Thursday 17th

I can't believe this year I actually got to Paris for Trophée Eric Bompard, as the last two seasons too I was hoping to go but in the end never managed to do it!!
Melania and I met at the train station in Milan, and we caught the TGV to Paris not without a little bit of suspense... I arrived there early enough, but then had a problem printing the return ticket to Milan, which I had booked on the internet - I was trying to use those authomatic machines, but then I found out I had to ask for my ticket at one of the ticket-windows right on the other side of the station! I had 5 minutes to get my ticket, run up the stairs with my trolley, meet Melania and find the right platform with our train! As you can guess, yes, we caught the train just in time ;) Of course our seats were the furthest possible from the carriage we got on :P
Besides her trolley, Melania was also carrying a bag with what we now call "tugurio" - quite difficult to explain in English - aka the big white piece of fabric that Fede & Massi use for their Momix ehibition, since Federica realized she had forgotten it home only when she arrived at the airport ^^;;;; So Melania was in charge of the "rescue mission" ;)
As we sat down, I learnt that Federica had injured her ankle previously that week, and still wasn't sure if she was going to compete. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! No please, you can't withdraw, the Kerrs already did, no no no!!! But we didn't worry too long, as she sent a message saying that practice went ok, she still felt some pain but could skate. Yay!!
We spent the time on the TGV mainly speaking about skating - of course ;) - and eating, and eating, and, eating?! I don't know why but when I travel I always feel hungry!

We arrived in Paris at about 4.00 pm, then went looking for our hotel. We soon found out that we both didn't have a good relationship with Paris' metro access doors, as first Melania's trolley got stuck into them - and later I almost got crushed in the middle of those nasty doors >__<
Well, our hotel was, awful, to say the least!! We left our luggage there, and, determined to spend there the less time possible, we almost immediately left and headed for Bercy! To change the metro at Gare de Lyon proved not as easy as we expected, it's like a labyrith down there ^^;; Anyway, finally we were there, the Palais Omnisport Bercy just in front of us, with its strange look (I mean, who thought about putting grass on the outside walls?!), and right beside it was the Novotel, where Federica was waiting for us. Melania and I went up to her room, as she wanted to rest her ankle a bit; she was quite well, considering her injury - the ankle was still hurting, but wouldn't have stopped her from competing :) Their mascotte - Toponiglio - was also in the room, Federica and Massimo almost always have it with them, and when I took it in my hands I noticed that there was something wrong with its left cheek: the top of a needle was coming out of it!!! Then someone was trying to do a woodoo spell to toponiglio!!!! That explains what happened in China and now the injury!!!!! :P :P :P :P
It was about 6.00 pm, and the draw for the CD starting orders was going to be in a few minutes - the only problem was that Massi, who was supposed to go there, hadn't still come back from town. So Federica had to get dressed in 2 seconds, and then hurried to the icerink for the draw. No rest for her! As we thought it was going to take quite a long time (while actually it took 10 minutes instead ^^;;), Melania and I decided to leave and meet in the city center with Anna and Emanuele, who had arrived in Paris that morning. Before leaving Novotel we caught a glimpse of a very trendy Massimo hurrying up to his room, the down, then up again as he forgot his jacket (and outside was veeery cold!) and down again! We also tried, without luck, to see if at Mercure, the nearby hotel, they had a 3-bed room available... we just wanted to escape as soon as possible from that place that we soon started calling "la topée" (explanation later!) - aka our hotel at Place de Vincennes.
We took line 14 to city center and got off at Madeleine; we didn't notice immediately that the exit we chose was on the back of the square, as the Madeleine church looks almost alike on both sides ^^;; Our attention was immediately caught by a chocolate and sweets shop that looked like a jewelry, Fauchon I think?!, and couldn't resist going in! The smell inside the shop was fantastic, but couldn't say the same about the prices :P We found our way to the obelisk at Place de la Concorde, met there Anna and Emanuele, and then had a walk along the Champs Elisées, going in and out several shops. After all this walking we started feeling a bit tired and hungry, so we stopped at Café di Roma for a pizza. Melania and I preferred not to get back too late, as our hotel was a bit outside the city center (in the "banlieu" :P :P :P), and our 3rd roommate - Francesca - had a flight scheduled to arrive in Paris at about 10.00 pm.
So, that's it, this was our first day in Paris, and before getting asleep we started laughing thinking at the place where we ended up - this terrible hotel, which we called "la topée" - from Italian "topaia" (that means "hovel") giving it a "French sound"! ;) Oh, and also having a look at the last number of Patinage magazine made us laugh so hard... ("we'll send a letter to them saying that please, we want all numbers like this one!"). You know, it was late and we just laughed for anything ;) Really time to get to sleep!

Friday 18th

When we woke up our first thought was "We have to escape from here!!". So we went down to the reception and said that we may have to go back home for a family problem :P and asked if they were going to make us pay also for the other nights we booked. As they answered no, we got in touch with Federica, who inquired and found out that at Novotel they had a 3-bed room available, yay!! The most difficult part was bringing all our things to Bercy, as Melania was already gone there to book immediately, and so Francesca and I were left with 3 trolleys to carry and a very heavy shopping bag (considering we had just bought 6 bottles of water ^^;;;)... When we arrived to Bercy I was almost without energy - of course we had to go up and down one million stairs without escalator ;( But finally we were there, and got a _real_ room, almost couldn't believe it ;) This done, we could enjoy a visit to the city center, going to Opéra, Place Vendome and then having a walk in the Louvre gardens. It was a sunny day, and couldn't help thinking how beautiful it was being there instead of in the office, having to do with complaining customers ;)

The competition was starting at 4pm, so we got back to Bercy and met with Anna and Emanuele. The event began with Men SP.
First to skate was the Ukranian guy, Kovalevski, whose music was... tadaaan, a tango!! What a nice original choice to start with :P From the gloves he was wearing I thought his coach was Mishin, but no, I was wrong! He looked quite slow to me, and had some of what we call "à la mad ferret" steps :P
Next was Contesti, whose costume was quite... terrible!! Didn't like at all those golden circles on the arms and the things on the shoulders... He skated to a flamenco-ish music, not bad at all as a program, but he had some problems on the jumps.
Immediately after was the turn of the idol of the crowd, Brian Joubert! Don't know why but somehow my friends and I never end up far enough from the French "supporteur", who always make so much noise >__< We soon however made ours their motto "On est tous ici avec l'équipe de France" (we're all here with the French team), but with this funny result: each time Emanuele said it, the French skater on the ice immediately made a mistake :P *we're evil, we know!* Emanuele also taught me a new kind of "applause" for the skaters we don't enjoy too much: instead of clapping your hands, you sort of clap your index finger with the thumb :D So well, we applauded Joubert this way *evil grin* Please respect for the European champion :P He was dressed all in black, except from the front part of the jacket, which was white, and from the sparkly "007" written on its back, and was wearing only one glove, on his left hand (had this to be a gun?!). He looked quite elegant and ... with the theme of the "Die Another Day" soundtrack. He opened his program with a 4T - 2T combo, soon followed by the 3A. A spin, 3F, and then on to the circular step sequence. He did some fighting and gun shooting movements, and also blew a kiss to the audience (which was typical of someone else... hmpf hmpf!). Well, I admit that in the end I liked this program! Could have more choreography, but at least there's engergy in the sequences.
We spotted Gwendal around the Kiss&Cry - which is always nice to see ;)
Nothing to say about Ma, so I'll just move on to the best program of the afternoon: the one of Jeffrey Buttle! As we read on the big screen that he was going to skate to Sing Sing Sing we were alredy thinking "nooo, why do skaters always choose the same musics?!" and were getting ... of Grushina & Goncharov 03-04 OD... But we were wrong, and loved everything of Buttle's SP: the music, which wasn't the usual version of the song; the choreography which suits perfectly every part of the music, and the lively and playful mood of the program. Really beautiful interpretation, this is skating! Add to all this a clean performance (3F -3T combo, 3A, 3LZ), fast and original spins, it was a real pleasure to watch :) A funny note: just before the end of the program there's a part where he suddenly stops in front of a judge - I think that judge really got scared for a moment, as he didn't expect this ;) Please, if there is a divine justice (or well, no, better to keep this for February :P), he must be ahead of Joubert!! And so, rightly, it was! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!
The next skater to take the ice was Lezin, but have to say I didn't like him a lot. The shirt of Chiper's costume was simply scary!!!! Clean program skated to groove collection.
Jamal Othman chose for his SP that beautiful waltz music that A&P used for their OD in 1999 - which made me remember their .. dance. I quite like Jamal's skating, but still have to see a really good performance from him.
Dambier had a very bad skate to Adagio (olè, we love originality!).
Goebel too did Sing Sing Sing - the most famous version - but there was simply no comparison with Buttle's interpretation! Choreographies were made by Camerlengo, but was there a choreography?!
First thing I thought looking at Weiss was that he really needs to have his hair cut! Not much to say, just that there's a point where he kind of copies Yagudin's "throw the snow into the air" :P
Dobrin was the last to skate, and didn't impress me a lot.
Before ending this section report I have to mention the banner "Yagudin reviens" (Yagudin come back) - couldn't agree more ;)

Next part of the competition was Ladies SP.
When reading on the board the starting orders I found the name "Galina Efremenko", I started wondering if she was someone new... but it was soon clear that it was just a surname change for Galina Maniachenko! From the cross on her costume it was clear that she was skating to some sort of requiem. Unfortunately she did an almost complete disaster :(
The second to take the ice was a French skater I had never heard before, Nadège Bobiller, I just wrote down that she missed the combo...
Arakawa was soon after, skating to her old SP to Paganini. I like this music, and she was wearing a black & white costume, with violin and notes on it. She was a little bit imprecise and double footed the 3F.
Rochette had a white dress, and did a SP to some violin music. I'd say she has a typical "Canadian" style, nice choreography and arm movements, and a light mood.
Next was Fleur Maxwell, who I really enjoyed at Euros. She was skating to Libertango, and had a very good interpretation. It's a pity that she always struggles with jumps, as her flexibility makes her lines, spiral and spins so elegant and beautiful to watch.
Then it was time for the second warm-up group. Just having a look at it, I started wondering what the hell were they wearing?!?
First to skate was Sasha Choen, really very elegant in her red costume and with a flower in the hair. Russian folklore music for her. She skated rather well, jumps were ok, her lines beautiful (she's so flexible too!), but I was somehow disappointed by her performance. Something was lacking, the choreo was pretty empty...
Sokolova skated to Turandot, but with a fuchsia costume?!?! O__o She fell on the 3Lz of the combo, and after that did pretty bad...
Annette Dytrt was wearing one of the most awful costumes I've ever seen! She had a black - violet - pink dress, with a cross on it. I thought she was maybe going to skate to a requiem too, but it was Toccata and Fuga instead.
The real surprise of the day was Mao Asada. She's soo young, and in her ... simple orange dress we wouldn't have given her much credit. What, she's skating to Carmen?!?! Dressed like that?! But as soon as she began her SP we had to change our mind, we were sooo impressed!! She was the only one to have a 3-3 combo, all jumps were really high, and she has also very nice biellman spins. Of course this wasn't a "mature" Carmen, but I really enjoyed the sparkle and freshness of the program, something that the others were lacking tonight. She waked all us up!
After Asada we didn't pay lots of attention to Anne Sophie Calvez.
Last on the ice was Kimmie Meissner. She looks quite promising, but here had troubles on jumps and also fell on spiral sequence.

Pairs SP followed.

...to be continued...