I'm Here - What a Trip

    I'm exhausted.  Luckily the new house has a nice couch.

      The drive from Kosice to Vienna was uneventful (thanks Jozef).  I behaved and didn't get car sick.  Everybody was happy.  We checked into a big hotel at the airport and I had a bed all to myself.  Pretty nice.  There were no problems at all, at least for me.  I did bark a bit too much whenever I heard noises in the hallway but, heck, I'm a dog.  We got up Wednesday morning and headed for the airport terminal just as planned.  So far, so good.

      When asked, I walked straight into my crate.  And that's when the bad stuff started.  The crate door was shut and latched and before I could turn around to see what was happening I was carried off to some vaguely industrial looking part of the airport.  And there I sat for about an hour when the whole process was reversed and I was back in the terminal, out of the crate and heading back to our hotel was my best friend Traci.  My thought...  Well, that wasn't really too bad.  Heck, I didn't even realize we had gotten off the ground.  But what do I know?

      From listening to Traci I found out that our airplane was broken and that we couldn't use it to fly to America.  So now, instead of flying straight to Washington DC and getting there around 2PM, we were going to sit around the hotel for a few hours and then fly to Frankfort in Germany where we would sit around for a while longer and then get on another airplane that wasn't broken and fly to America.  I would get to experience two takeoffs and two landings and now we would get to Washington at just before 8PM.  OK, the world's not perfect, we can handle this.  Actually, I thought I was handling everything quite well, thank you very much.  Traci was definitely not as calm.

      When we returned to the terminal for the flight to Frankfort I was not in the least cooperative about getting back in that crate.  I was a little smarter now about what they really had planned for me.  But I'm just a dog so eventually I ended up in the crate.

      And that's where I stayed for the next 14 hours until they finally rolled my crate into a big room at Washington's Dulles Airport where I saw Traci again.

      The flight to Frankfurt was only about an hour and I have to admit that until the very end of the flight it was not that bad an experience.  Very noisy, very cramped, no other dogs or humans, water sloshing, but not that bad.  Then my ears started popping and the noises changed several times.  There was a lot of whirring and clanking, and a dozens of loud thuds.  And then, without any warning at all, it felt like I had fallen out of one of the windows in our old flat and hit the sidewalk with the biggest thud of all.  Later, Traci told me that it was the hardest airplane landing she had ever experienced.  Something about her shoulders and her butt touching.  I didn't really understand that but I sure understood the "hard" part.  And I was standing up in my crate at the time with no seat belt!  I'm going to be sore for a month.

      Then it was off to another industrial smelling place in the Frankfort airport where my crate, with me in it, just sat for about an hour.  Traci later told me that she had tried to come and see me but that security wouldn't allow it.  Jerks.

      At long last they shoved me into the cargo hold of the airplane that would fly us to America.  It was another experience just like the first flight except a LOT longer.  The big thud (not as big as the first one) didn't come for nine hours.

      I got to the Vienna terminal the first time at about 9AM and it was now just before 8PM.  With the six hour time difference, that's 17 hours.  And I'm still in the crate.  They took my crate and I out of the airplane and placed us on a small truck which drove in and around dozens of other airplanes that looked pretty much like ours until we finally got to what they called "International Baggage Claim and Customs."  I think that's what the sign on the big door said but I'm a dog and can't read too well, especially from inside my crate.  The driver of the truck and another guy stood at the closed door for a very long time not looking very happy.  Then they went away and came back with two other guys.  These two were some kind of security.  You can tell by their uniforms and all the stuff hanging from their belts.  I've been sitting outside this door for an hour and a half and these four still can't get it open.  Something about an electrical failure.  After two hours on the loading dock they managed to open the door

      And there was Traci with tears in her eyes.  We quickly loaded up my crate and me and Traci's huge suitcases on a couple of carts (with the help of a very nice airport employee) and headed for Customs.  This is where I was thinking there could be more problems, but they didn't even ask to see my papers (I have an EU Dog Passport).  All they wanted to know was whether we were bringing any dog food into the country.  We quickly disclosed our hidden stash of Purina kibble and were cleared to enter the United States of America.

      My other best friend, Drew was waiting for me just outside of Customs and after a little more than 14 hours I emerged from my embarrassingly soggy crate.  With a smile on my face!  It took another five hours to get a car and drive to Pittsburgh but I slept most of the time.  I arrived at my new home at 2:35AM this morning.

      I know that this was a long narrative and probably not very exciting to many readers, but I feel obligated to put the whole thing on record and thank everyone who helped me get to America.  Now I will be able to begin reporting on what I find here.  But that's for tomorrow.  Now I think I'll sleep for awhile.

My Last Night in Kosice

      In about eighteen hours we will be crossing the border from Slovakia into Hungary for the long drive to Vienna.  I will be leaving Kosice behind, probably forever.  The way I remember things is probably much different than the way people do but I certainly have many memories of my life in Eastern Slovakia and I know that I will miss (in my canine way) many of the people, places, and dogs of Kosice.  There are six things in particular that I know I will remember for a long time and with a great deal of fondness:



The Hlavna on a summer evening

       The Hlavna is the mile-long main walking street in the center of Kosice.  When the weather permits, all of the restaurants and bars along both sides of the Hlavna set out tables and chairs with umbrellas or awnings.  My best friends and I have spent many a summer evening sitting for hours watching the people of Kosice pass by.  I usually behave pretty well on such occasions and often the server would bring me a dish of water or even a bit of something to eat that's all my own.  There are pigeons on the Hlavna and I love to try to stalk them and ignore the fact that I'm on a leash.  You just can't beat relaxing along the Hlavna on a warm summer evening as the sun drops behind the buildings and almost everyone you can see is smiling too.

Nech Sa Pace

      This is a coffee house located near St. Elizabeth's Cathedral along the Hlavna.  Almost every Thursday morning since I came to live with my best friends one or the other of them and I would spend the entire morning sitting at this coffee shop.  The reason for this weekly ritual was that Maria the Housekeeper would always come to our flat on Thursday mornings to clean up after us.  During the spring, summer, and fall we would sit outside.  When the weather was too cold we would go inside and always take the same table next to the front window.  I would lay on the floor and watch all the goings-on around me while my best friend would read the week-old Sunday New York Times from cover to cover.  All the staff (and the owner) know Whiley at Nech Sa Pace.  They're good people.

The City Park

      The main city park is located just about two blocks from our flat.  Its a big place with lots of grass, smells, other dogs, vagrants, and squirrels.  A great place to get off the leash and run.  Because there is no grass area at our flat, the park has also been my favorite bathroom.  I will confirm that my best friends and I ALWAYS clean up after me.  Well, really I guess its mostly them that does that.  Folks with dogs in Kosice make it a point to "socialize" their dogs and I've spent many hours getting to know a hundred other dogs, large and small, all over the park.  In the winter the park can get awful messy with mud and snow but this seems to bother my best friends a lot more than it does me.  I hope Mt. Lebanon has as good a park.

Jozef

      Since Drew left to go back to the United States I have been able to really get to know Jozef.  Jozef is Traci's driver (he will be driving us to Vienna tomorrow) and since Traci leaves for work before 7:00 every morning and doesn't get back to the flat until at least 6:00 in the evening, Jozef has been nice enough to stop by the flat often each day and take me to the park.  He's a great guy.  We have gotten along really well and I can tell that he likes me too.  I think Jozef will miss not having me to spend time with.  I'll miss him.

The Cosmo

      Cosmo is short for The Cosmopolitan, a bar just 50 or 60 meters down the street from our flat.  I don't drink alcohol!  Well, I did one night but we won't talk about that.  The Cosmo is a place where many American expats like to meet at night after dinners or bowling or meetings and they just stand around and drink and talk.  Whiley is welcome at the Cosmo at any time.  I like it best when its really crowded around the bar and I can weave in and around people's legs.  Women especially seem to like me when we visit the Cosmo.  Good memories.

The Night Walk

      The last thing of every day for the last eighteen months (while I've been living with my best friends) is the Night Walk.  Sometime around 10PM every night one of my best friends puts my leash on and walks me down the two flights of stairs to the street.  Then its off through the streets of Kosice to a few of my favorite plots of isolated grass.  You might think that this would be a pretty standard activity and not one that you might list as a favorite memory but you would be wrong.  Believe me, there are some interesting characters (both human and canine) out and about at night.  Especially on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights when the bars are the most popular and crowded.  There are drunks, and lovers, and dumpster divers, and druggies, and singers (I'll tell you more about that some other time) just to name a few of the exotic species we encounter.  More memories.


      Goodbye Kosice...

Some Pictures of the Blogger

Starting to Pack for My Trip to America

      The suitcases came out this morning.  Not a good sign.

      I've learned over the past eighteen months that pretty soon after my best friends start packing clothes in suitcases I will be heading for what they charmingly call the "Dog Hotel."  Ugh!  Some hotel.  NOT!  I remember the first time they sent me there and the "Dog Lady" came to the flat to pick me up in her battered little car.  She actually asked Drew (one of my best friends) if he would like me to sleep with her.  What's that about?  He said "no" (thank God).  I understand that in America "Dog Hotels" can be really cushy places, but not in Slovakia.  But enough about that. I've learned sufficient English to know that its going to be different this time.  I'm going along with Traci (my other best friend) for a trip to America.

      A couple of weeks ago a large crate showed up at our flat.  Jozef, Traci's driver and a very good friend of mine (although not a best friend), brought it up the two flights of stairs and left it in front of our fireplace.  Since then Traci has been luring me into the crate with cookies (I really like the bacon flavored ones) and then telling me how great a place it is for me to hang out.  I don't like it.

      I don't understand everything that Traci has been telling me about our plans but I'll share the details with you as best I can.  Drew is already in America (wherever that is) and we have a new home in a place called Mt. Lebanon, close to another place called Pittsburgh.  Next Tuesday Jozef is going to drive Traci and me from here in Kosice (my hometown) to Vienna in Austria, a five hour trip.  I've never travelled for even a half-hour in a car before and I'm not looking forward to that at all.  I don't like riding in cars and I have a real tendency toward car-sickness.  Tuesday night Traci and I are going to stay at a hotel.  I sure hope human hotels are better than dog hotels.  On Wednesday, and this is where my understanding of things is a bit fuzzy, we are somehow going to "fly" to America.  Just exactly how are we going to do that?  Pigeons can fly and although I like to try sneaking up on them and catching them I've learned that the "fly" thing is something that they can do and I can't.   Apparently the "flight" is where the crate plays a role and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be in it and I'm not going to like it.  We will be flying from Vienna to Washington, DC (another place somewhere in America) where Drew will meet us for another long car trip to Pittsburgh.

      I have decided to start my new blog in order to share my trip to America with you and then as a place to report on what I find and what I think about it.  I'm a dog and, as such, I don't usually pause to reflect much on things.  However, I've had a pretty interesting life so far and it sounds like its about to get even more interesting.  So I hope you'll enjoy my reporting and let me know what you think of my Canine/European opinions on America.