The washing machine and the circuit breaker

Helpless. That's how it feels when "normal" problems occur in a foreign place where your language skills are minimal.  My Italian tends to desert me in emergencies. 

Two days ago the washing machine starts leaking. After much mopping and wringing we get our landlord to take a look. He says "technico". He then has me look on the Internet to find a repair service for our machine. I write down the number and off he goes. A vague hand wave about telling us when they will come. A few hours later he appears with a calendar. Wednesday or Thursday?  Is morning ok?  We ask for Wednesday morning. Wednesday comes and we wait until 2 pm and ring their bell.  They don't know, no call has come. 

At about 7:00 pm they come over and say "domani"- tomorrow!  Between 8-12. Progress. 

Thursday morning at about 9:00 the repairman and our landlord appear. I follow them to the machine trying to catch any words. Finally it is determined the is a leaking tube that must be replaced. They will be back in the afternoon.
Meanwhile the laundry is piling up.  We just had guests so there are sheets and towels and all our exercise clothes and the place is starting to smell like a gym on a hot day with no air conditioning.  

8 pm the daughter of the landlord comes bearing fruit (loquats!) and the news that they could not find the part- "domani!"  Tomorrow !  At this point we have stayed home for three days waiting.  I am amazed that this happens in other places besides the US!!

Finally today at 5 pm he shows up with the part. It took 2 minutes to remove it and 30 to replace it. 

We are ecstatic!!  We have 5 loads of waiting laundry.   

I finish one load and get it on the line.  I start the second load and dinner at about the same time. Right when I'm about to throw everything into the oven the power goes out!  

Yes, you've seen this here before. There's only so much wattage we can use at a time. So I go flip the main circuit breaker- this has worked three other times!  No dice. No power. I ask a neighbor who in the parking lot washing her car for help- she speaks some English.  First she looks at the breaker- not the problem, then she reads the message displayed on the screen.  She says "this is Italy. You used your allotment".   What?!?  How can that be?  It's only June 10?

I go try the landlord. Not home. We sit in the dark. I try the breaker again, no luck. We turn off everything. No luck. 

Finally I text our host family to ask for help. As before, Mom comes downstairs to see what's what. She speaks no English but she knows us and is comfortable with our bad Italian plus sign language. She gestures downstairs to the breaker box. I shake my head no, I did that already. She then says something I don't get and goes straight to the kitchen. She's pushing on the wall and I realize she needs to open up a panel there. I show her where to push. She pops open a small box and inside are two small switches. She flicks each up and there is light!!  

She smiles, says "buon appetito" and is gone. 

There is no way to express gratitude. There is no expression for the relief. 

It boils down to relationships. If we did not have a host family. If their parents didn't live upstairs. If our landlord was not as willing to help or try to overcome the language?...

We would not be watching Euro 2016 after a nice dinner. 

And now, about food!

The food in Northern Italy is fantastic. It tends to be simpler, with three to five ingredients in most dishes. Some typical items are Tortelloni, tortellini, polenta, risotto and of course a lot of different pastas.

Typical or "tipico" dishes would be Tagliatelle with ragu, tortellini con brodo, tortellini con burro e salvia.

The ragu is a mix of ground beef, ground pork and spices with olive oil (no tomatoes).  Tortellini comes from one place locally-Valegio- unless you make your own. Valegio makes amazing pasta and imports their Tortelloni and tortellini into the city fresh daily. All the small markets carry it in bulk and you can buy it by the serving. You have to be able to describe how you will serve it, with broth (con brodo) or as a primi (first course) with butter and sage. Both are local specialties. 

A disclaimer on the photo below.  It is not a typical dish with Tortelloni. It was explained to me after I sent this photo to our friends, that you are only to use the tiny tortellini in soup. It sure did taste good as pictured though!

Lamb is very prevalent here in spring. We have had it several times in several dishes. I'm looking forward to braising some lamb shank soon.

The fresh fruit and veg is just amazing.  There is a huge selection in the various markets here- there are three I shop from all within half a mile of our apartment.   I'm also growing fresh herbs on our terrace and using them daily on whatever dishes I come up with.

 There is a lot of condiment use here, all from local produce.  Sun dried tomatoes in oil, black olive pate, olives, pepperoni (here it means roasted red and yellow peppers in oil).

My first experiment was with reconstituting sun dried tomatoes.  I had tried many times at home to do this with mixed results, usually too salty or too leathery.  I followed the instructions of a local and came up with the best marinated sun dried tomatoes ever.  The secret is to cook them briefly in a mix of white wine and water (50/50), then lay them out to dry on paper towels for about an hour.  After that you layer them in a jar with your choice of herbs, thin slices of garlic, capers etc.  The finished product is ready to eat in 24 hours and after the tomatoes are gone, the oil is divine for dipping crusty bread.

One evening we were invited upstairs for dinner with our friends parents (they live just above us).  It was a Calabrian meal- her father is from the south.  The antipasti included a black olive spread they called pate.  I asked our friend Chaira if she could give me the recipe and she says "my mother will teach you".  Two days later the doorbell rings- here is Chiara's mum with a big jar of black olives in hand.  She gestures upstairs and I follow her up.  In the kitchen she takes out a blender and two paring knives. We sit in companionable silence as we pit the entire jar of olives into the blender jar.  She then adds three large cloves of garlic, peeled and quartered.  She gets a bottle of olive oil from a cabinet full of bottles- all different sizes and shapes- the oil comes from a local collective they belong to so no labels.  Into the blender goes a big glug of the oil- probably at least a cup.  Pulse, pulse, whirl- add more oil from the top.  Pulse, pulse, whirl and by the time we are done she has added about 1/2 liter in total.  The pate is smooth as silk and fragrant from the olives and garlic.  She spoons some of into a small jar for me and sends me back home.  Since she doesn't speak English and my Italian is still very bad we don't converse much, but the companionship was wonderful and the cultural exchange will be a bright memory for me.

Every day I look for something new or an old favorite with fresher ingredients.  I'm sure there will be more food posts in the future.

Watching Sports in Italy- an adventure in geekdom

Have you ever tried to watch a game on TV (you pick the sport) only to find that your access to it is blocked?  By the network, your cable provider?
Picture coming to Italy, armed with a brand new Laptop, a cable package that promises you can see "your shows" on your devices and a love of European football (soccer).  We arrive during some of the most exciting League matches- English Premiere League, Champions League.  
So the first game we try to watch we find that our access is blocked.  We can't see it on Xfinity because we are "not in front of our home TV"; DUH!  So we try Fox Sports, NBC, CBS, ESPN- all blocked content.  
We ask our Italian friend and he says almost all the football games are on packages that have to be bought through one cable provider.  He can't even watch the Champions League matches because he subscribes to the "wrong" cable provider (which he does because it carries Italian Serie A, which is obviously most important to him).
Everywhere we go we hit a brick wall- "Access Denied"  or "Content not available".
I do Google searches, I check Wiki everything, I am SURE there has to be a way to do this!!!
Finally, I phone a friend in the USA.  "G" tells me that we need an US IP address.  As soon as we arrived and logged onto the local WIFI we got a new IP address based in Italy.  This allows blockage of content.  It also was preventing us from doing some basic housekeeping tasks like paying bills (some of our accounts at home would not let us in because they didn't recognize the Italian IP address).  He then explains how to change our IP address so that it appears our computers are still in the US.  A VPN or Virtual Private Network. This allows us access to US websites and also- Voila!!  Sports!  Many people use these to keep work information secure- I certainly have and Robb still does but it never dawned on me that we could get one as individuals and get the same kind of security! 
Now don't go thinking this was the final answer.  The Virtual Private Network we bought allows our computers to appear as though they are in the US, however there were still challenges to actually watching the games.
English Premier League (EPL) games and Champions League (CL) are carried by different networks.  Fox Sports 2 Go is how we access CL, NBC sports live extra has EPL.  When the time comes for NCAA basketball, we will need CBS Live.  Guess what- they ALL charge for the mobile services.  Fox is the highest at $19.99 a month and that is just for soccer!  CBS is $5.99 a month for all sports they carry- the MOST important of which will be the NCAA championship.  NBC has no fee but the screen is full of ads, and there are a lot of commercials we have to suffer through.
Now on to the geek part.  Luckily we have an HD TV here so I can hook up the computer through an adapter that allows us to stream the games onto the TV screen.  Depending on the WIFI signal this works pretty well.  If the signal is struggling (all the time it seems) we have to turn off almost every other WIFI device in the house (2 iPhones, 2 iPads, a netbook and our Apple TV- I told you it was geekdom!).  
What is the final outcome you ask?  We can watch all the soccer we want, and we are cautiously optimistic that we are going to be able to watch the NCAA tournament.  What more could a girl want in life?

Why don't Europeans like Americans?

I get this question all the time. Along with statements like "I won't go to .....(fill in the blank), because I heard they are mean/rude to Americans.

I have been traveling to and in Europe and Eastern Europe now for a long time- close to 20 years now and I can count on one hand how many times someone has intentionally been rude to me or us as a couple "just because we were American". I have lost count how many times I have seen traveling Americans be rude, albeit sometimes unintentionally to those serving them. 

Americans talk a lot about how people from other countries need to learn English, yet when we travel, the most effort I usually see is a pocket dictionary. The worst is screaming at a waiter, sales person, taxi driver to try to make them understand. 

Today we saw the worst kind of American visitor. He pushed past us at the door to get into a busy restaurant ahead of us.  He then loudly ordered his food and wine in English.  They then proceeded to talk loud enough for the rest of the place to hear, mostly in "leadership" buzzwords and cliches. They competed for the attention of each other, never stopping to breathe and talking constantly over each other.  Every time the server approached the table, they ignored her unless they wanted something. As the meal progressed and the wine disappeared from their glasses they just got louder and more competitive. This was a man and a woman who appeared to be new business acquaintances.

It was horrible. It was also kind of like being in a Woody Allen movie. The angst from the man especially was almost visible.  

I know first hand how hard it is when you don't speak the language. However I always make an effort and it is always rewarded with kindness. I don't get offended if it's pointed out to me that by now my French, Italian, Polish should be better than it is. They are right.

We are an abrupt culture by nature. Always in a hurry.  It's not bad, necessarily- just who we are. If we could just slow down and enjoy a place. You're on vacation in a beautiful place. Enjoy the church you are in before you rush off to photograph the next one. Talk to people about their town, learn a few basic terms, tell them how much you enjoyed your meal.  

Even if people can't understand you it's no reason to be rude, shout or ignore them.  

So that's my soapbox, born of yet another Ugly American sighting. 

Don't be afraid other people in other countries will be rude to you. If you are nice to them and at least try to navigate the language you will be surprised how gracious people really are. They will also make much more of an effort to help you. 

Sunday Dinner in Italy- with a minimalist kitchen!

Our cuchina (kitchen) is a tiny galley space with very little equipment in it.  The place we are staying is a B&B with a shared kitchen so there is stuff to make coffee, tea, toast, etc. and there are plenty of beer and wineglasses.
We have purchased some additional items like sharp knives, good corkscrew, veggie steamer and grater but it still is very much a minimalist kitchen.
Inspired by all the "one pan dinner" recipes on Facebook, I decided I would try my hand at making one with fresh Italian ingredients.  Here is the result, and the recipe to go with it.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin Medallions, Roasted Mushrooms and Fennel, Brown Butter with Sage Pasta and Tomato & Basil salad.

Use 1/2 tbs fennel seed, toasted in a dry frying pan until just browned and fragrant.  Be careful not to burn them.  Grate or finely mince 2 cloves of garlic.  Place the fennel seed, garlic, salt and pepper to taste and 1/2 C olive oil in a small bowl.

I used about 3/4 lb Pork tenderloin cut into 3/4" medallions. Pat dry with paper towels and place in a large plastic bag with the fennel seed mixture.  Using the outside of the bag knead the meat until the spices adhere and the olive oil is absorbed.  This can be done ahead of time or just before cooking.  I added a fresh sprig of rosemary.

I used a disposable foil baking pan (because it what I had!) with olive oil spread liberally on the bottom.
Then I cleaned and trimmed fresh button mushrooms cut to approximate size and sliced a small fresh fennel bulb.  Toss these with more olive oil, salt and pepper.  The fennel bulb is all the spice you need.

Put the veg on one side of the pan and the meat on the other.  I added a float of red wine to the bottom to keep the pork moist at high temperature.  We have a convection oven so I preheated it to 450 and put everything in at the same time.  Cook 15 min or until the veggies are browned and the meat is at 140 using a meat thermometer.  It will continue to cook after you take it out so don't leave it in too long.  You can also grill this or saute it in separate pans if you want to brown the meat.

While the meat is cooking, halve cherry or grape tomatoes, tear a liberal amount of fresh basil and combine with salt and pepper to taste.  Dress with Balsamic vinegar and Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  Set aside.

Boil the water for the pasta as you make the salad.  Cook 100 grams of pasta per person.  I prefer to use pasta that will hold onto the sauce like Rotini or Farfalle.  Heat a frying pan with a good size blob of butter.  At least 1 tbs.  Bring the butter to brown swirling it to keep it from sticking or burning.  Add fresh sage leaves or dry sage.  The sage will quickly absorb the butter, pull the pan before the fresh sage turns brown.  Drain the cooked pasta and add it to the frying pan with the brown butter, stirring to coat.

Pull the meat from the oven, plate the meat, veggies and pasta and serve with an Italian red wine.  I suggest a nice Ripasso.  Buon Appetito!!!

The morning coffee ritual

I could buy an electric coffee maker, or get an espresso machine like I have at home.  I'm not going to do that-yet. I've learned how to use a mokachino stove top Italian coffee maker. It's a little complicated, and if you don't pay close attention it makes a mess, but it makes really good coffee.

Step one- gather the parts of the pot and any other supplies.  I love the little steel milk warmers. 

You do have to use Italian coffee, everything else is ground too coarse. 

The coffee goes loosely into the filter basket. If you pack it, it will explode!  It's all about steam pressure. 

Get the flame just wrapping the bottom of the pot. I leave the lid open until the chamber is half full just so I am in control. I think I will eventually learn the noise it makes and won't have to do this anymore. The down side to the open lid is distraction. If I go off chasing a squirrel the coffee splutters out in every direction making a ginormous mess. As a veteran squirrel chaser, I know this all too well.  

When the pot gets to half full, lower the lid and turn off the gas.  The built up pressure will finish the pot.  Now to steam the milk. 

A teeny tiny flame is all you want. Unless you like milk skin in your coffee. (Gross).

About the time the coffee finishes, the milk will be warm. Now for the tricky part. Both pots will have hot handles. One potholder per hand. Pick up the coffee and the milk and our them together into your cup until your coffee reaches the color you like your coffee to be.

Now, this process takes about 15 min total. And it's a lot to ask of someone who hasn't had their coffee yet, but it's traditional and yummy. 

Shopping for groceries Italian style

Here is a story about my first night in Verona. We arrived at about 3:30 pm. Our friend Ivan picked us up and brought us to our apartment. He said he was going grocery shopping for his family at 5:30- did I want to go? He was going to the big grocery up the hill. I said sure and after he left we did our best to come up with a list. Here's what it looked like: a Walmart/Target super center. After work and before dinner so it was crowded. Ivan shows me how to read sale signs and weigh produce and we're off!!!!
Ever see the game show where you get an empty cart and have just so much time to fill it?! That was me! Racing up and down aisles trying to finish quickly not to be an inconvenience. At one point I was trying to turn a corner and my cart went sideways in a skid. I'm sure it was hilarious to the other shoppers! Plus I'm trying (haha) to read Italian labels and make good choices. In the end, my cart was overflowing. I had to hand carry two 6 packs of 1 liter bottles of water. I wish I had been with it enough to take a picture of that cart!
As exhausted as I was, I'm amazed I didn't miss more than I did on the list!

Everyday we walk down the hill or around the corner to get supplies.  The apartment kitchen is rather small and is set up for B&B traffic, not daily living so we needed a lot of things.  There are two grocery stores near by and down the hill there is a vegetable/fruit store and a bakery.  Most things we need for everyday can be bought in these four stores.  There is a "supermarket" about .5 miles away that we went to once and the big grocery store where I went with Ivan the first night.  I'm going to sign up online for delivery of groceries from the big store which will help a lot with the heavier items like bottled water, basics like pasta and hopefully canned cat food.
What we have not been able to find so far is Oatmeal.  Today we are heading to the fancy grocery in town- they have an international selection and I'm sure we will find it there.  We will also pay three prices for it....  Oh well, gotta have what you gotta have!

I went to three stores trying to find ice cube trays. Granted Europe is not famous for using ice, but the cocktail culture is creeping in. There is a cocktail bar now in Verona (you heard right A cocktail bar). So I figured ice isn't far behind.
Finally yesterday as I was unsuccessfully looking for Ziploc bags I found these! And they work! Whoopee!! In fact they are great, the ice stays sealed so it picks up no odors and you just cut off each cube as you need it!

I wish I could speak cat.......

If I could speak cat, I could tell Moses that everything will be fine and that he is "home" now for 7 months or so.  I could tell him that the last 48 hours of travel hell (for him) are over and that it will be a while before he has to do it again.  I could explain that he will have to be an indoor cat for awhile.
But.....I don't speak cat so he's going to have to come to all the above on his own.

Getting him ready and here was a real experience for all three of us.  Our preparations started in October when I started reading online about traveling with a pet overseas.  Let me tell you it's a little like reading about medical symptoms- it scared me half to death!  A lot of stories about nightmare customs officers and airline staff.  Many people told me the airlines would be very strict about his weight and the size of the carrier.  So I probably over prepared just to be safe.
I bought him a special TSA approved security harness and leash so I could safely carry him through the people X-Ray machine- his carrier has to go by itself on the belt with the carry on luggage.  I got him a flexible lightweight carrier with a removable base in case we were challenged on the size.  I also bought a bunch of absorbent carrier pads in case he had an accident on the flight.  It turned out all of these purchases were worth their weight in gold.
We started harness training at home in early November.  The first time he had it on he went stiff legged and fell over sideways.  I laughed so hard and felt so bad at the same time!  He looked a little like the dogs on You Tube wearing shoes for the first time.  After he finally figured out how to stand and walk he was a little like a drunk, using the walls to navigate and stay upright.  He never got comfortable in it, but he got to the point he could walk, sit and eat with it on.

Next step was his "Pet Passport".  You have to use a "qualified" vet to get one.  It entails about 9 pages of questions and a rabies certificate.  There has to be a 15 bit chip implanted and it all has to be completed in a certain amount of time before travel.  So now Moses has two chips- a US one and an EU one.  Ten days before you fly you have to have a wellness exam and at that time the paperwork gets overnighted to the USDA vet office, in our case Gainesville, Fl.
The vet there reviews the paperwork and checks it for errors.  They also make sure the questions are answered the way they know the airlines and customs officers will want it.  They then sign off on it (in blue, not black ink), stamp each page with a seal and then overnight it back.  The whole process took about three days.  The people in the USDA office were so nice- they even caught a date error the day before we left and called to have us change it.  Everything I read said you success in travel with your pet is all about this paperwork.
Once we got all of that squared away we got ready to actually do the thing.  The morning of our trip Jan 12, 2016 we made sure Moses could go outside and do his thing, fed him again and then it was time to roll!!
Now here is where things start to go off rail because I had not tried out his new carrier with the vest on.  The minute I put him in the harness he stiffened up and I could not get him into the carrier.  Robb had to come and hold the carrier up ended while I held Moseys legs together and shoved him in feet first.  That accomplished I had to change my clothes again due to the stress shedding he got all over me.
Now we are loaded up and heading to the airport.  Jacksonville was pretty easy.  It wasn't very busy and people (including TSA) were patient with us.  The ticket agent collected $125.00 for Moses and we headed to security, got Moses out of his crate and over my shoulder to go through the Xray machine.  On the other side it was tense for a minute while I waited for his carrier to get screened and we had to do the upending trick again to get him back inside it.
We were feeling pretty confident- it all went smooth other than the TSA agent who was scared of Moses (seriously!) and called him a cougar.
On board he didn't make a peep and we did the quick trip to Miami without incident.  Once in Miami we had to walk with all our luggage piled on a cart to the airport hotel.

We checked in and got to our room and let Moses out.  He spent the next three hours crammed between the platform base of the bed and the wall.  We hoped he might eat or drink- no dice. at 4 pm we headed out to the Air France desk to check him in.  It was another two terminals away so another luggage cart.  At this point we looked like everyone else in Miami airport except we didn't shrink wrap our bags.  At the ticket counter the agent went page by page through the passport and then made a copy.  That done she collected $200.00 for his ticket.  (Do you see where this is going yet?).  Back we go to the hotel for three more hours of Moses crammed next to the wall.  We get a take out dinner (with beer, thank God) and tried to relax.  No dice there either.  The biggest hurdle was coming.

Miami airport security is crazy and not really a fun or friendly atmosphere.  They also do not have TSA pre-check so we had to take everything out of our bags and take our shoes off.  The entire time the TSA agent was screaming at people to hurry up and get through.  Robb got stuck with managing all the hand luggage and our electronics and toiletries.  I had to get Moses out (again) and carry him through.  Each time I did this I said a little prayer that the beep would not sound and we would have to get pulled for extra screening.  As I went through to the other side I could see his carrier was way behind us on the belt.  The TSA agent running the screening machine was so nice when she saw us standing waiting.  I think she could see Moses face- he was petrified- so much noise and so many people.  She opened up the side of the belt, grabbed his carrier and helped me get him back in.  This time he didn't fight at all, just scooted in to safety.  We got our selves packed back up to his pitiful cries from inside his carrier.  He settled down once we got to the gate area and sat down.  The carrier has a small zippered hole at the top where I can get my hand in to pet him and he was calmed by the contact.
On board again he had a big space up in front of my seat.  He was quiet the whole trip and I tried hard to relax and let him be but that was almost impossible.  I kept having to check on him.  Finally I think we both slept some.  I couldn't recline my seat much without squishing him so I slept upright.  It was a blessedly short flight- just 7.5 hours from Miami to Paris.
We had booked a room at the Hilton Charles de Gaulle, which is right in the airport but three terminals away from our baggage claim.  We decide to try a taxi, even though it is a short ride.  We got the nicest taxi driver- most times they refuse to go short distances because they are missing out on a longer fare to the city.  You can be sure we tipped him well.
In the room, Moses of course went straight under the bed and stayed there for about 5 hours.  We got room service and took naps.  I threw cat treats under the bed at him and he ate some of them.  Finally he showed up and wanted to eat. This was good because we had another long day of travel ahead the next day.  He slept most of that night under the bed and eventually came out to sleep under the covers with me.
Next morning, he explored the room, ate some more and used the collapsible litter box- another great internet find.  Again- a huge relief (no pun intended).
Imagine his surprise when I grabbed him and stuck him back in the harness!  Horrors!  How can you do this to me!  We were running late as our alarm failed to go off so we were a bit stressed out.  The bellman from the hotel took pity on us and arranged for us to be dropped at our terminal instead of the train station where they are supposed to go.  We are now up to about $50.00 in tips for bellmen, maids, skycaps etc- all very well spent.  At the terminal we check in and find one of our bags is overweight (two guesses who's?  Not Moses).  And we have one bag too many.  Plus we have to pay- you guessed it- for Moses ticket.  Off we go to the ticket office (they don't take money at the ticket counter?!?).  In the office we are charged $55 for the extra bag, $55 for the extra weight and $55 for Moses ticket.  She can't charge the taxes so we have to get change for $50 to pay her cash.  Back to the entrance for security.  Here we get pretty lucky.  It's not too busy and although we have to take all our stuff out again we don't have to rush.  The security agent tries to put Moses on the conveyor belt until I explain he has to come out.  He has to verify and is told yes this is how it's done.  I carry Moses through and no beep, but guess what- I get "randomly" selected- cat in arms to get extra screening.  I have to carry him to the screening area to have my hand checked for bomb residue.  I wanted to tell him all I had was cat sweat on me but I didn't think he would appreciate the joke.  The women security agents all swarmed around Moses to pet his head and stare into his HUGE eyes.  Last leg I kept telling him- but of course I don't speak cat and about now he is not trusting me much anyway.  At least the security part is all over.  We get on the flight and unlike in the US luggage is everywhere.  They are not very strict about things being all the way under the seat, which is good because Moses carrier doesn't fit.  He sticks out between my feet.  It's only one hour to Rome so it's not too bad.
Until we get off the plane and remember we have to take a very crowded bus from the plane to the terminal.  Poor Moses is again surrounded by noisy squished people- most of whom don't realize he's in there.  Inside the terminal we have about 10 minutes to wolf down a sandwich and some coffee.  I couldn't eat breakfast, the adrenaline was too high.  Aboard the next (and gratefully last) flight we discover its a tiny plane but there is enough room for Moses under the seat!  It's more comfortable for all of us.
One more bus ride from the plane to the terminal, collect our mountain of bags and head out to be met by our wonderful friend Ivan.  He gets all our luggage into his relatively small car and off we go.  At "home" in our temporary lodging we let Moses out.  Amazingly enough he wants to eat!
After exploring he finds that his favorite place (wait for it!) is under the bed.
All together we traveled two full days through 6 time zones, five airports and on five flights.  I'd say he did very well for all that.  If only I spoke cat and could tell him so....