Madeira

It's two weeks to go. Yes, two weeks today we set out for our next visit to Walt Disney World. More about that later, but meanwhile my humans tell me I have to get up to date with other things. Also, they have got round to letting me see the pictures of me on our last trip - to the island of Madeira.

Madeira is a volcanic island and there are lots of steep hills. So here am I with my human, Mikki, riding a cable car that goes from sea level up one of them. There are some gardens at the top and I'll tell you about them next time. The cable car cabins were quite nice: not much bigger than the old "skyway" at the Magic Kingdom but fully enclosed (they had better be given how high they went). There was just room for one other person as well as us. I can't understand why she looked uncomfortable while my adult humans took pictures of their toy cat.

Overall, we had a lovely time in Maderia. It was our first visit. The weather was warm and the apartment we stayed in was luxurious. It was some friends' timeshare - which again reminded me of WDW and our "home from home" at Old Key West. We wandered into the town a few times; had a fascinating day tour of the island and the humans ate in some nice restaruants. The humans also took afternoon tea at Read's Hotel. That's something you are supposed to do if you are English and go to Madeira!

I admit I didn't go our of the apartment much but there was a lovely living room, a comfy bed (whee the maid game me a chocolate every day - doesn't she know toys don't eat) and a huge balcony with a splendid view of the sea. It was great.

More soon.

Music at the Royal Albert Hall

My humans (well Andrew at least) enjoy classical music. What I mean is he used to listen a lot but that was before Mikki and I came along and made sure Disney music was heard most in our house. Well, in the last few weeks Andrew has been re-introducing classical music by turning on the BBC Proms concerts on the television.

For those of you unfamialiar with the "Proms", they are something of a British tradition in summer. They are a major series of classical concerts centred around the Royal Albert Hall. The hall may not have the finest acoustics but it is magnificent. The word "Prom" is short for "Promenade" - which is used because for the season they take the seats out of the ground floor level and the audience stands ("promenades").

Andrew has been listening to some serious music, including two Mahler symphonies and a series of Beethoven's piano concertos. But the concert that got me to watch was one of works by Bach that had been arranged by others for a large orchestra. The opening piece was the Toccata and Fugue in D minor. As you know, this is the piece which also opens Disney's original "concert feature", Fantasia! And yes, the arrangement they played was the one written by Leopold Stokowski for Fantasia. So I allowed Andrew to record this concert and to listen to this part of it lots. The television picture is very good but you know how difficult it is to take photos from the television.

The Royal Albert Hall also features in one of my humans' most magical Disney moments: the time they went to the premiere of "Fantasia 2000" there. The premiere featured a screening of the musical segments with a live orchestra (conducted by James Levine, who conducts on the film). They didn't show the link pieces, so the humans didn't see an animated Mickey Mouse come to shake the conductor's hand at the end of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". Instead, he came out live on stage to do it. They also had the thrill of Roy E. Disney introducing the film and a performance of Pomp and Circumstance No. 1 - which is also a highlight of the last night of the "Proms" concerts.

Well, that's enough serious stuff. Next time, I may tell you about Mikki's trip to Disneyland Paris or about the humans most recent visit to a cinema (Toy Story 3 in 3D).

Vienna

Yes, I've been away a long time and I apologise. Of course, it's not my fault but we needn't go into how my humans have been messing about with computers and working on a Village Fete and looking after Andrew's mother and arranging themselves even more holidays . . . and what other excuses do they have?

Here is the one other picture I wanted to show you from my cruise in April. I am in Vienna. The sign behind me says, "Mozarthaus Vienna" but the Guide said it is known by most people as the "Figaro House" so I had to get my humans to take me there. The guide also said Mozart lived in lots of places in Vienna but this is the one they have turned into a museum. This is the house where Mozart is believed to have composed "The Marriage of Figaro". I don't know much about that - and my humans didn't take me inside to find out. Mozart lived a very long time ago so I don't know how he knew about me and I don't have any plans for getting married but I don't complain if someone wants to name a house after me.

I hope to post a little more frequently now. I have some catching up to do. Thank you for your patience.

Figaro the Toy Cat

Thank you for thinking of me

I'm breaking off from the story of my cruise for a quick, but sincere, "Thank You" note

Of course my humans try to get me other Disney merchandise themed for Figaro. This includes trading pins. They are quite lucky that there aren't that many. Mikki keeps a sharp lookout whenever she is in a park. Yes, she buys pins but she also trades - especially with cast members.

Now I can tell you Mikki had a message from Karentan on the Disboards that she had seen a Figaro pin and was happy to send it to me if I wanted it. Wasn't that nice of her! My Mikki had spent a whole trip searching for that very pin and had finally found it on a 'suit'.

Here is a cute picture of me posing with the pin. Thanks for thinking of me Karentan!

Our Cruise

Yes, I had a lovely time on my European river cruise with my humans. Aboard the MS Amacello, we cruised up the Danube, down the Main and the Rhine and navigated the canal that connects them. I think the humans enjoyed themselves a lot - going out on deck to watch everything and even getting in the jacuzzi pool on the sundeck. All that water wasn't really a cat's idea of a good holiday but I was happy enough staying in the cabin almost all the time.

Mind you, the cabin (or "suite" as the tour company called it) was rather comfy. The company was offering very good deals - especially since we chose a cruise that started in March. The only snag was that the only cabin available was the largest and most luxurious. The space was larger than most and the bathroom had a bath as well as a shower (not something I thought important). I don't think the bed was any different from the regular cabins - but it was very confortable. Also, on many days, the cabin steward made clever designs with the towels like this one. Like almost all the cabins, we had floor to ceiling windows. so I could look out when I wanted to.

The humans had a great time on the cruise. They thought the staff were all friendly and helpful; the food was excellent (with efforts made to offer dishes reflecting the areas we were going through); and the lounge areas confortable and not too crowded (the boat was full but only took about 150 passengers). There were also lots of chances to go ashore. A big plus of river cruising in Europe is that all the contries are part of the European Union so there are no borders or customs formalities when you go ashore: you just get off the boat.

The humans visited lots of interesting and historic places. I went with them once. I'll tell you in my next post.

Figaro (the Toy Cat)

Old and New

I've been waiting a long time to get back to my diary and I hope you haven't missed me too much.

We have been very busy since I last got on the computer and I had better explain a bit about it. I'll bring you more up to date in the next few days.

The first half of April, we were away on a river cruise in Europe. After that, it was rushing to get ready for a weekend in Manchester for a Disney fan event. Then there were busy things with family and village.

And in between things, the computer went wrong! Yes, the one I use: so no blogs. We thought we had been attacked by a virus but it turned out to be the anti-virus software that had itself attacked the Windows operating system. Luckily, Mikki learned about this from a magazine before we had taken extreme measures. The other lucky thing is that all my information and pictures are on external drives and we had a spare "box" from when Mikki bought herself a new one. What we lacked was the programs I like for typing and editing the photos. By now, I have a mixture of getting Andrew to re-load some of the things I like and me learning some of the different programs on the spare "box". So here goes with getting up to date.

I thought I'd start with this picture from DAK in January. I call it "Old and New". The humans say it could apply to many things at the moment but I'm just a toy cat so the "old" is Mikki's sweater and the "new" is Tinker Bell (a relatively new addition to DAK) sitting on Mikki's hand.

I hope I need not add that "old" was not meant to indicate me. I am mature and distinguished. Mikki does like this sweater - which is about 10 years old. A few days after getting home, she was in one of our local supermarkets when one of the staff saw it; said she had a similar one; and agreed they haven't done anything quite as good since.

Ah well, if you insist I won't argue with the idea that, "the old ones are the best".

"Tweedles" in Wonderland (Characters 12)

Last week, my humans went to see a film (movie) in the cinema for the first time in years. In fact it was their first visit to the local cinema (theatre) complex since it opened. The reason was a combination of three events: the cinema had 3D equipment installed in one of its screens; "Alice in Wonderland" was on; and the humans discovered that even with a supplement for 3D the cost was very reasonable if you went mid-week!

So, my humans have seen the latest "Alice" in 3D - and they enjoyed it. Andrew did say it is many years since he learned not to expect a film to be like a book just because it had the same title so he was ready for something that was more "inspired by" than "based on". But the story was good. Both my humans agreed Johnny Depp was ideal as the Mad Hatter.

The 3D added to the overall effect without being overwhilming or gimmicky. The problem for my Andrew is that he can't see very well and often uses a small telescpe to watch movies. This isn't possible with 3D because you need both eyes. He and Mikki sat towards the front but he still thinks he must have missed a great deal - especially with the visual richness and complexity he associates with Tim Burton.

They didn't take me but I thought this was a chance to search our old photos for a picture of me with some "Alice" characters. This is of Tweedledum and Tweedeledee in the square in the UK pavilion at Epcot in 1999. I'm afraid the picture quality is not as good as some because of the camera we were using at the time but, yes, I did have more fur round by ears then.

I think I'd rather be cuddled by this pair than the "fat boys" of the latest film.