Europeans 2006 in Lyon, France

Thursday 19th
I am so happy for this holiday.. I sooooooo badly needed a time-out from the office, a moment to relax myself and gather some energies before approaching the Olympics... and then there's the fact that I missed so much attending a competition, watching high-level skating without anything else to do.. I hadn't been able to do that since Dortmund 2004!! I missed the ice gala in 2004, was working in Torino 2005, couldn't afford Moscow 2005, couldn't leave work for both Bompard 2005 and Ice gala 2005, and Nationals 2006 have been a blur of work...
Yay, I couldn't wait to be in Lyon!!
Travelling there by car with Anna, Massi's mum and Melly was not too bad, apart from leaving a little late, getting a fine in the Frejus tunnel and having some slight problems finding that d*** "Peripherique sud" to get to the arena - but we got there right in time to see the od from the first group. (OD PHOTOS HERE) I quite liked the competition, the latin rhythms call for fun even in the lower ranks. I can't say I was particularly impressed by anyone (unless that has to be understood in the negative way, and I have to say how incredibly not attractive were Navka and Kostomarov doing the impression of two gorillas in the middle of their OD .. omg I had seen that on video, but I still couldn't believe my eyes!), but I really think that's because I liked the old system better, as the rules allowed the skaters to spend more time recreating the ballroom dances (which should be the purpose of the ODs) with little moves and things that get now very little credit; plus now they have to put in so many elements to get as many points as possible, that there's time for almost nothing more!
Even though at first glance the arena could seem nice (and in tv it definitely did!), I was quite disappointed with the old, not well organized structure (like: the metal seats were cold and uncomfortable, the sector division was silly, the various levels ill-connecter, the general ambience quite in need of a lick of paint, I totally avoided the restrooms but notice how poor the only one bar was...), and the extremely rude staff working as spectator service/security. They were simply terrible! The audience was not great as well, but I quite expected this... there was an astonishing iciness for anyone not French! it was quite ghastly...
In the evening we all skipped the Ladies' free (none of my friends had bought the tickets) and we went for a nice meal in the hotel's restaurant with Massi and Andre, chatting happily and keeping an eye on the screen tuned on Eurosport. By the time the final group came we ha finished dinner, and we watched it standing at the bar, with all the Italian skaters, and several others. It was fun to hear their comments, and see them all cheering for the ladies!
Melly and I were staying at the skaters' hotel so we just took a lift up to our room (which was veeeery big, one of the nicest we've had in all these years! Even Massi made some funny remarks when he saw it!) and went to bed.

Friday 20th
Since we couldn't get into the practices because we did not have all-event tickets and they were not selling practice tickets (stupid idea, usually it's either one of these two option, or like in Lausanne you could get in for free if you ahd a ticket for the next competition of the day!), we took a small stroll downtown; I first sent an sms to Massi to tell him not to wait for us to give us Topo as planned, because we couldn't come in. I told him to give it to Sissi, whom we had planned to be in charge of the throw as well. We then took a taxi and had a walk around the older part of the town (here are some PHOTOS). A bonus for me: we bought some lovely sandwiches so we had lunch and dinner assured (we were ready to spend the whole day in the arena), and at least I managed to pay mines by myself, which is getting every day more difficult with Anna who gets every bill way before we can take a look at it, not to mention try to pay it. I had to get Loredana (Massi's mum) to distract her when we went to have a coffee at the arena - so that I could pay it! Men short was the competition of the afternoon, and with the FD coming up tonight we planned to lock ourselves in, figuratively speaking: we didn't even planned to leave during the gap between men short and free dance!
The men's competition ( MS PHOTOS HERE) was nice, but of course we were more focused on the dance. Just in time for the event also our third roomaate, Francesca, arrived to the arena. I was really curious for this olympic preview. Navka was as bad as I imagined, Grushina and Goncharov not as bad as I feared (being the one who can't stand arab numbers), Drobiazko and Vanagas better than I hoped, Delobel and Schoenfelder quite disappointing, after my friends had spoken so well of them... If I have to name one team I liked a lot, I'd say Kokhlova/Novitsky.... (FD PHOTOS HERE). Fede and Massi did quite nicely, and Topo had a safe trip on the ice... After the competition we took a bus and headed back to the hotel. We were not interested in dinner as we had had those lovely sandwiches, so we just hang around chatting by ourselves. Massi soon joined us, to chat a little with his mum (we gave them a bit of privacy) and then with all of us. We even got a bottle of wine and toasted to the end of their competition!
We generally had some laughs (though we were interrupted here and there by some random fans asking for photos and autographs, and I kept teasing Massi You're famous, you have to get used to this!LOL". Before
saying goodnight, we set a meeting with Massi for the next morning, and we'll grab a taxi to head downtown and meet with Anna and Loredana for another touristic walk.

Saturday 21th
As planned, we got up at a decent hour and had a good breakfast in the hotel's restaurant (LOL at Alessia who came to say hello, and then asked me if I could pick up one of the mini jars of straberry jam that were on out breakfast buffet, but not on the skaters' one, as they couldn't pick things from ours... the silly things! Of course I did just that, and went over to the table where the Italians were having breakfast and said hello to Ale again, and to Federica as well).
We were also happy to see that the weather was much better than the previous day, there was a nice sun even if the air was crisp and definitely cold. We had a relaxed walk, stopping by in several shops (LOL at Loredana who was not happy at Massi having forgotten his scarf, and dragging him to a shop to buy one because she couldn't see her son being cold - And with Anna very much agreeing with her, there was no way for Massi to refuse: you can't stop two mums, one real and one acting so!! ). The highlight of the walk (if you have not seen them from the previous day, here are the TOURISTIC PHOTOS) was of course a trip on the panoramic wheel we'd seen the previous day: we had to divide in two groups, but we enjoyed a beautiful view of the city! Here's a nice photo of Massi and his mum from up there - he's holding her hand as she was a little scared!
Before coming back to the arena for the men's final we had a lovely lunch in a typical restaurant, chatting happily in front of nice plates and a good beer...
I quite like this photo I had taken of myself, Massi and his mum Lory. We're relaxed, we're smiling, and that's very much the spirit of that morning.
Anyway, as planned we went to the arena to watch the competition... we couldn't find a taxi so we took the metro, and Filippo and Anna ran till the arena to see Karel skate. We had little hopes of making it in time, so we actually walked with more ease... to me it was good, because we met Philippe Candeloro with a very pregnant Olivia and his two beautiful girls on the way in... he stopped by to say hello to Massi (they'd bee on the same tour last summer, as I knew very well) and I of course grabbed the opportunity to say hello as well. I wonder if he will come to the Olympics...??
What can I say about the competition.... well, I was not really impressed by most. Brian's program was really as bad as I feared (the Lord of the Dance??? Than't an insult to the real dancing! and the costume.. what was that supposed to be? what did it had to do with Irish dancing? At some points I closed my eyes and imagined B&M's 2000 FD...), while Plushi, though he was not at his top, did a good job... he's such a champion! I was really happy for Stéphane, I've always had a soft spot for him... Plus, we had been surrounded by his fan club (actually we were sandwiched between the French fans below us and the Swis all around) and somehow we found ourselves cheering and holding Swiss flags...
here are the MEN FREE PHOTOS . The funniest thing I remeber of the afternoon was actually the fun system they were testing, of a radio providing commentary for the people on the tribunes. They had distributed lots of small sets of earpones and a small receiver, and you could put them on and listen to some chosen commentators during the competition. I guess it was fun good especially for the less knowledgeable spectators, as they also gave technical and biographincal info on the competitors' and their programs, very much like the tv commentators do... for me it was quite entertaining esp. during the lower ranked, boring skaters.... and of course one of the commentators was my beloved Philippe, so I was happy to listen to him! I wonder if this thing will be repeated somewhere else again....
Coming back to the hotel we settled down chatting in the lobby, waiting to se the skaters come down all dressed up for for the banquet (and with Fra and Melly we paid our room, as I would be leaving the next morning)... we planned a quiet dinner in a nearby restaurant, but first we waited to see how everyone would show up.. one of the stupid funny things to do at a competition... commenting on the ladies's dresses! LOL
Actually this time what we all remember the most was not some lady's outrageous dress, but one of the silliest, most disgusting thing we've ever seen in a hotel lobby... at some point a *bloodied menstrual pad*was seen lying in the middle of the hall... OMG how can one loose it like that??? We were cracked up in hysterical laughter (esp. the quite embarassed men, once it was brought to their attention)... the Italian team leader simply commented, shaking his head, "well, I guess she's not wearing any knickers!"... at some point everyone around us was laughing and commenting and pointing, and FINALLY someone from the hotel staffa came armed with a plasitic bag and took it away.
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I was not really there to take pics, but I had one of Silvia with Maria and Alexei.. and since I had my camera in my hands, took a couple more (Rita and Povilas - she was very classy - and Elena and Ruslan).

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When our team arrived as well, I took a couple of more pics... our dancing ladies, Alessia and Federica(looking lovely in soft make-up), and then a very nice and smiling group pic.

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Don't ask me why Carolina is still wearing the paper crown they gave her when they celebrated her birthday, I don't know. At least she's in the group picture.. when she first came down in the elevator she looked out, saw the people (and not even too many, I've seen much bigger lobbies much more filled!) and came back up saying "too many people, I'll come back later)... we almost couldn't believe it!
When they all left we went to the restaurant of the nearby hotel, and had yet another nice dinner chatting of all the things we'd seen so far. I went back to my room alone (Anna and massi's mum stayed at another hotel, though they had parked Anna's car in our hotel's parking, and Melly and Fra had gone to dinner with some german friends), finished my suitcase and went to bed.

Sunday 22th
not a lot to say about our coming back home.. went to have breakfast by my own because the other girls were still asleep (I also bumped into Massi on the elevator on my way back, he had abviously not slept a minute and had quite a it of fun). While waiting for the others I actually had a bit of a discussion with the concierge, as the guy who did our bills the previous evening had apparently made a bit of a mess, and even though we had discussed it for ten good minutes he didn't put the car's parking fee in the bills, plus other errors.. in the end I was complaining enough for him to decide not to make us pay the parking at all, LOL... (and, BTW, they had made more mistakes, and I told Melly to get the bill to be checked again when she left on monday, she was reimbursed of a couple of extra breakfast we'd paid!).At more ore less the established time we all met in the hall, with Anna and Massi's mum arriving by taxi from their hotel, and we headed for the parking... ah!! there were 5 of us, with Massi and Fede having both BIG suitcases and trolleys with their skates... plus our troleys... plus some random stuff lying in Anna's car or bought there.... at this point it had been decided we would come home together, but finding how we could all fit in the car was like solving a puzzle!
In the end it was Anna driving, Massi in the passenger's seat with his feet resting on Anna's trolley wedged in front of the seat, and Massi's mum, Fede and I sandwiched on the backseat, with me holding a big metal bar (too log to explain what it actually was) which I had to pass to someone outside any time we decided to step out of the car, and Fede and me also holding some bags on our legs... Massi fell asleep almost immediately (but redeemed himself later when became our driver for the last pat of the trip) while the rest of us chatted happily all the way till home...