Kats, cats, kitties, Purr-people...we decided THIS was the time we would bring our "babies" with us to France. This course of action is not to be taken lightly I'll tell you! The paper trail necessary to assure all officialdom that they were OURS, free of all known feline ailments, certified safe and ensconced in their own little soft zippered and padded world...passpurrts and all was daunting. Kelly carried the day and procurred whatever form or activity was necessary to ensure they would indeed come aboard the aircraft with us and really...go to France. This is no joke. It took 4 trips to the vet, one to the local SPCA for their ID implant, many hours online searching for what was necessary and many dollars for shots, inspections, and of course their fine Sherpa travel bags. All to watch as they examine every nook and crany in this fine old house. Funny, very funny. To SFO at 5am with Ted-The-Driver extraordinaire they were only slightly upset, a few meows to remind us of their desparate plight. The only time I was concerned was when we went thru security (what passes for it these days), we were asked to remove the Kat girls from their Sherpa bags, easier said than done in the din and shuffle of the security area at SFO. They wanted no part of being extricated from the relative safety and quiet of their bags, leashes were quickly attached then tug, tug, pull, pull and eventually with one leap each, they jumped to us to be held close while we walked as calmly and normally-seeming as possible thru the metal detector while their fine and empty Sherpa bags were being x-rayed. Outside of a few tears and rips to our clothing and requisite puncture wounds in ourselves it was uneventful. They scrambled to return to the safety and comfort of the bags as we doned our shoes and belts and stuffed our belongings back insode where the belonged and away we went. They were exceptional on the airplane much to our surprise. Quiet, not a squeak or a meow, no restlessness whatsoever (we feared they were dead to tell the truth) though the flight lasted for hours and hours. 6 Hrs to cross the US to Washington DC from California then a short sprint to our nearly missed connection to CDG then another 7 hrs to Paris. Again, alls quiet in kittie-kat land. No poop, no piss, no hiss, no hollar, all good they were. In the airplane they were placed under the seat in front of us and never moved nor released until we got to the ETAP Hotel in Fountainbleu, FR. We let them out in the pet friendly and quite sterile confines of our $36 dollar ETAP en-suite room (#301). The girls proceeded to climb over, under, around and through every square inch of the room, Furry finally settling on the top bunk (Purrson #3 in ETAP Land) and NoLean discovered the rear of the bathtub, curled up in a ball, hid her head and went fast asleep. We put out food and water which, over the hours of our stay, they took haltingly. Preped the litterbox and then another so the two of them wouldn't feel encroahed upon if the delicate urge greeted them at the same moment. We lazed about reading, with our two darling cats heard purring close about. Lights out at 8 and we slept for hours. Kats moved not an inch. Saturday morning we were up at 6am, showered, watched a bit of CNN and hit the road at 9. Off to Lignieres about 4 hours distant across the rolling green hillswith bright red Poppies sprouting along the edges of the Spring wheat fields, gorgious! Another proof of God certainly,
More Pictures? Try this Link:http://www.flickr.com/photos/hnlute
