer in Belgium, getting cultured at The Louvre, Paris.
As you can see Grumpy likes his food and drink and got to sample plenty. I'm not sure if he liked the Belgian waffles though, I mean, just look at his face. Not impressed.
As if there was any doubt about Grumpy's love of food...I think Italian food was his favourite though. You can see him there below in Rome eating some pizza and La Spezia having an espresso and ravioli. Just look at the emotion on his face. It's pure bliss.
He has a very respectful nature does our Grumpy. You can see him here below paying his respects to a fallen Australian Soldier buried in Tyne Cot cemetery near Zonnebeke, Belgium. We had spent a week touring the battlefields of the Western Front and Tyne Cot is the resting place of many who died in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front in World War One. This is the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world. This grave belongs to A.E. Eirth of the 5th Battalion Australian Imperial Force. RIP cobber.
Grumpy also has an interest in automobiles so was pleased to join us for our tours of the Ferrari factory and museum plus the Lamborghini and Ducati museums near Bologna, Italy. We also went to the Collezione Umberto Panini an incredible collection of automobiles, race cars and motorbikes near Modena, Italy.
I'll be honest, I'm not sure he was allowed to climb into this priceless race car however he got away with it. Just a note on the CUP...It is an amazing experience which we were fortunate enough to do privately, just us in there...If you are a car nut you need to get yourself to Bologna, the CUP and the other three factories. You will not regret it. I still have the name and details of the private guide who took us there so hit me up if you're interested.
We haven't taken a trip mascot with us on any subsequent trips although are thinking we might take one when we go to Scandinavia in July. We will try and find this little green grumpy bastard but if we can't will fine another.
Grumpy really was a grumpy companion, but was also fun to take around and photograph in funny situations. We did it for fun, and also for the friend of ours who had given him to us. Unfortunately she couldn't travel for health reasons so she lived vicariously through us.
Have you guys ever done something like this? It was actually a lot of fun and we have some really great pictures. It sort of gives us something extra to enjoy when we review our images. Let me know if you have done something like this in the comments.
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