Marathon Monday: The Boys are Back in Town!

We are Back! We had a great week at the Katzenpension, as you can see in the photos below. We are well looked after, and had lots of wonderful cozy spots to curl up in, cat trees to climb, and toys to play with. We also had wonderful humans looking after us, feeding us, giving us fresh water, scooping our litterbox, and giving us lots of attention! As you can see in the photos below, Merlin was looking out the window, really wanting to go outside in the cat run, but it was too cold for us to venture outside. Merlin was a little jealous of the furred kitties in the room next door, who were able to go outside. He could see them in their cat run and wanted to go out in ours!

While we were at the Katzenpension, our humans were having a wonderful time in Dublin. They really enjoyed visiting the city, and running the marathon. It was our mom's slowest marathon (and our dad's too, but he was running with her at our mom's pace, and not on his own), but it was also her most enjoyable! You see, her first marathon ended up being a freakish hot, humid day, so towards the end she was walking in the sun, and running in the shade, because it was so hot and humid. For her second marathon, her stomach starting bothering her after the half-way point, so she ended up running as much as her stomach would let her, and walking when it was bad.

For this marathon, our mom had a plan: she ran with her heart rate monitor, and let it tell her how fast or slow to run. So she ended up walking on some of the hills and when they were running right into the strong wind. The weather, apart from the wind, was perfect for marathon running. Cool and cloudy, but not cold (about 8°C/46°F). But the wind was really strong in some spots. The wind never dropped below 20 km/hr (12.5 mph) and at it's strongest it was blowing at 32 km/hr (20 mph) with a few stronger gusts. Especially towards the end, the winds were really strong, and blowing right into their faces. Other than that, it was a great race. Very well organized, terrific crowd support, excellent water stops along the route, and lots of people running at our mom's slow pace, so there were always people around her and our dad!

You can check out some photos of our humans during the race here and here. We will share more stories and photos from their trip later in the week.

Lots has gone on while we were away, and we will do our best to get caught up as soon as possible. We are happy to be home!

Tags: Marathon, Running, Race, Dublin, Sphynx, Canadian Sphynx, Canadian hairless, cat, hairless cat, hairless kitten, kitten, Sphynx kitten

Thoughts on Thursday

Well, tomorrow we are off to the Katzenpension (luxury cat hotel) for a week, while our humans are in Dublin. They will be running the Dublin marathon on Monday.

At the Katzenpension we will have a room entirely to ourselves, with plenty of cubbyholes to curl up in, and cat trees to climb. Unlike in August, when we were able to use the outdoor run on a daily basis, it probably won't be warm enough for us to go outside. Merlin is disappointed, as he loved the outdoor run!

The ladies at the Katzenpension take very good care of us, and spend lots of time petting us, playing with us, and, of course, feeding us and cleaning our litterbox. They enjoy having us there, because we are so friendly and unique!

When our humans return from Dublin, our typist should have more time to help us visit our friends. She'll be taking a month off of running, focusing on swimming, strength training and group fitness (ie. aerobics) classes, and then she'll start running again. She hopes to do several triathlons next spring and summer, as well as a half-marathon or two in the spring. So she'll be focusing on triathlon training over the winter. Although that means she'll be spending a lot of time at the gym, she also promises she'll have lots of time for us to blog and visit our friends, since she won't be doing any super-long runs like she has for marathon training.

So we will be gone all next week. We may be able to sneak a post or two while our humans are gone, but that all depends on whether we can get our paws on a computer. We hope that everyone will have a safe and happy week while we are gone.

Thursday Thirteen: Oktoberfest!

Since Oktoberfest started last Saturday here in Munich, we thought that this week we would bring you:

13 Things About Oktoberfest

1. Oktoberfest is a sixteen-day festival held each year in Munich, Bavaria, Germany during late September and running to early October.
   
   
2. Oktoberfest 2008 runs from September 20th to October 5th.
   
   
3. Oktoberfest called "Oktober"-fest when it actually begins in September for historical reasons. The first Oktoberfest was held in the year 1810 in honor of the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig’s marriage to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The festivities began on October 12, 1810 and ended on October 17th with a horse race. In the following years, the celebrations were repeated and, later, the festival was prolonged and moved forward into September.
   
   By moving the festivities up, it allowed for better weather conditions. Because the September nights were warmer, the visitors were able to enjoy the gardens outside the tents and the stroll over “die Wiesen” or the fields much longer without feeling chilly. Historically, the last Oktoberfest weekend was in October and this tradition continues into present times.
   
   
4. Oktoberfest is held on an the Theresienwiese (field, or meadow, of Therese, the princess mentioned above), often called d’ Wiesn for short.
   
   
5. Oktoberfestbiers are the beers that have been served at the event in Munich since 1818, and are supplied by 6 Munich breweries known as the Big Six: Spaten, Löwenbräu, Augustiner, Hofbräu, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr.
   
   
6. Beer is typically served as a Maß, which is one litre (or 2 pints).
   
   
7. There are 14 main beer tents, with ownership split across the 6 breweries mentioned above from Munich.
   
   
8. (Food served during Oktoberfest is mostly traditional Bavarian fare such as Hendlchicken), Schweinsbraten (roast pork), Haxn (knuckle of pork), Steckerlfisch (grilled fish on a stick), Würstel (sausages) along with Brezel (Pretzel), Knödeln (potato or bread dumplings), Käsespätzle (cheese noodles), Reiberdatschi (potato pancakes), Sauerkraut or Blaukraut (red cabbage) along with such Bavarian delicacies as Obatzda (a fatty, spiced cheese-butter concoction) and Weisswurst (a white sausage).
   
   
9. Many Bavarian visitors to Oktoberfest wear Trachten - traditional Bavarian clothes: Lederhosen for men, and Dirndl for women. A Dirndl consists of a top and blouse, wide skirt and a colourful apron.
   
   
10. There is more to Oktoberfest than just beer and food. There are carnival rides, parades, and live music.
    
    
11. In 2007, there were 6.2 million visitors to Oktoberfest.
    
    
12. In 2007, appoximately 69.406 hl of beer were served, along with 1.269 hl of non-alcoholic beer.
    
    
13. Oktoberfest is a lot of fun, and is the largest fair in the world.
    

Tags: Munich, Germany, Travel, Tourism, Oktoberfest, Octoberfest, Sphynx, Canadian Sphynx, Canadian hairless, cat, hairless cat, hairless kitten, kitten, Sphynx kitten

Thursday Thirteen: Tuscany

13 Photos of our Humans' Trip to Tuscany

1. Ruins of a Roman Theatre in Volterra

2. Fortezza of Montalcino

3. The Farm where our humans stayed

4. Siena Duomo (Cathedral)

5. Stained glass window in Siena Duomo

6. Pienza Duomo

7. Palazzo Piccolomini in Pienza

8. Volterra Duomo

9. Towers of San Gimignano

10. San Gimignano

11. A cat they met in San Gimignano

12. Walled city of Monteriggioni

13. Siena's Palazzo Publico

Tags: Tuscany, Travel, Siena, Italy, Thursday Thirteen,

Mancat & Meezer Monday: Our Vacation

As you can see, we are happy and comfortable back at home! We are very glad that our humans are home. They had a wonderful time in Tuscany, and we will share some photos from their trip with you all later this week. While our humans were in Tuscany, we were staying at a Katzenpension, a luxury cat hotel!

At the Katzenpension, we had a Einzelzimmer (private room) to ourselves. The Katzenpension had three private rooms, and one Gruppenzimmer (group room). Each room had an outdoor cat run that was open during the day (the door to it was closed up at night). So we had a room all to ourselves, with plenty of cubbyholes for us to curl up in, as well as a wonderful cat tree. We brought our sleeping bags and fleece blankets with us, so we had familiar items, but there were also plenty of other fleeces and warm spots for us. We also had our own private outdoor run, attached to our room, but we could see the cats from the Gruppenzimmer in the cat run next to us, we just couldn't interact with them.

Merlin: I LOVED the outdoor cat run! It was fabulous! There were all kinds of REAL tree branches to run around on, as well as a bunch of platforms. It was fully enclosed, so we couldn't escape, and there were plenty of shady spots outdoors too. But it was wonderful to explore outdoors, and to feel the sun on my skin! Silly, fraidy-cat Dragonheart didn't go outside very often. I don't know why - it was wonderful outside!

Dragonheart: I wasn't afraid, you silly kitten, but I have a lot more sense than you do! I know to stay out of the sun, so that I don't get sunburned, or end up with funny-looking tan lines like you did! You are lucky that you didn't get sunburned - it's a good thing you aren't a white Sphynx! Besides, I enjoyed watching you behave like a silly fool. I had an excellent view from the window leading outside to the run, and I had more than enough sun and plenty of fresh air from there. (You can see the funny tan lines that Merlin developed in the photos to the right. Click to view a larger version. Basically, the skin between his wrinkles stayed pale in colour, and the skin on the surface darkened!)

We were very well looked after at the Katzenpension, with staff on call 24 hours a day. The nice ladies there fed us, cleaned our litter box, made sure we had fresh water, and played with us and petted us. They really enjoy having us Sphynx there, since we are so friendly (especially Merlin) and so unique! Although we were rather fussy with our food. They feed us fresh food at the Katzenpension (fresh beef or lamb) but because Dragonheart is allergic to poultry, our humans also brought some of our venison food with us. Well, it turns out we only wanted to eat our venison food! We didn't want any of the fresh stuff! Which is astounding, because normally Merlin eats ANYTHING, including foods that aren't for kitties, like Digestive biscuits, animal crackers, popcorn, fruit smoothies, etc.

But, as wonderful as it was at the Katzenpension, we are very happy to be back home, and we are very, very glad that our humans are back! Merlin does miss the outdoor run, though, and keeps scratching at the window, wanting to go outside. Our humans have promised to take us outside on our harnesses once we have a nice, warm sunny day.

Tags: Mancat, Mancat Monday, Meezer Monday, Meezer, Sphynx, Canadian Sphynx, Canadian hairless, cat, hairless cat, hairless kitten, kitten, Sphynx kitten

Thankful Thursday?

Sadly, our humans are leaving us for a whole week! They are going to Tuscany, where they will be staying on an olive farm. We don't see why they are going away. We are much more interesting than an olive farm!

However, we are thankful that while they are gone, we will be well looked after. We will have our own private room in a Katzenpension (cat hotel). We will have the entire room to ourselves, with a private exit to a private outdoor run! We hope the weather will be nice so we will be able to go outside. We stayed at this Katzenpension when our humans went to Egypt, and we were well looked after. The ladies there took very good care of us, and were very impressed with our friendliness. They give us wonderful fresh food and water, they clean our litterbox, and they pet us and play with us. Of course, they aren't our mom and dad, but they do a good job.

So we will miss our mom and dad, but we will have a fun adventure while they are gone. We go to the Katzenpension tomorrow, so tomorrow may be our last post for a week or so. We aren't sure if we'll be able to blog at all while we're gone.

Tags: Sphynx, Canadian Sphynx, Canadian hairless, cat, hairless cat, hairless kitten, kitten, Sphynx kitten

Thursday Thirteen: Vienna

For this week's Thursday Thirteen, we bring you 13 photos from our humans' trip to Vienna!

Schloss Schönbrunn

Neptune Fountain at Schloss Schönbrunn

Hofburg (Imperial Palace)

Hofburg

Schweitzertor in Hofburg
Plaque featuring the Insignia of Emperor Ferdinand I

Equestrian Statue in Hofburg


Stephansdom (Cathedral of St Stephen)

Inside Stephansdom

Roof of Stephansdom

Parlament (Parliament)

Rathaus (City Hall)

Staatsoper (City Opera House)

Photo Hunt: Time

Time

When our humans were in Egypt, they visited Alexandria, where they saw this unique sundial (called an analemmatic disk) in front of the new Library of Alexandria. If you click on the second photo to make it larger, you should be able to read the instructions for this unique method of telling time!

Tags: PhotoHunt, Photo Hunt, Photo Hunters,

We're Back!

Hello all! :) We are back. :) So sorry to disappear suddenly without any word, but our humans went to Vienna for the weekend (where they thought they would have internet access, but they didn't go online at all while they were there).

We had a wonderful cat sitter looking after us. She came twice daily to feed us, play with us, pet us and tell us what handsome boys we are, as well as clean our litterboxes and make sure there was plenty of water in our fountain for us.

Although the cat sitter takes very good care of us, we are very glad our humans are home. We will be back to regular blogging tomorrow. Thanks so much for your concern. You are all wonderful friends!

Thursday Thirteen: Egyptian Temples

Support the ASPCA and receive a beautiful digital scrapbooking kit in return.

Last week, we shared photos from the Karnak Temple Complex, the largest ancient Egyptian Temple complex. Today we share photos from other temples throughout Egypt.

Luxor Temple (no, our humans didn't see Lux there)

Columns at Luxor Temple

Detail of columns at Edfu Temple

Kom Ombo Temple (at night)

Edfu Temple

Well-presereved colours at Hatshepsut's Temple

Hatshepsut's Temple

Figures of Hatshepsut as Pharaoh at Hatshepsut's Temple

The Great Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel

The Temple of Nefertari dedicated to Hathor at Abu Simbel

Trajan's Kiosk (Pharaoh's Bed) at Philae Temple

Ancient Egyptian Calendar at Kom Ombo

Birthing Stools, Surgical Instruments, and Medical Prescriptions (left to right) at Kom Ombo

Tags: Thursday Thirteen, Egypt, Ancient Egypt,