Cats and Castles

If there are two things that make my heart flutter with joy they are castles and cats. It might even beat food. For example, I would pick playing with a sweet kitten over eating a gelato and visiting a fantastic castle over a good burger.

Il castello di Sirmione (the castle of Sirmione)

Today, as the fog lifted like a hot air balloon it carried my flu virus away and brought in a sun bath. After taking Theraflu, having my sweet hubby hand me vitamins, and getting lots of clear liquids I was finally feeling normal. To me, being sick and staying indoors is so frustrating because I love to be active, do something healthy and enjoyable each day even if it is only one thing and being sick prevents me from doing that. So today I did all the walking and enjoying that I missed all week. It was however Floors Friday (I scour the floors on Friday) so the day wasn't total happiness, but mostly sunshine with a hint of Clorox bleach.

The #26 bus goes from Brescia to Verona and I hopped on that deciding that Sirmione would be a good stop because it is 6ish miles from my house, there is a castle and I could rush back if I felt sick again. Sirmione looked semi-abandoned today since the tourist season is over. Shops were closed, locals were doing construction preparing the town  for the next tourist season and town workers were stringing up holiday lights. There were one class of Sirmione residents that I never met before, the animal community. Yes, today the little beasts of Sirmione were closer to the city and on the streets: sparrows, ducks, swans and my favorite of course, the cats. I was overjoyed to meet these citizens. They are some of the biggest assets to Italian towns because they protect the streets from virus carrying rodents, and cats also look very cute.

I met one particular kitten that looked just like Fatty, I will name this one Figaro. I hung out with him for a while to let him get bored and comfortable so that I could take better pictures of him as he relaxed. Here are my favorite shots:

Figaro, Re di Sirmione

Figaro, cugino di Fatty e Bentlo

Figaro Filosofico

Il bagno di Figaro

Il mistero di Figaro

Il leto di Figaro

Best cat expression I have caught on camera! Figaro saw a bird.

Yoga interrupted

Here are the other beautiful cuties of Sirmione I saw today:

A chipper chirping sparrow

Mr. Boring keeps Prince Puppy in a fancy hotel. I bet he would love to chase Figaro, or nap by the castle in the sunshine.

Fanny owner of the fancy store. Che bella.

Steinlen cats

Double ducks

Seagulls!

Seagulls napping on the castle wall

Jemima Puddle Duck in contemplation

After enjoying my time in Sirmione I felt refreshed and lucky to have gotten such cool shots of the animals. So I decided to walk home and enjoy the crisp fall air. I think that walking regularly helps the immune system and you also run into some neat things:

Fall leaves with nice shadows on the walk home

Then I spotted these two guys paddling around:

Lady Swan looking for a snack

No snack here, sorry chicky

Will do handstands for snacks

And lastly, just when I was convinced my day had been full of cute animals, I ran into this little pumpkin:

Brand new and full of energy

A little hug for a little pug

I could not have asked for a nicer day today. It couldn't have been planned better, cuter, sunnier and with such perfect fall weather.