This is a forwarded message, Chris has asked me to insert. Okay, since I did not participate in the last travel, I will do so. This report of hers is dated two days ago, so you will read about my other experiences later. I hope you still enjoy her writing


Hello to all of you:
I am sorry I did not email you any earlier, but to be honest, I did not feel like wasting my time in front of the PC. Now here we go before tomorrow¡¦s Chris de Burgh concert sees two more critical spectators.

As most of you may know, this time Khodadad and I went on two journeys. The first one was a rather short one, by train to Dresden, a beautiful city in the South of our republic, not too far from the Czech Republic. We found a nicely located youth hostel. And because they were not sure of the other guests¡¦ reaction to Hapoo, they asked us to have breakfast in the staff room, which I did not mind. Khodadad enjoyed the glimpse of Dresden we got in only one day and decided to come back for a longer trip to Saxony. Then of course we went to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. The trip was nice, but on the way back the train broke down in the middle of nowhere, the rain came through the roof, and Hapoo was wet. We got home safely anyways, though with one hour delay.

We did not take Hapoo on our next tour, which covered several countries, and meeting all their requirements in this short time would have been too complicated. Further I don¡¦t think Hapoo would have enjoyed running through cities all day and spending a night on a ferry.

We started in Sweden, or better said Stockholm. People were nice, and we found everything we wanted to find. The bad side ¡V or semi-bad at least ¡V was that all youth hostels and reasonably cheap hotels were booked, so we ended up in a really good and expensive hotel. It was only one night, for the next afternoon we went to see a friend of Khodadad¡¦s. For that we took a normal bus and were relieved to see that we were probably the only tourists there. The friend was really nice, showed us really ancient stone carvings an d then took us to see an old city. Staying with him was real fun, and at night he served us the ever-famous Swedish meatballs with a certain jam and delicious mashed potatoes.

We left Sweden the following afternoon and spent the next 18 hours on board a ferry to Finland. This was a new experience for both Khodadad and me. We had never travelled on a ship that was huge enough to have two elevators operate ¡V there was even a Sauna, two restaurants and a buffet. We were on the second-lowest deck, nine on top of us, while we were sleeping in a really nice cabin for two. Thanks to the smooth and comfortable ride we arrived cheerful and awake in Finland the next morning. Helsinki was nothing compared with Stockholm, but we spent a nice day there anyway, before we met an internet friend of mine in the evening. She and her guide dog took us to a nice restaurant ¡V where I with all self-confidence chose the most expensive and most exotic dish ¡V reindeer. I tell you, it did taste good! My friend¡¦s boyfriend and his dog joined, and after dinner we were invited to their apartment, where I had the chance to play with the dogs. It was interesting to see one of Finland¡¦s only two trained Lapland reindeer dogs. While Khodadad was looking around and finding interesting CDs, the dogs and I decided it was time for a bit of playing.
Finally ¡V besides my friend¡¦s kindness and hospitality ¡V there was a little telephone number that made my day. She managed to find the phone number of a friend I had not seen since 1996. And when I called this friend, we decided to meet the following day.

We spent the next two days with Hoppie and her husband. The first afternoon we had a good and detailed look at a fortress that includes more than one island. We went into tunnels, side roads and up walls to get a better view. Of course in between we had enough time to share memories of the past. In the evening we saw another major event, a free open a9ir concert of the Leningrad Cowboys. Khodadad and I had arrived too late for a good spot, but we did not stay until the end.

The next morning we visited my friend in her home, where I met her huge dog. He is huge like a pony but has Hapoo¡¦s affectionate and playful character. It was really funny when the 65 kilos of dog decided to sit on the lap of Hoppie¡¦s husband. After a walk and an excellent lunch it was time to leave both my friend and Finland. Khodadad and I took a ferry to Estonia, where we stayed two more nights.

Tallinn is a small city you can walk through easily. However, we did have fun there. We had originally planned to go to Riga, but that was cancelled in favour of an extremely cheap flight to Berlin with Estonian Air.
In Tallinn we spent some time shopping for little gifts, looking at a church and at the town hall, and then it was time to go back home.
I took the opportunity to sleep late the next day, because Hapoo was not there yet. But when I picked her up, she was excited and well as always. It is nice to have a reliable kennel. Hapoo had another play mate, this time it was a Husky, whose company she really seemed to have enjoyed.

If I bored you with all my talking, I hope you did not read this far. I just wanted to tell you what a wonderful time Khodadad and I have spent during the past weeks, and there¡¦s a bit to come.
Have a good time all of you and tell me your news, byebye from Khodadad, Hapoo and Chrisļ

Hello everybody
It is me, still owe you the update of a really fun and exhausting travel. You know, whenever Shadow is here, we travel a lot, and sometimes I even have to go to my kennel. This time they took me with them.

First we went on a rather long train ride and had to change to a horribly packed and crowded bus, where even the humans had to stand. Then another train, and then quite a bit of walking, until we arrived at a rather nice place. There we stayed for a while. It is a place near a city Chris calls Dresden, apparently it is located in the south of our country.

So one of these days we went and looked at Dresden. The only thing I remember from that trip was that it was incredibly hot, and I thank Chris and Shadow a lot for giving me time to rest and cool down whenever it was possible. I do not know if they liked the heat or not ad if they had a good time or not, I will ask and let you know.

The fun part was going to another country. The weird thing about this s that people speak in a way that neither the humans nore I understand. Chris calls it the Czech Republic, and the city was Prague if I am not mistaken. The weather this time was nice, and people did not mind me. We saw a few places, but the actual adventure was the train back, which broke down in the middle of nowhere. Shadow opened the outside door and took Chris and me there, so to get a bit of better air. Apparently the windows in the train did not open, and they had quite a good time making fun of the disaster. Something I did not like at all was the fact that the floor was wet with rain that had made it to the interior of the train. I have never seen this happening, but maybe every now and then humans like a refreshment.

Okay, all from me for now, I am sending you a big woof and a bigger bite, cheers, Hapoo.

Hello to all of you out there…
That means if there is anybody left after my long writing break. I know I have to update you on a lot of things, so let me start a couple of weeks/days – or however long that time is – ago when Chris’ friend left and she and I spent a few days on our own at home, walking with grandpa Ajax and feeding the hens. Cousin Anne came to visit with her daughter and helped Chris clean the kitchen in preparation of Shadow’s arrival.

One of the next days Chris finally put me in the harness and we walked to the train station. The previous times she had made me work it was mainly the route to the post office, so this time it was really a pleasure to walk my favourite route. As we had almost reached the train station, there was a construction site on the road, and Chris asked somebody to help us find our way through, which he did. And then we went by three different trains, if I remember correctly. We stopped at a bakery, where Chris asked for a bit of coffee, and the lady took us to a standing place, where Chris seemed to enjoy her coffee and I took a little nap.

After another while of waiting Shadow arrive ed from I don’t know where, kissed and hugged my Chris and then we all left for the platform. Chris was really happy Shadow was back, I could feel that. And I guess he was happy too, but very tired. He slept on the trains home. In one we sat in a smokers’ compartment, where only one gentleman was sitting.

He fed me, made sure I had enough water, said goodnight and left. However, she did not sleep, but spent the next 2-3 hours talking with Shadow in the bedroom. I don’t understand why they did not talk in the living room or kitchen, which they mainly do. But instead they stayed in the bedroom. After quite some time I heard mom arriving from out of nowhere, but Chris did not get up to say hi, neither did Shadow. Finally they stopped talking, the house was quiet as always, and my day was done, too.

Hi to all my precious readers:
Please forgive me for not updating the blog any sooner. I know you must be frustrated by now. But does it make you feel a little easier if I tell you that we had a visitor for the past few days?
He arrived without me knowing and without us having to go to the train station to pick him up. Suddenly Chris went outside and returned with somebody I have never met before. I know that, I remember smells!

Apparently this friend is somebody Chris had also met via the internet, and I bet they had long conversations on the phone before. I like him; he did not seem too uncomfortable with me being around. Sure I have to admit he made fun of me and the physical shape I am in. I easily got tired when we went for longer walks and was happy to be back home. He said I needed a fitness coach, which Chris denied. She said she kept me like this intentionally, and the rest of this talk I did not listen to anymore. Even dog spies have to rest every now and then.
One day we went to the beach. Of course the friend tried to see if I was up for a swim, but as you may well remember I hate the sea with its suspiciously moving water. So I took good care this stupid water did not wet my feet. The friend even offered Chris a swim, but I think she refused. She once went into the water a bit, but I think swimming does not only include standing. I must add here that I have never seen Chris swim.
The friend must be a computer expert, which he has in common with Shadow. At least he spent quite a bit of his last day here at Chris’ PC, “cleaning it up”, as he said. I can well imagine that, if her PC is as messy as her apartment. But on the other hand, how can a PC be messy, if there’s only one unit with a few belongings placed on the desk and hardly ever moved? At least it does not look messy to me! Or what is there I did not get?
All right, I will leave you for now; Chris wants to check her emails. Have a good time and look out for more updates and be reminded that Shadow will be here soon, yours, Hapoo.