My trip to Worlds began on Saturday night, when Silvia and I caught the 22.00 train to Dortmund. We arrived there about twelve hours later, Silvia still hoping she could make it to Petrova & Tikhonov's practice... Well, the only "little" problem was that when we checked in at our hotel, we were told that our room wsn't ready yet because "Der Strom ist ausgefallen" - that means there was a power failure...!! Anyway we wanted to change our clothes after so many hours spent on the train, so we opened our suitcases almost in the middle of the hotel lobby ;) I was given an electric torch to go to the toilet, lol.
We managed to reach the Westfalenhalle about one hour later; Silvia went to the press center to get her photographer pass, while I had a look at the rink. Ehm, I was really disappointed!! The seats were so far from the ice, and it was not easy to move from the higher rows to the lower ones (no wonder that the biggest part of the presents and flowers for the skaters never reached the ice!!!). I couldn't believe I had paid so much to have such awful seats :(
When Silvia came back we proceeded with the most important task of the day: to hang our banners! We had two for Federica&Massimo, one for Carolina, one for Valentina Marchei and two for Petrova & Tikhonov. This done, we sat and watched some of the men practice. I had a look at the mediabook (that precious book with all the skaters' bios!), and I thought "Let's see what it says about Fede and Massi", then, a few seconds later "Silvia, there's a stupid mistake in here, Valter and Brunilde are listed as their _former_ coaches!". Silvia had a strange look and said "I'm not that sure that this is a mistake!" What?? Have I missed something??? What happened???? *shock* Silvia told me that the previous week, when she and our other friends went to Agorà to watch practice, Federica and Massimo were not there, and this was strange, only one week before Worlds. Anyway she was surprised too reading this, but we decided to wait for the next day and see if during practice there was really Joan Slater with them, instead of Valter Rizzo.
During one of the men practice groups we met Nicoletta, our 3rd roommate, who had arrived in Dortmund the day before; of course she couldn't miss Davydov's practice! After he had skated we went to the official hotel, as Nicoletta wanted to meet him, but as usual he had already disappeard!
Well, there's nothing more to say about our first day in Dortmund, we were very tired, so after re-arranging the furniture of our room in order to find a place for our very heavy suitcases (luckily someone had already brought them in our room!) and eating the first of a long series of sandwiches we went to bed and immediately fell asleep (wondering if next season we should move to Edinburgh or somewhere else in Europe to see Fede and Massi training :p).

On Monday morning the alarm clock rang at 6.30, as we wanted to be at the rink at 8.30, in time to see the las two groups of the dance practice. When we arrived, the Canadians, Winkler & Lohse and someone else I can't remember, were already on the ice. First the Compulsory Dance music (Midnight Blues) was played, and then it was the turn of the Original Dance for each couple. I tried to take some pics, especially considering that Melania - she's a big Renè fan :p - wasn't there. While waiting for the last practice group to take the ice, I spotted the Kerrs sitting some row behind us and wanted a photo with them. They were so nice! But well, back to the practice... Fede & Massi were in the last group, and yes, it was Joan Slater standing at the boards with them. Then it was true that they had left Rizzo!! *shock* Silvia and I had brought our Italian flag, we waved it when they passed by, and they immediately noticed us ;) They practiced the CD and OD, I love "Hafanana", because it's really entertaining and a bit different from the usual music choices for this kind of rhythms. Every time I listen to it, it makes me feel like dancing!
After they had left the ice, Silvia and I waited for them out of the mixed zone; when they finally came out, with Joan Slater, they were in a hurry, as they were going to the draw. So we only had the time to say hi to them and speak for a few seconds. Silvia decided to stay there and see if she could meet them again after the draw, while I preferred to go to my seat and watch the Men Qualifying, as I didn't want to miss Stéphane Lambiel. And I'm really glad I got to see his program, as he skated brilliantly!
During the warm-up of the second group I went to the upper level, because while Fede & Massi were practising I had seen someone waving an Italian flag from there. I was right, they were Giulia and Alfredo, some people from an Italian skating forum. I watched the rest of the Qualifying with them, as my other friends who had the tickets next to me would have arrived in Dortmund only the following day. When we later met Silvia, she said she had met Massimo again; he spontaneously talked about the coach situation, saying that Joan Slater would have been with them only for Worlds, and that later they would have to look for someone else for the new season. Well, at least, no trips to Edinburgh required :p
Then back to the Qualifying, Group A this time, and after Weiss had skated I decided to leave the arena,  as the last group was not that interesting and I had some things to do... I went back to Sport Hotel, I bought some water and sweets in the nearby supermarket and then concentrated on a very important task: to finish the drawing for my present to Federica & Massimo!! ;) In fact I had decided to sew on a heart-shaped pillow a drawing with Fede & Massi in super-deformed version! I still had to paint black Massi's skates, to write the sentence "Siete nel mio cuore" (you're in my heart), to put some golden sparkles on the background and to cut the piece of fabric in a rectangle. It took me quite a long time to do all this, at 6.30pm I was still cutting the fabric!! That meant, I couldn't get to the rink in time for the opening ceremony, but at least I didn't want to miss the beginning of the competition. Then, running again to the metro station! At 7pm I reached the Westfalenhalle, there were 10 minutes more to get to my seat! I watched the Pairs SP with Giulia and Alfredo, it's always much more fun when you can share comments about skater's costumes and programmes ;)
The competition was really enjoyable, as most of the programmes were clean. I liked Totmianina & Marinin best, and was praticularly impressed by the throws and twists of all the Chinese pairs - incredibly high!! Also to mention: special cheering for Petrova & Tikhonov, Silvia's favourites, as she had given us the Russian flag to wave (she was busy taking pics). I just didn't quite agree with Shen & Zhao's placement, I think they should have been lower than 4th, because of Hongbo's mistake (fall on 3toe sbs).
After the competition, Silvia went to the press conference (of course, Petrova & Tikhonov being in 2nd place!), and we waited for her , even if Giulia, Alfredo and I were dead tired... We warned her to be back in half an hour, otherwise we would have gone back to the hotel without her, and she really risked to be left there, she was back just in time :p

...to be continued...