Barcelona

We are back from our holicay (vacation) and I can start to tell you all about it.

We had a few days in Barcelona first. The humans took a half day tour and then visited a few highlights. They most liked the "Casa Batllo", an amazing house designed by Gaudi. They even tried learning to say "please" and "thank you" in catalan.

We were lucky with the location of our hotel - quite close to the main streets and itself in a lovely (and recently created) square. The humans enjoyed eating at several of the many good value restaurants. I was content to get this picture sitting on a large sculpture in the square.

We were in Barcelona for 5 nights before joining "Disney Magic".

Cruising to Come

Here's a picture taken in our stateroom on our last Disney cruise. Obviously, the pose has been specially arranged. We were normally on the bed or sofa.
I think we have a very similar stateroom on our next cruise. Mikki has told us that the room is the same size. The main differences are that there is a slightly restricted view - and that it costs less because the restricted view was enough to get it downgraded to a cheaper category. I said it costs less. What I meant is it would have cost less if we had paid for our cruise the previous time. My Mikki won that cruise. She's really very lucky. She also found the cutest toy kitten in the world. Perhaps she's very clever too!

Prrrr.

Bath Day

"Bath Day" is one of my favourite Disney classic shorts. That's hardly surprising. It is one of very few where Figaro was the star and it reminds you that Figaro does appear as a star in his own right. That's very rare for characters other than the "Fab Five" of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy.

Figaro is just like most real cats: he does not like having a bath one little bit. And I am true to my character because I don't like it either. But it is something my humans sometimes insist on before we go on holiday (vacation). I have to admit I do come out looking cleaner and that makes my pictures look even better.

The picture shows Floppy cat and me waiting to dry after coming out of our bath. it takes about a day to dry out fully. That's a day without a really good cuddle!!!

Oh, behind us you can see another of my humans' pictures. This one's not of Figaro but of the pesky pixie, Tinker Bell. You can see it has two signatures: of Allison Lefcort (the artist) and of Tinker Bell herself, Margaret Kerry. We met Margaret a few years ago in Warwick and she signed the picture for us. She was really nice.

Once I am dry from my bath, Mikki helps me look even smarter. I am very glad to report my Mikki does not treat me in anything like the way Minnie Mouse treats Figaro. No bow; No perfume. My Mikki does do a little repair work on my nose and eyes after the bath because the water can wash away a little of the black.

The best thing about the bath is that it means the Disney trip is not far away. Prrr.

More Furniture - and a Picture

No sooner were my humans back from London than Andrew had to start building another piece of flat-pack furniture. Andrew is very nice (he cuddles me - and sometimes he helps me with my typing) but he is definitely a human when it comes to flat-pack furniture. I had to offer him calming cuddles through the day. I'm very generous like that.

By the end of the day, as we expected, he had calmed down a bit and decided the instructions had lots of mistakes. But we did have a new chest of drawers where (almost) all the pieces fitted. He now has more space for his clothes.

The new chest is taller than the one he had before so I can have my photo taken on it and you get a good view or the picture on the wall behind me. It is an original production cel from Pinocchio. Naturally, it features the star of the film - Figaro the cat - doing what cats like best - going to sleep in the most comfortable place in the house. In this case it was his human Geppetto's bed. Figaro looks a little cross in this scene. He is being kept awake by a silly little wooden boy continually asking, "Why?". Why did Geppetto get so attached to that puppet when he had a lovely little black and white cat?

Just over a week to go now before we set off to Barcelona. In two weeks, we will be on Disney Magic. Mikki has been watching a DVD about Disney Cruise Line just to get her in the mood.

Prrrrr.

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, Where Have You Been?

Nowhere!!

The humans went to London but didn't take me. They weren't going to look at the Queen, but they were going to Buckingham Palace to look at the Duchess of Cambridge's wedding dress.

Really, it wasn't that much of a "Meeoww" that they didn't take me. There is no photography inside the Palace so I wouldn't have got any pictures there.

The humans were quite impressed - although Mikki couldn't help thinking the dress looked better when on the bride. It was easy to see a lot of the detail. Apart from the dress itself, there was a sample of the lacework which you could get up close to (it was under glass) so even Andrew got some idea of how much work had gone into it. They saw the nice shoes Catherine wore and a silk representation of the bouquet.

The wedding cake was on display in another room. According to the notice by it, only the top three tiers have been removed (the third tier being the one eaten at the reception). They had been replaced by decorated dummies but for the rest, the humans were looking at the real thing. I wonder what will happen to it.

There was also an exhibition of Faberge items owned by the Queen. As well as some of the famous eggs, there was a great range of other things that amazed them - including flowers and animals. There was a elephant, a racehorse, and a d*g. They didn't mention seeing a cat. Well, you can't have everything.

In the picture, I'm looking at some of the things they brought back: a hand towel, a loving cup and some postcards. There was nothing special for me but I'm happy about that, I'm just glad to have them back to give me a cuddle. They were away for less than 10 hours.

Prrrrrr.

Another Figaro

We have an addition to the family. Here he is with me in our living room.

Almost as soon as we got back from Wales and Warwick, we were off to Harrogate (Andrew's home town) to help his mother. She is now 88 years old (which is even older than my character) and has recently had to move into a care home. She didn't like the ones she tried in Harrogate but seems very happy in one further north near Andrew's brother. She was visiting Harrogate to say "goodbye" to friends still there. She also chose some things from the flat (apartment) to take with her. This meant some tough choices - and one who didn't get to go was her toy Figaro - who she had called, "Mischief".

There's a good reason why he looks like "Floppy". As soon as Andrew's mother saw Floppy she demanded one of her own. Floppy came from Florida but fortunately they were selling the same design of Figaro in the Disney Store in London at the time. So another Figaro joined the Young extended family. We have promisd him a good home. At least he can be reassured that he is now with people who know his Disney heritage. He definitely hasn't seen anything like as many Mickey Mouses around him up to now.

This means that both Floppy and I now have two "brothers" in the house. The humans sometimes tease us that the brothers are there in case we get too worn or dirty. I suppose I have to humour them but it can get tiring. How many times do I have to tell them, "Nobody's getting replaced".

Now I'm just looking forward to my cruise with Mickey and friends (and the humans).

Prrrr.

Characters - but not Disney

Time to finish the chat about our trip to Wales and Warwick. Here I am with somee people I met inside Warwick Castle.

You can probably recognise the man at the top. He is one of the most famous characters in English history - King Henry VIII. I am not sure who the lady is but there were five others standing around too. I don't think all six ever got together like that in real life. Yes, these characters weren't even people - just waxwork statues.

The other two spoke to us and gave me a little cuddle. They introduced themselves as the Earl and Countess of Warwick. They were from the Greville family - who I think may be still the Earls of Warwick (although they have sold the castle). This couple are dressed like they are from the 1700s

My human Andrew, who has been doing some research, says the Earldom of Warwick is unusual. The title has died out 3 times (and so had to be recreated by the King - if and when he wanted). So there have been 4 men who were "1st Earl". The most famous Earl of Warwick - "The Kingmaker" - was the 16th Earl and lived in the 1400s but the present Earl is only the 9th Earl. It's confusing for a toy cat. I am "No. 1" Figaro in our house.

You can imagine I was glad to get back to our lovely guest house - which is right at the castle gate. They know how to treat cuddly toys there. All the rooms have teddy bears in them and the bear has the same name as the room. We stayed in/with Francis. Of course, I had to tell Francis about who shares the bed with my humans but there was no trouble.

OK, is that enough? I'm nearly up to date. Can I have a cuddle now?

Prrrr.