Well I got back to Europe just over two weeks ago and it sure has been a busy couple of weeks. In this time I have visited Munich for a weekend, had a job interview, moved into our new apartment and collected our dogs from Milan airport (which involved my first driving experience in Italy).

40 hours of travel

I arrived in Munich after many hours of travel. My flights were actually pretty good, I had an upgrade to premium economy on Air New Zealand for the first leg of my trip (Auckland to Tokyo) which was lovely. Premium economy was only a third full so it was a really relaxing flight and they let me take my very overweight bag on the plane. I stayed the night in an airport hotel in Tokyo. Checking in with ANA (All Nippon Air) was interesting, first I was somehow booked in as a child so I kept being asked if I was flying alone, then obviously my bag was still really overweight so I offered to pay the extra charges but the lovely ladies told me that the baggage rules had just changed so I just had to make sure I was underweight next time. Then even though my AirNZ gold status expired at the end of June my star alliance gold must still be active in the system because they gave me a lounge invite and then once I was in the lounge I got informed that I had been given an upgrade to business class – score. Basically it was the best flight I have ever had and I arrived in Munich in a really good mood.

Munich

Munich is really lovely. It was really hot while we were there (near 40 degrees) and everyone was out by the river and in the gardens in their bikinis and speedos, except for the naked man we saw who was lying on a lounger by the river completely naked. Below is a photo of us by the river.

We didn't do much in Munich except walk around and eat. As I plan to spend my weekdays there we both figured we have plenty of time to visit the museums, galleries and churches - actually we ducked into a beautiful church in passing and then once inside I realised I was dressed quite inappropriately (straples, sleeveless maxi dress) so we made a quick exit. I had my job interview on the Monday and then headed home to Bolzano. 

Bolzano

Bolzano is hot, like really really hot, all the time. We moved into our new apartment just over a week ago , it is tiny but all we need really, and the views are amazing, below is a shot taken from our little balcony.

 We are still busy sorting it out and acquiring things we need - this weekend we bought a really skinny washing machine. The apartment came with a bed frame but not a mattress so I have bought a super fancy self inflating air mattress to tide us over until our actual mattress arrives – this means we have somewhere for visitors to sleep – come visit people!! Just maybe not in August as it is really quite uncomfortable. I was getting rather weighed down with all of the organising we've been doing but the last weekend in Bolzano has been quite lovely (it's been cooler, only 29 degrees!) and we've done some fun things. There was a wine festival on Friday evening that we went to, all the local wineries had stalls and you could sample there wares for one or two euro. It was great everyone out having a nice time and minimal rowdy behaviour, I couldn't help thinking how out of control it would be if there was a festival  where you could get glasses of wine for a couple of dollars in New Zealand. Last night after spending most of the day inside out of the sun watching game of thrones we took the dogs for a walk by the river and then got gelato, so nice to be able to finally do that. Which leads me to... 

The dogs

I know this is what you have all been reading this really long post for – how are the dogs??? We picked them up last Thursday, this meant driving to Milan on Wednesday evening which I did (!!!) in a snazzy new Audi A3 and then headed to “cargo city” at Malpensa Airport on Thursday morning. We then visited five different offices getting different documents signed and occassionally paying people some money before we could get the dogs. It was actually pretty seamless, just Italian. The ladies at the vet office were lovely, one insisted Joe practice his Italian with her while we waited and the other went and visited our dogs after the vet called her to let us know that they “were very well and very beautiful”. When we picked them up they were very glad to see us and get out of their crates, Moose was fine as soon as he could see us, Ruby still looked pretty worried until we got her out. Their travel crates took up the whole back half of the car so Ruby curled up at Joe's feet and Moose had the best car trip ever on Joe's lap. The dogs are settling in ok, it's really hot so they are having to adjust to that, though thankfully the nights are now a little cooler. They are taking it in their stride mostly, Joe and I have a theory that it was such a traumatic experience on the plane that they are just happy to be with us now that nothing else is phasing them. I really need to work on my Italian as Italians love their dogs and I am constantly getting stopped in the street by people wanting to say "ciao" to Moose and telling me he is "molto molto bello". I feel abit sorry for Ruby as she doesn't get anywhere near the same amount of attention as there are quite few yorkie terriers walking the streets with their owners that look very similar to her. Moose however is quite a novelty. Below are the two of them on our couch this morning

That's all for now, hopefully I'll have some adventures to share with you soon.

Ciao for now

Rachael