Travelling in Style

Just three weeks until we leave home on our next trip to Florida and I am looking forward to a nice comfortable aeroplane ride.  My human Mikki did a very good deal when British Airways had a sale on earlier in the year.  She found she could go Club Class for very little more than the class we normally fly so booked it quickly.

I enjoy flying in style.  Here is a picture from the last time I did so.  This is Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic. My cousin Floppy Figaro was travelling with us.

Everyone was very nice to Floppy and me on the plane.  The humans had seats that turned into beds and for most of the time Floppy and I relaxed on those.  We didn't stay long on the bar stools.  You see, we don't drink.  We are toys!

The humans were able to travel one way on Upper Class using the loyalty points they had saved up over the years.

Another great feature about travelling in the more luxurious parts of the aeroplane is that you also get to go in a nice lounge at the airport.  Here I am with Mikki in the Virgin lounge at London Gatwick.

Things are getting closer and closer.  We are all getting excited and Mikki, who does most of the preparations, is working very hard.

Looking forward to a lot of fun.

And cuddles.

Prrr Prrr

Four Weeks (plus a bit) to go

I'm starting to get excited about our next trip to Walt Disney World.  One of the things I like to do is to have my picture with the other Disney characters.  This is the sort of thing I mean.  Here I am with two of my favourite characters, Pinocchio (who appears in my film) and, of course, Mickey Mouse himself.

Yes, yes, it would be a little unusual to see these two together and I admit I have not seen them together in Walt Disney World.  This picture was taken in Paris a few years ago.  But I think it captures my excitement about pictures with characters.

I will also be happy (and my humans even more so) if I can gets lots of my pictures indoors in air conditioned rooms.  This will be the first time for many years that we have visited in August and it will be hot.  We do not intend to spend a lot of time standing in lines in the sun. In England, we are practising for the heat by having our first long hot spell for several years.  The temperatures are about 10 degrees F lower than Florida and it is already too hot for my humans.  They will be glad that there is lots of air conditioning in Florida.

We fly out 4 weeks from today (16th July).  We are visiting some other places as well so it will be a few days more than 4 weeks before we get to Walt Disney World. My humans have already arranged for me to meet up with some of my fans over there. Lots of opportunities for cuddles!  Prrrrrrrr

An English Summer

Tomorrow will be the longest day of the year, so some people might think we were enjoying high summer.  No, this is England.  Far too many of the summer days have been like this one.  And that's even when the weather forecasters promise it will brighten up by the afternoon.

Would you believe this window has the finest view from our house - when it's not raining?

But we have had just a couple of nice evenings in the last couple of weeks - and when they happen it is a delight to get out in the sunshine.  Sometimes the humans invite friends and neighbours round to relax on the deck beside the river that runs along the bottom of our garden.  Sometimes we just all go down and relax on our own.

Those few days when we can get into the garden or relax by the river like this are instant reminders of how little we miss London.

Sunshine is also a reminder of when we will next be in Walt Disney World (Prrrr).  It will be August.  That's normally far too hot for us but we have to go then because we are meeting some friends at a (non-Disney) event on the same trip.  Only a couple of months to go.

My Humans Went to London

My humans, Mikki and Andrew, went to London this week.  It was only an overnight stay but I was still a little disappointed that they didn't take me.  It's not that I wanted to do anything in London:  I just like being with them.  I don't think the weather was that good either.  You can see Mikki is wearing a coat in this picture they brought back.

For anyone who doesn't recognise it, the picture was taken in Trafalgar Square. That's the National Gallery behind Mikki and she and Andrew visited it and the adjoining National Portrait Gallery while they were there.

Andrew once worked close to the Square and could pop into these Galleries during a lunchtime, but Mikki  did not know them as well and was fascinated at all the lovely pictures inside.  She specially liked the pictures by Monet of his garden at Giverny.  She brought back a magnet and a coffee mug of one of them.  It is a picture of the bridge she has stood on.  It's the same bridge as in the picture I've shown you with Mickey and Minnie Mouse standing on the bridge - but it's not quite the same picture (even without Mickey and Minnie).  Here's a photograph of the magnet on show back at home.

Well, it's good to have the humans back home.  I have missed them and I am sure they have missed me.  We've had some nice cuddles since they got back - but we could have some more.. Yes, now!

Prrrrr.

In Monet's Garden

This is a picture of my human, Mikki when she visited the famous garden of the painter Monet at Giverny, France.  That was a couple of years ago now but she really enjoyed the trip and still has fond memories of it.  It wasn't perfect, of course:  I wasn't there for her to cuddle because I had to stay at home to look after my other human, Andrew.

Well, now we have a different sort of picture of Monet's garden, delivered just a few days ago. It has been hung in the kitchen where lots of people will see it.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse are seen standing on the same bridge that my Mikki is standing on in my top picture.  Now she only wants for us all to go again so that Andrew can go round and take a picture of her and me from the same angle that the new picture of Mickey and Minnie is from.

Life is such fun with my humans.

Prrrr.

Rather Special Motor Cars

On our trip round the south of England, we made two visits to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu.  Here is my human, Andrew, showing me one of the exhibits.

Yes, for fans of films other than Disney animation, this is the underwater car used by Roger Moore as James Bond in "The Spy Who Loved Me".  It was one of the many fascinating Bond cars at the museum.  These ranged from Goldfinger's Rolls Royce to several from the latest film, "Skyfall".  There were also several other vehicles such as boats and "Little Nellie", the auto-gyro from "You Only Live Twice".

Rather like our trip to the Harry Potter studios, it was a chance to see what the reality is behind the magic you see on the screen. And for real Ian Fleming fans, the car from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was there too.

There were also all sorts of more or less "real" cars. Here is one that was very real even if it never drove on a road.  It is one my human Andrew is old enough to remember.

It is "Bluebird".  This is the very car in which Donald Campbell set the land speed record of 403 mph in 1964 - a record that still endures for a wheel driven vehicle.  The model next to it, by the way, is of Thrust SST, which holds the current record (and the first to break the sound barrier on land).

Andrew says I need not mention that both record-breakers were British.  You may think people would have to be mad to take the risks involved in these records but perhaps the British are.  After all, my humans let their toy cat write a blog.

They also cuddle him.   Yes, now.

Prrrr.

With Harry Potter

It's been a busy time recently for me and my humans so I am sorry I have not posted much.  Still, that's past us for a day or two and it does mean that I have lots to tell you about.

We have just come home from a tour around parts of the south of England.  The first stop was the Warner Bros studio where there is the Harry Potter tour.  This means we have more toys in the house.  One of them is a large spider.

Fortunately, as you see, I have use of the most powerful magic wand in the world so I am keeping the spider well in control.  You may say it's only a toy magic wand - but she's only a toy spider too so it works on her just fine.

The humans enjoyed the Harry Potter tour enormously.  Mikki was much more a fan of the books but Andrew is much more a fan of the mechanics of theatre and movie-making.  The tour gave lots to look at for both interests.  Here are a few more examples.

Knowing they would be making several films, the producers were able to construct the more frequently used sets to a higher standard than is often the case, and the Great Hall of Hogwarts Castle is an obvious example. Visitors enter the studios through the door you see here so you can feel just like Harry and his friends did when they first arrived.  We took this picture after the rest of the tour party had left.

As well as the tables and furniture you can see, there are mannequins wearing costumes from some of the teachers standing at the high table behind us.

And here is my human, Andrew, with the set of the Gryffindor common room.  The commentary pointed out all the furniture was supposed to be very old so the film crew went to great lengths to make the carpet threadbare and the chairs worn. The common room was also one of many sets that had lots of portraits, all of which were painted specially.

This next picture is of something that wasn't used much but I can understand the studio was very keen to display it on the tour - and Andrew was keen to stand in front of it for is picture:  the "snake" door from the Chamber of Secrets.

If you are wondering where Mikki was, she was taking these pictures.  She also took this one of the set for Professor Dumbledore's office.  It was a magnificent set - as I suppose fitted the great wizard himself.

The humans bought a guide book that contained additional explanation of some of the work that went into dressing this set and building props.

Outside the sound stage, there was lots to see too.  Mikki climbed onto the three storey "night bus" and the Hogwarts bridge.  Andrew couldn't resist taking a picture of her in "Privet Drive".

As with all such sets, the houses in "Privet Drive" are only facades.  The interior scenes will have been shot on sound stages.  That's probably just as well.  It's difficult to believe there would be room inside a house this size for all the action that takes place in the films.  And we never saw the interior sets for these scenes.  I guess they weren't thought unusual enough to keep .

There was a whole lot more to see - like the complete "Diagon Alley" - and I may show you more pictures later.  There was also a magnificent model of Hogwarts used during the first four films (in the later ones, they had a "virtual" model and did shots of people flying over the castle with CGI).  One further huge attraction was a chance to fly a broomstick like the stars (i.e. in front of a green screen)..  Of course, my humans did that.  Here's Mikki.

All this was on the first day of our 9 day tour.  I was lucky the humans had energy left to cuddle me.

More soon.

Prrrrr.