Post by alhrayth on Nov 20, 2006 11:37:37 GMT 1
Hi to all!
I am still terribly tired after three&1/2 days in Paris (I arrived home well past midnight and I am @ work now) so forgive me if my English will be far worse than usual, but I'll try to give you a couple of comments on how things went.... of course I can't match Caroline's fab day-by-day reports...
but I'll do my best (and I'll get a longer, more accurate version with photos for the site ready soon!!)
Anyway, I flew to Paris on thursday but I arrived quite late in the afternoon, so I just found my hotel, and then had a walk with my friends, and then dinner.
On Friday we again did the tourists in the morning, and with Massi's approval by text message we even skipped the CD to keep sightseeing (the problem was that I was getting a press pass, but not my frends, and they would be able to get to the rink only for the men short, and I preferred to remain with them).
Anyway, as soon as I arrived at Bercy and found the press area I ran to check the CD results and was very happy to see Fede and Massi where I wanted them to be! I got my pass (eh eh eh they got the site's name worng and now I have a beautiful pass for "faiellasci.com" LOL later I joked with Fede that I didn't knew she had changed sports and started skiing! (sci=ski in Italian).
The OD was the last event of the evening, so I found a nice place to sit (the press tribune was in a corner, but there where lots of empty places and I sat on the first row, right above the techincal specialists, LOL, peering at their computer while the marks were given - it was great fun!) and watched...
I got up a few times and I once bumped into Massi - of course it was soooooooo nice to meet him and he gave me just the greates hug...
we chatted a little, then he went to the skater's lounge to have a bite and I got back to see the competition.
They skated second to last in the OD, and I was soooo tense for them... but I am happy to say that they did very well I was soooo proud of them! After Albena and Maxim skated I went back to the mixed zone to meet the guys again, hug and kiss and chat... and then we met them again after the draw, as we attended the press conference.
As soon as we walked in Fede stared at us and said "no questions during the conference because every question asked is less sleep for us!!" (they were pretty tired, having practiced in the morning, skated the CD, waited, skated the OD and it was now almost midnight and they had a priactice early the next day!) but I looked at her and said "maybe say "hello" to us first and we'll be nice!" and she laughed. After the pc (quite fun, as usual) Fede just jumped up and came to gibe me a hug, and we chatted a little. Do you know Caroline that she had François in her hotel room even there?? LOL. At the moment she even had Frank with her, so she said that Frank and François were on her pillow together as we spoke!
And also, I had brought a little thing for Massi... eh eh Caroline know what that is and he was completely surprised as we expected, and showed them to Fede proudly!!
We quickly said goddbye then because we were all tired, and we all were eager to go to bed!
On Saturday we went to Bercy for the competitions again (I knew Fede had given Topo to Sissi to have it thrown on the ice already) and again I luckily found free places above the technician's table, so I again had fun peering at the levels before the marks came out!
Fede and Massi did a great FD, I was not really breathing much, but the guys made me proud as usual....
Funny, funny scene at the end with a flower girl catching Frank before the guys and Massi basically chasing her down to get him from her
;D
I didn't wait for the marks but ran straight to the mixed zone, and saw the marks from there, congratulating the guys. We chatted a little and made plans to go out to dinner that night, straight after Valentina had skated in the Ladie's FP...
Of course I met them again at the press conference, which was a lot of fun again, I am still LOL at Massi who had gone away, and then sneaked back in because they had forgotten a pair of sneakers under the table, LOL, this caused quite a bit of laughter while Maxim was trying to answer a question...
After a fun medal ceremony (
at Cinquanta giving out the medal and making an improvised joke of going to give F&M the silver, and then remembering it was for the French duo) I had not much to do, so we went to the skater's hotel where I met a few people, chatted around, and we just went back to the rink for the Ladies' to see Vale (Marchei)... but as soon as we finished we moved out to meet at the skater's hotel to go out for dinner nearby.
we had a great time, after a while even Valentina joined us and with her and the guys sharing jokes we soon had tears streaming down our faces for the too much laughter!!
On Sunday I arrived by myself at Bercy, and thanks to a friend who had been staying at Novotel I managed to leave my suitcase in their luggage room, and meet up with Fede and her mum and some other friends to reach the arena.
There we soon found Massi too, and chatted a while again.. I even gave them the ritual postcard (soon on Frank's site) we give them every time they give Frank back (and this time Fede was less sad at giving it back, because she has François to keep). Being in paris, the inspiration came from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame.. you'll see....
The gala was nice (apart from the bad opening number, and the fact that Marina Anissina's French is still terrible, we had a hard time figuring out what she was supposed to say. But Gwendal apart from a couple of silly things, was quite a good presenter - well, not in the finale where they made quite a mess in announcing the skaters, but oh, well...) and Fede and Massi did again the Elisa's number... they lifts were a bit shaky - too tired! - but the crowd went wild when Gwendal made them perform their reverse once more....
After the gala we went back to the skaters hotel (I also had to retrieve my suitcase) and Fede was there in a moment, so we chatted a while with her, and them Massi arrived too. At some point we found ourselves submerged by fans and I took out the guys' cards I had in my bag and we gave a bit of those out...
Then it was time for me to say good-bye, i had a plane to catch!
Again Massi gave me the greatest hug ever and we had some little things to say between ouselves, then I went so say hello to Fede too and somehow I started a bit to cry and she looked at me with these huge menacing eyes that say "do not cry or I'll start in a second!!" and we just hugged, and then I went away.
Just as I write I have finished emptying my memory cards in my computer.. I have quite a bit of photos from the event, but mainly I made vids of Fede and Massi (I left the photos to Sissi, Katia and Dave!) so we'll have lots of bits to see soon on the site...
I am still terribly tired after three&1/2 days in Paris (I arrived home well past midnight and I am @ work now) so forgive me if my English will be far worse than usual, but I'll try to give you a couple of comments on how things went.... of course I can't match Caroline's fab day-by-day reports...
but I'll do my best (and I'll get a longer, more accurate version with photos for the site ready soon!!)Anyway, I flew to Paris on thursday but I arrived quite late in the afternoon, so I just found my hotel, and then had a walk with my friends, and then dinner.
On Friday we again did the tourists in the morning, and with Massi's approval by text message we even skipped the CD to keep sightseeing (the problem was that I was getting a press pass, but not my frends, and they would be able to get to the rink only for the men short, and I preferred to remain with them).
Anyway, as soon as I arrived at Bercy and found the press area I ran to check the CD results and was very happy to see Fede and Massi where I wanted them to be! I got my pass (eh eh eh they got the site's name worng and now I have a beautiful pass for "faiellasci.com" LOL later I joked with Fede that I didn't knew she had changed sports and started skiing! (sci=ski in Italian).
The OD was the last event of the evening, so I found a nice place to sit (the press tribune was in a corner, but there where lots of empty places and I sat on the first row, right above the techincal specialists, LOL, peering at their computer while the marks were given - it was great fun!) and watched...
I got up a few times and I once bumped into Massi - of course it was soooooooo nice to meet him and he gave me just the greates hug...
we chatted a little, then he went to the skater's lounge to have a bite and I got back to see the competition.They skated second to last in the OD, and I was soooo tense for them... but I am happy to say that they did very well I was soooo proud of them! After Albena and Maxim skated I went back to the mixed zone to meet the guys again, hug and kiss and chat... and then we met them again after the draw, as we attended the press conference.
As soon as we walked in Fede stared at us and said "no questions during the conference because every question asked is less sleep for us!!" (they were pretty tired, having practiced in the morning, skated the CD, waited, skated the OD and it was now almost midnight and they had a priactice early the next day!) but I looked at her and said "maybe say "hello" to us first and we'll be nice!" and she laughed. After the pc (quite fun, as usual) Fede just jumped up and came to gibe me a hug, and we chatted a little. Do you know Caroline that she had François in her hotel room even there?? LOL. At the moment she even had Frank with her, so she said that Frank and François were on her pillow together as we spoke!
And also, I had brought a little thing for Massi... eh eh Caroline know what that is and he was completely surprised as we expected, and showed them to Fede proudly!!
We quickly said goddbye then because we were all tired, and we all were eager to go to bed!
On Saturday we went to Bercy for the competitions again (I knew Fede had given Topo to Sissi to have it thrown on the ice already) and again I luckily found free places above the technician's table, so I again had fun peering at the levels before the marks came out!
Fede and Massi did a great FD, I was not really breathing much, but the guys made me proud as usual....
Funny, funny scene at the end with a flower girl catching Frank before the guys and Massi basically chasing her down to get him from her
;D I didn't wait for the marks but ran straight to the mixed zone, and saw the marks from there, congratulating the guys. We chatted a little and made plans to go out to dinner that night, straight after Valentina had skated in the Ladie's FP...
Of course I met them again at the press conference, which was a lot of fun again, I am still LOL at Massi who had gone away, and then sneaked back in because they had forgotten a pair of sneakers under the table, LOL, this caused quite a bit of laughter while Maxim was trying to answer a question...
After a fun medal ceremony (
at Cinquanta giving out the medal and making an improvised joke of going to give F&M the silver, and then remembering it was for the French duo) I had not much to do, so we went to the skater's hotel where I met a few people, chatted around, and we just went back to the rink for the Ladies' to see Vale (Marchei)... but as soon as we finished we moved out to meet at the skater's hotel to go out for dinner nearby.we had a great time, after a while even Valentina joined us and with her and the guys sharing jokes we soon had tears streaming down our faces for the too much laughter!!
On Sunday I arrived by myself at Bercy, and thanks to a friend who had been staying at Novotel I managed to leave my suitcase in their luggage room, and meet up with Fede and her mum and some other friends to reach the arena.
There we soon found Massi too, and chatted a while again.. I even gave them the ritual postcard (soon on Frank's site) we give them every time they give Frank back (and this time Fede was less sad at giving it back, because she has François to keep). Being in paris, the inspiration came from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame.. you'll see....
The gala was nice (apart from the bad opening number, and the fact that Marina Anissina's French is still terrible, we had a hard time figuring out what she was supposed to say. But Gwendal apart from a couple of silly things, was quite a good presenter - well, not in the finale where they made quite a mess in announcing the skaters, but oh, well...) and Fede and Massi did again the Elisa's number... they lifts were a bit shaky - too tired! - but the crowd went wild when Gwendal made them perform their reverse once more....
After the gala we went back to the skaters hotel (I also had to retrieve my suitcase) and Fede was there in a moment, so we chatted a while with her, and them Massi arrived too. At some point we found ourselves submerged by fans and I took out the guys' cards I had in my bag and we gave a bit of those out...
Then it was time for me to say good-bye, i had a plane to catch!
Again Massi gave me the greatest hug ever and we had some little things to say between ouselves, then I went so say hello to Fede too and somehow I started a bit to cry and she looked at me with these huge menacing eyes that say "do not cry or I'll start in a second!!" and we just hugged, and then I went away.
Just as I write I have finished emptying my memory cards in my computer.. I have quite a bit of photos from the event, but mainly I made vids of Fede and Massi (I left the photos to Sissi, Katia and Dave!) so we'll have lots of bits to see soon on the site...
