A 200,000 Lire Fine

Whenever Dachshund Daddy goes on a bike ride, he always meets a lot of fur friends. Here's Melchiorre, a resident of the sleepy border town of Cremenaga, Italy. Despite his cuddle bunny looks, he actually growled at DD.

Here's Aristide, Melchiorre's neighbor, who knows Dante's Divine Comedy by heart.

Aristide has a fur-sister by the name of Flippa, who's writing a novel about James Joyce.

For some reason, the dogs on their "Beware of the Dogs" sign don't look like them at all.

Signage in this area of the Swiss-Italian border is generally odd. The town of Arvigo, pronounced RV-Go (although the vomit road into town is way too narrow for RVs), is home to this "No Littering" sign that threatens violators with a 200,000 Lire fine. That's about $135 with today's exchange rate.

A blast from the past! Italy stopped using Lire in 2002, but apparently the township of Viconago-Cadegliano doesn't have enough Euros to update their signage. Maybe they should start charging for the view, which is truly spectacular.

In the photo above you can see the location of last week's International Pee Spot by the Strait of Lavena. The pretty hill called Monte Sassalto is where we usually go for our walkies. We either go around it, three miles along the water, or over to the top, which requires a 1000+ foot climb. No wonder I'm such a fit little sausage!