2008 Cup of Russia – Katie Copely’s Competitors Blog
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Recap (and photos!) from Moscow
Zdravstvuite! We just returned from our second trip to the Cup of Russia Grand Prix in Moscow. It was definitely a little less stressful to compete in a town and rink that is familiar. The trip from the States to Russia went smoothly, and we met Meryl Davis, Charlie White, their mothers, our coach Igor Shpilband, and Alissa Czisny in Amsterdam, a popular connection hotspot.
The Hotel Cosmos was built nearly 30 years ago, and overlooks the VDNKh fairgrounds and Space Explorers Monument. Directly in front of the hotel’s entrance proudly stands a statue of Charles de Gaulle (the architects of the hotel were French).
From my room you can see all of these, including the famous Moscow traffic, which has won the common knowledge award for worst traffic in the world.
A 6:30 a.m. commute to the rink took about 25 minutes, where as any later attempt to go to the rink took anywhere between 45-120 minutes. There is a casino inside the lobby as well. There seems to be a pattern in choice for Grand Prix hotels (i.e. Tulalip Casino and Resort for Skate America).
After our practice on Thursday, we had time to visit Red Square with Meryl, Charlie, their moms, and Igor, who acted as our personal tour guide. Naturally, this being our only day to explore, it was snowing — hard. But that didn’t stop us from having fun! We took the metro, which was just as crowded as the Moscow streets, right up to the outside of Red Square. Inside the Red Square are St. Basil’s Cathedral, Lenin’s Mausoleum, the Kremlin wall, palaces and cathedrals, the Historical Museum, and Alexander Garden. There is also a memorial called the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier to remember Soviet soldiers lost in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, which is an eternal flame that is always burning, even in the snow!
The competition was certainly exciting in all disciplines, not knowing what was going to happen next. It is unfortunate that I didn’t get any pictures of the inside of the rink, because it is the most colorful arena I have ever seen. The seats are all different colors and randomly placed in no pattern or order that I can find, I believe to give the effect of a fuller arena on television. We were pretty happy with our skates, and are excited to get back to work for the European Championships in January.