Flying with a Cat {Part II}

Many of you might remember my post when we got here about bringing Mackey over here.   There was a LOT of paperwork and vet work that had to be done to make sure he arrived safely.  And just to remind you, he did not go into quarantine.  That is only for animals who do not meet the health certifications or their owners did not follow the country's guidelines for bringing animals into the country.

 You probably wonder if I get anything accomplished during the day. Look at that face!

Preparations
There wasn't so much of a paperwork trail and even vet visits when coming back into the states for Mackey.  We had to go through a third party vendor, as the Petsafe program we used through United does to opperate from the UK to the US. Weird.  We found a company that we hope will work out just fine, although we had to buy ANOTHER cage for him to ride home in.  We bought one from United at the airport when we were moving him here...assuming we'd be good for the way back as well.  Well it wasn't big enough. Now we have a cage that could fit 3 of Mackey in there. Maybe he'll meet some friends and they can hang out at "his place" on the plane. 

I should have put his old cage together, so you could see a comparison. 

We had to make an appointment for him to see the vet no more than 10 days before travel.  We made his appointment for the Monday before we flew out.  All I needed from the vet was a letter stating he was "fit to travel".  Mackey also needed to be updated on a rabies vaccination, but we took care of that last July. I walked him down to the animal clinic, which was quite the workout.  The veterinarian checked him over, and Mackey of course was a complete love bug.  Everyone loved him.  The vet wrote a letter that he was "fit to fly" and that he was up to date on his vaccinations.  I was relieved that this part went well, and the only thing we had to worry about was the flight and customs aspect of it.  

Mackey was waiting for his turn!

Exploring the room and being nosey, as always

The Day of Flying
I was a nervous wreck the day we had to take Mackey to the airport...FOUR hours before our flight.  That means we met the pet transportation people at 4 AM!  They collected his paperwork, we transferred him into his hard cage, and they drove away.  I fought back tears as I was so nervous for him.  The service we used was fantastic, as they even sent Jeff a text when Mackey was checked in and ready for flight.  We had not even made it back to the hotel before they sent the text, so that was reassuring.  He was a top priority.

After our long flight to New York, we had to grab our luggage and head out to the car service we hired to take us from cargo area to cargo area for the next ~2 hours.  I felt like I was on a game show at one point, as we were on a time crunch to get to our next flight in 2+ hours.  After we got into the area, we went to the British Airways cargo area to pick up paperwork.  From there, we went to another cargo area to wait in line for some sort of stamping of our paperwork in customs.  I left with the driver to go to an ATM to pay a final payment to get Mackey back.  By the time I got back to Jeff, he was finishing up the paperwork and we headed back to the original cargo area to get Mackey.  I make this seem so easy...it was to some extent---just time consuming.  

They brought Mackey out, and HE WAS ALIVE! That is all I could think about...  We took him out into the parking lot, and switched him from his giant hard carrier to his soft carrier for the next flight.  He was a little overwhelmed, as I can still vividly remember his little legs going limp and swaying from side to side.  Poor thing. Jeff and I continued to pet him in the car to calm him down.  We had to take him back through security, where (yep, you guessed it...) Jeff had to get him out of his carrier and walk him through the security gates. Too funny, and the employees loved it.  He did well, and we were off to sit at our gate.  Our flight was delayed just a bit, which was great because it gave Mackey some chill time.  He was all sprawled out in this carrier and extremely comfortable, which made me feel good.  He rode underneath the seat in front of me.

My wonderful parents met us in Indianapolis to collect him, as we were staying in a hotel downtown for the next couple of weeks and wanted Mackey to get settled as soon as possible.  It was a quick hello with my parents, and they jetted off (no pun intended) to head home and get him settled.

My mom and dad send me pictures periodically of how cute or silly Mackey is being. My dad found him like this in his office. Crazy cat!

On to the next adventure...

60+ Degrees and Sunny...Then Tuesday Came

If you are friends with me on Facebook, you will already know that my mom surprised me and came to visit on Friday.  Jeff and my parents had been scheming since DECEMBER to plan this excursion. My parents and Jeff did not tell anyone, until my mom was on her way over...which I think it a pretty good kept secret! It was very sweet of them to surprise me, and I think I almost ruined it a couple times when I surprised them a few weeks ago.  Everyone who knew, kept the secret well! I am so glad she is over here for 10 days.

Reunited!

So since they had planned it so far in advance, my mom was able to join us on our trip to Lisbon, Portugal.  She came at the right time, given we only have a few big trips left! We left for Lisbon on Sunday morning. Mom got to experience the early to rise, jump in the car, and head to the airport-kind of morning.  It was a longer flight for us, a little over 2 hours, and we were in Lisbon by 12:00PM.  We jumped on the metro and headed to our hotel.  We were able to clean up, and go out to grab some lunch before completely exploring the city.  I officially had one of the worst meals since we moved here.  It wasn't bad in taste, but the pork was VERY overcooked. It was as hard as a rock! Luckily, Jeff ordered a giant dish of paella and my mom ordered pasta...so I was able to eat off of their plates a little as well.

Next, we were off to St. George's Castle.  It was quite the walk up to the area where the castle was located.  We had a great calf workout as all the roads were at an incline. We made it to the top where it had amazing views of the River Tagus, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean.  All of the buildings are so close together, that it looked as if they were all sitting on top of each other.  It was a very European feel, and reminded us of our time in Rome, despite all of the massive amounts of history.  There was not much to the castle, as it was all open and reminded us more of a fort than a castle.  Now, I remind you that we have visited some extraordinary castles (like our Edinburgh Castle visit), so our standards are set very high.  It was great being able to walk up & down the old stairs and see a new scene from each side of the castle.  We especially enjoyed the random peacocks that were walking around the area as well. And we even found a few cats!

 Right in front of the castle. It overlooks the river and all of the beautiful buildings.

 In front of the main entrance to the castle

Love this shot! The red/orange roof tops were beautiful!

After our visit to the castle, we headed down to the water's edge.  It was a beautiful view, especially to see the 25th of April Bridge, which is almost identical to the Golden Gate Bridge.  We walking along the board walk enjoying the 65 degree day.  Sorry, family/friends back home...I don't have much of a filter on my blog posts! We grabbed a famous Portuguese custard tart (or Pastel de nata) which is a must when visiting Lisbon.   As the three of us were sitting there enjoying it, we were trying to compare it to something we had already had before.  We decided it was a mix of flan, sugar creme pie, and a dab of lemon inside.  They were about the size of a cupcake.  Very tasty, and we all agreed we were shocked we didn't grab another one during our time there. Check out the Pastel de nata link for a visual, as I forgot to take a picture!

 In front of the arch that leads into a plaza area right next to the water

Down by the water (obviously)

We cleaned up, and headed out to a fantastic Portuguese restaurant, called Restaruante A Gina which was hidden back in a side street.  Right when we sat down they brought us bread, a cheese and pork spread, and fried potato peels.  We were chomping away, trying all the local appetizers.  For our main courses, Jeff tried the famous Portuguese cod, I gave pork another shot, and mom tried a chicken dish.  All were large portions with lots of potatoes, vegetables, and fantastic rice. We tried some of the house white wine, and debated on this traditional dessert that locals around us were enjoying.  We gave in, and tried the "custardy" cake that was drizzled with honey.  Pretty similar to the photo here.  I wasn't the biggest fan, but Mom and Jeff enjoyed it.

 My pork on the left and Jeff's cod on the right.

We headed out the next morning all ready to take on a full day of sight seeing, walking, and embracing the culture.  The three of us went off to explore a bridge Jeff and I learned about when visiting the Tower Bridge last month.  They had various bridges from around the world, and they were beautiful.  The Aguas Livres Aqueduct was used a long time ago to bring fresh drinking water from the mountains into the city. Unfortunately, we were unable to walk across the bridge because it was closed, but we were able to view it closely and take a few photographs. If you're reading in this in hopes to visit Lisbon, it is a must...but just go on a Tuesday.  

 The HUGE bridge. My mom and I even were able to see it from the plane.

 You can see how big it is with Jeff next to it

We got so many great pictures. It is awesome to have a third person to travel with, so we can continually rotate who is taking the picture!

We were pretty annoyed, as this was just one of many attractions that were closed on Mondays.  This made it difficult for us to plan our activities, given we flew in on Sunday and were flying out on Tuesday.  We made the best of the poor planning, and saw what we could! We walked around the city, up/down the steep roads.  We found a viewing spot to see the castle and buildings across the city.  We finally made it to a wonderful spot for lunch where Jeff and my mom enjoyed pizzas and I got a fantastic chicken sandwich.  We were off again, heading to the metro station.  We saw the ferries used for public transportation to a town called, Barrerio.  So...why not take the ferry across the river to see the other side? It was about a 15 minute ride to the other side. It was enclosed, so we weren't able to get the best pictures. But we had a great view of the bridge, Lisbon from afar, and it was fun being out on the water.

The view from the one open window on the ferry. You can see the bridge and Christ the King monument to the left.

After we arrived back on the Lisbon side,  we went to a church (no pictures allowed) and enjoyed a beautiful park. My mom was able to have her first European gelato experience.  We found this great place near the park that had an array of flavors to choose from.  My mom got strawberry & pineapple, I enjoyed raspberry & after eight (chocolate mint), and Jeff enjoyed strawberry & cheesecake.  Amazing.  It didn't seem like we checked off much from our to-do list during the day, but we covered a lot of ground walking around and just enjoying the simplicity of the city.  The night ended with some tapas, which we were able to try a few new dishes.  We even got my mom to try squid!

 They had a few swings hanging from the ceiling instead of chairs!

 We loved the tiles, although you can't see much of them in this shot. Everywhere you went the tiles on the ground were in a different pattern.

 The yellow trollies are all over the city. Both locals and tourists fill them up at every spot. 

 Giant tree in the park

We found another great viewing spot during our walk around the city.

The next morning we woke up bright and early so we could get to the sights early since we were flying out in the afternoon.  We finally rode on the famous yellow tram we had been seeing around the city.  It was about 20-25 minutes on the tram (or from what I remember).  It started to rain while we were on the tram, so by the time we got off...it was pouring.   Not only was it raining, but the temperature dropped, and we were freezing!  We grabbed our umbrellas and trucked through the rain to see the last few sights.  The Monument of Discoveries was beautiful, although we didn't appreciate it as much with the rain falling sideways and soaking us in the process.  We walked along the water side in attempts to make it to the Belem Tower.  Unfortunately, the pier ended...so we gave up. Just like that.  We walked across the street to visit the Monastery of Jeronimos instead. It opened, and we were able to walk around the grounds for an hour or so.  It was quite and pretty, but there was not much to it other than beauty.

 Monument of Discoveries...in the pouring rain.

 You can see how hard it was raining by just looking at Jeff's poor, wet jacket

Not sure if you can tell just how hard it is raining. Maybe our faces say it all...

 The rain stopped, and we headed to the monastery

 Inside the monastery

We grabbed some breakfast, and made our way back to grab our bags then head out to the airport.  When asking my mom about her time in Lisbon she said, "I enjoyed seeing all of the beautiful tiles on the streets, and I loved the desserts.  Most importantly, it was great spending time with you and Jeff."

 Somehow I forgot this picture when I published it yesterday! One of my favorites, too!

On to the next adventure...

 

What Would Vinny Do?

If you're confused about the title of the post, bear with me...

Our friend, Scott, continued on with Jeff and I to the Netherlands to visit Amsterdam.  We got in a little later than expected on Friday, and decided to check out the Van Gogh Museum first, as it is open late on Fridays.  Although, I was not allowed to take any pictures...it was amazing inside.  Many of his most famous paintings that I studied in high school and college were located here, like his famous self portraits.  This leads us to "What Would Vinny Do?" as we stared at the paintings for so long...we thought Scott started to look like him! I wish I would have taken a close-up of Scott not smiling so you could compare it to this. It probably isn't as funny to you all, especially if you've never met Scott...but it had us laughing for quite some time.  So after this, when deciding what to do we used Scott...I mean Vincent Van Gogh as our inspiration and the next thing you know, collectively we would all say,  "What would Vinny do?" Is this funny to anyone but us? Too much of an inside joke to share? Oh well.

Near the Van Gogh Museum.

We woke up on Saturday to grab some yummy pastries, although Jeff accidentally got one with jelly in the middle, so he was pretty disappointed.  We walked through a little bit of the Red Light District, which was pretty interesting to say the least. Without going into too much detail for those that do not want to read about this type of area, it was pretty tame in the daytime and only saw specialty shops and "coffee" shops.  At night was a different story though...{Research at your own risk}

We enjoyed walking around the city, as it was a very liveable city.  Although the transportation hazards were a different story.  It was pretty comical walking around at first avoiding the trams, cars, and especially the bikes.  It seemed like the bikes ruled the streets in Amsterdam.  As I was complaining about them, in mid-sentence I almost got smashed by one of them. Insane.

 Just a few of the bikes of Amsterdam

The canals were awesome, and reminded us of Venice...although definitely not as warm! We got lost around the city, as all the buildings and canals look alike. I finally got my bearings, and became the Momma Duck navigating the two guys around the city.  We made it to the Anne Frank House, although the line was insane...so we thought we would try it later in the night (since it was open late on Saturdays).  So fail #1...

 Canals!

 Humoring me with a photo...can you tell it is chilly?

 I think this was one of the most European city "feels" that we've been besides Prague.

We grabbed some lunch at a fantastic burger shop and then grabbed a pint at a great little pub on the canal. It had great views, and you could tell the place would be really busy as it was basically in/on the canal.

 Somehow this is the only picture of the three of us.

The little pub had a little lean to it...kind of like the tea shop we visited in Windsor.

We rushed back towards the hotel to go to Vondel Park before the sun started to set, as it does around 4:00.  We were able to hang out there for a while before heading to another museum, the Rijksmuesum which was a modern art museum.  Fail #2 came when closed in 20 minutes. So needless to say, we didn't visit that museum.

Next on the list was the Museum of Bags and Purses.  And before you start thinking poorly of me for dragging two "grown" men through this museum, all I wanted was a picture outside of it.  If you know me, you know my LOVE for bags and purses. Ahhh.... Anyway, it was almost comical as they were shutting their door right when we were taking our pictures, so you could call this Fail #3.

Now, we decided to go back through the Red Light District at night, which was quite the sight. Enough said about that, as I'll keep it PG.  We went towards the Anne Frank House/Museum, as the last entry was at 8:30.  Well, we got there at 8:26, and they didn't let us in...Fail #4.  So we headed to a restaurant to have a nice meal and a few pints.   We wandered around the city a little more, trying to soak up as much Amsterdam as we could.  We ended our night shortly after, as Scott was flying out fairly early the next morning.

 We got a lot of views of the canals at night since it gets dark so early

One of my goals was to put my feet in these giant wooden shoes...I found one better, one big enough to put my whole body in!

Jeff and I had a few extra hours in Amsterdam before we flew back to Nottingham, so we woke up early to get in line for the Anne Frank House/Museum.  Note to those reading this in hopes to travel to Amsterdam...moral of the story, get tickets ahead of time to save yourself the hassle.  We only stood in line for ~20 minutes.  No pictures inside! It was amazing, and really moving.  The museum was done nicely as there were videos of those that knew Anne, like her father and a friend in the concentration camps.  We were able to walk through their hiding places, and see the rooms, just as they were left when the Nazis raided the house.  The stairs were extremely steep, and reminded me of The Fault in our Stars, if anyone has read/saw that will know what I'm talking about.  One thing about the experience in the house was that no one was talking.  Everyone was taking in the story, memorabilia, experience of being in such a powerful place in history.  When we visit churches, they are never that quite. Pretty intense.

 Anne Frank's House

Close Up!

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to checkout, then head to the Heineken Experience, which was awesome.  We visited the Guiness Storehouse back in February of this year, which was a completely different experience.  Not only did I prefer the taste of Heineken better, but the "experience" was much more entertaining.  We were able to learn about the history of the company, how it was made, and my favorite a virtual ride on the process of how their beer is made.  It moved us through as if we were the ingredients and we experienced: bubbles, water, heat, and of course "pop" in the bottling experience. Very cool. We had a tasting experience, and were given two "free" pints at the end of our tour. Jeff was wearing his St. Louis, Cardinals hat, and a man came up to him from St. Louis (Living in England for about a month), and ended up knowing one of his uncles (Mark, that's you!). Pretty small world!

 Photo props!

 Inside the factory...lovin' the Christmas decor!

 You can't see the horses, but there were a few in there!

 Taste testing! Once the foam at the top is gone...the beer is flat & done. Good fact to know!

I end, with a selfie

Jeff and I hustled to the train station so we could get to the airport in time.  We were cutting it close, but made it safely. Never thought I'd say this, but we were glad to be back in the UK weather.

Onto the next adventure...


 

Sausage, Beer, Beer, Sausage, Beer, Pretzel, Beer, Beer, Sausage, Beer

The title of the post pretty much sums up our time in Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest, where we had lots of amazing German food and lots of amazing German beer.  We had a friend join us, Travis, for the festivities.  He came in from the states, and met us in London to head to Stuttgart, Germany on Wednesday. After an hour, fifteen flight to Stuttgart, we headed by train to Munich for another two and a half hour ride.

We made it to Munich, and the boys immediately put on their lederhosen, and I put on my dirndl.  We headed towards the festival where thousands of people were already drinking, eating, and enjoying the festival.  What a sight to see all of these people dressed up in the traditional attire.  There were 14 large "tents" that held all the different local beer.  And by "tent" I mean a standing structure that holds about 10,000 people.  Not so tent-like, right? 

Jeff and I in our Bavarian attire

Inside one of the beer tents. (This was taken Sunday so less people in their Bavarian attire)

Oktoberfest is known for its traditions like the cookies. 

We walked a little bit, grabbed a giant sausage, and headed into the Hofbrauhaus tent.  It was pretty funny to see the three of our faces as we walked into the tent. I think we were all in shock as there were people everywhere, the band was playing local tunes, hops were hanging from the ceiling, and everyone had giant beers in their hands (1 liter of beer, approximately 2 pints).  We walked around, a little overwhelmed, and found room at a table where we enjoyed a few beers.  We loved the songs the band played, even though we did not understand any of the words.  It was also fun to meet new people, mostly Germans to talk about the festival and whatnot.

Giant sausage. So yummy! (PhotoCred: Travis)

The festival area. You can see the large tents (buildings) on both sides of the pictures. One of which has the giant beer on top!

This was our favorite tent. The only one with sit down and standing tables. 

The boys in their gear with their beer! (PhotoCred: Travis)

On Thursday, the three of us walked around Munich.  We went into a couple churches that were really pretty, popped into a few shops, and ate at a cute little outside restaurant before heading back to get back into our gear.  We could not make it inside a tent, so we enjoyed an area outside a tent before meeting our friends, Julie and Andrew who were joining us for the remainder of the Oktoberfest excitement.  We all had a great night, grabbed some sausages, and headed home for the night.  Another successful day.

 The insides of the two churches in the city of Munich. 

Julie and I with our giant beers (PhotoCred: Julie)

On Friday, we got up early to rent a car. You're nervous about how this story is going to go, aren't you? Luckily they drive on the "right" side of the road and the driver's seat is on the American side as well, and Andrew took the lead, so that was nice.  No issues as all, really nice roads, only "bad thing" was the signs were in German.  We drove about 2 hours to the Neuschwanstein Castle. This is the castle in which Disney modeled their famous castle after. We were the lucky ones who could barely see the castle up close because there was a crazy amount of fog that morning.  We looked off the edge of the castle, and it was pure white...we couldn't even see the ground.  It was pretty disappointing that the weather was so yucky.  Other than that, the inside (no pictures allowed) of the castle was beautiful. It was not like the other castles we have been to because it wasn't used for war; it was purely for the joy of the king.  The rooms were still decorated as if the king still lived there, so that was pretty great to see the fine details.  Sidenote: The story of this king is pretty interesting if you want to read more.  We walked down from the castle area, grabbed a great local meal, and began to head back to the car for our journey home. Funny story though...the fog lifted and we looked up from the sidewalk to see the castle perfectly in the background.  Just our luck!

 Inside the castle grounds. Fog was so bad I didn't get many pictures

After the fog "magically" disappeared as we were leaving the city 

We ended our evening at another beer tent, and enjoyed the festivities.  Saturday morning we woke up early to head to the festival.  We knew that since it was a Saturday and the last "big hurrah" day we were going to need to get to the tents early.  We stood in line around 8:15, and the tents were supposed to open at 9:00.  The line began to move, and immediately everyone smooshed into one giant blob of a crowd.  At one point the line was moving, but I was not physically moving my feet. The line was pushing (not roughly, just tightly) that we were just moving together.  The 5 of us were split into 2 groups by accident.  Jeff, Travis, and I were sent to sit outside while Julie and Andrew made it inside the tent.

The Oktoberfest gang! (PhotoCred: Travis)

Inside our tent on Saturday morning. Great environment! (PhotoCred: Andrew)

We eventually met up in a few hours, and hung out until the early afternoon.  We took it easy the rest of the evening, and rested up for a long day of traveling the next day:

• 2.5 hour train ride to Stuttgart city centre
• 30 minute metro ride to the Stuttgart airport
• 1 hour 15 minute plane ride
• 1 hour long underground ride in London
• 2 hour train ride back to Notts (Back at 1 AM)

I leave you with a few little videos that capture the environment inside the tents. Pretty hard to describe it all in writing. Prost!

Video of the band's first song. Immediately everyone got up on the benches and began singing some German song. (VideoCred: Travis)

This video is of everyone singing the "What's Goin' On" song by 4 Non Blondes. (VideoCred: Travis)

Thank you to Julie, Andrew, and Travis for allowing me to use some of your pictures on the blog. You definitely saved me from lugging around the giant camera all weekend!

Onto the next adventure...