Ahhhh Nizza Cane

Yes Nice Doggie.
I'm not kidding EVERYONE here takes their dogs shopping. Obviously we do not since ours are a bit heavy to lug around Ikea.
But in Ikea on the weekend I counted no less than ten dogs sitting in Ikea carts like babies being driven around the store by their owners. And......Ikea CATERS to this here because there are "dog carts" which have the pet mats at the bottom of them to stop the dogs feet from going through. Its HILARIOUS!!!!
AND...the meatballs still taste rather Swedish at the cafeteria :)

I've also seen people carting their dogs around Carrefours (grocery store) So random!!!

From Frankfurt to Milan

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My flight from Frankfurt to Milan ended up being delayed half an hour but no big deal. When I was sitting in the departure lounge waiting to board I could see a van outside with the Henry & Cadbury’s kennels in the back!!!! So I took a picture of course. Then I watched to make sure that the van went and parked by the plane and ALSO asked the flight attendent once I was on board to check if they had two dogs.

Sat next to a nice middle age guy from Tel Aviv who was meeting his family in Milan for a week vacation to the lake/mountain district. He gave me some great tips no places to see such as a coffee factory near Venice and a few ski hills to hit up. I was asking him tonnes of questions about Israel and Tel Aviv and Tokyo since he apparently went there often on business. It made the flight go by quickly.

I landed and went and got two luggage carts, and now that I think of it I didn’t get my freaking 3 Euro back from them!!!! I was too busy trying to get the dogs loaded up!!! Anyway my bags came out first and then they brought the dogs out but they were zap strapped closed and I didn’t have anything sharp to open them with. I decided to get myself out to the taxis. Pushed myself and two luggage carts worth of dog and bags out through customs…………………no one said a word, just waved me through. Didn’t even check my passport!!!!! FANTASTIC!!!!!!!

They DID check my passport in Frankfurt when I touched down. But the lady didn’t ask me ANY questions, just scanned it and stamped it! I had my story all ready to go. It looks like the dogs got checked in Frankfurt. They were definitely out of their crates because the liners in the crates had been changed and there were only two zap straps attached and a new sticker saying the baggage had been cleared. To go with the five million other stickers!!!

I waved at a van cab and ran across the road to talk to him….my “Parla Anglaise” was met with “a little” so I thought great I’ll take him!!!!!

Drive out toward Basiglio and when we near it the road goes to single lane and even the van cab driver was surprised!!! He said “Camion come, not looking and BOOM” which I’m taking meant that if I was to drive that road I should be VERY careful of watching for oncoming traffic, and “No night” which means no night time driving, not that I wanted to do any!!

The house is great!!! Bigger than I expected with about a billion places to store things!!! It came only partially furnished so we spent a small fortune at Ikea J

Went to Carrefour which is like a big super walmart and stocked up on groceries and such. I have a pantry which is AWESOME!!!! Its so weird though some vegetables just don’t seem to be available here….like broccoli and cauliflower! Lots of tomatoes though J Milk is also a bit strange over here but we managed to find the fresh stuff and buy two bottles of it. We also couldn’t find sliced bread, but Reese was starting to melt down so we didn’t actually get to see ALL of Carrefour. 

Dogs vs Airlines CHAOS

So I call KLM last week to confirm that the dogs can fly with me on the flight that has ALREADY been booked and they tell me that there is a travel embargo on for pets in the hold until September 15th.......

Really??

So why didn't the KLM girl I talked to a few weeks ago when we were deciding which airline to fly MENTION this to me when we were talking about the Calgary-Milan flights going in August!?!?!?! Seriously, all I want is for people to do their jobs properly!!! Thank god Richard's work books fully refundable and changeable flights!!!

SOoooooo, Richard and Reese fly out at 18:05 from Calgary-Milan with KLM via Amsterdam and land in Milan Malpenza airport, and I fly out at 1:35 from Calgary-Milan with Lufthansa via Frankfurt and land in Milan Linate airport. It is FAR from ideal but the other option would be to ship the dogs cargo and it would cost about $2000 more. Since we have to pay for Reese and the dogs to fly out there as per the agreement then we are going the cheapest route no matter how much of a pain in the ass its going to be!!!

Plus side...I get to fly business class on the long haul flight by myself. Reese will be flying with Richard because the taxes were a LOT cheaper in economy class!!!

*SIGH* now the drama of the day is trying to figure out if a vet needs to see them in Frankfurt airport since it is their first touchdown in the EU. I *think* they are going to have to see the EU certified vet in Milan which could be easier said than done. So I'm now employing the pet relocation people to help me and "consult" and find me a person in Milan who will meet me at the airport with a van and help me get the dogs through, certified and home.
We'll see how it goes :)

And so it begins......the paperwork

So apparently getting your dogs to Italy is harder than it sounds. I'm slightly annoyed at the moment that I ok'd a rabies titre on Cadbury in a panic only to find out that we didn't need it........$450 later. I seriously wanted to throw up when I heard it was unneccessary. Other than that minor mishap everything seems to be trucking along.
Richard's HR is all over the move and we are hoping to move to a little place south of Milan. We've actually found the perfect place, it has a backyard and everything, but we have to wait for Richard to be over there now!! Hopefully he goes next week sometime. At least we're not going to have to be apart as a family for the full 6 weeks now though. By the time he gets over there it will be more like 3 weeks! This is assuming that Reese and I go mid-August. We will be leaving then unless my great aunt needs chemo/radiation and if she does we will stay to help her out.
We have been using an estate agent named Maria and she seems very helpful so far.
Richard got his medical done today and I ordered all the replacement certificates that I need to get my British passport since this will make staying in Italy much easier for all of us! Reese will get hers too at the same time.
The Italian lessons have stopped, I REALLY need to focus on this or I'm going to have a self-inflicted meltdown when I get there and can't speak to anyone!!!
We are now in the process of selling off everything that doesn't need to be stored or taken with us :) Fun fun