2010 Trophee Eric Bompard Blog by Isabella Cannuscio
November 28, 2010 – La BellaBlog á Paris
Hello again!
Well, today was our last day in Paris, which I have mixed feelings about. I have fallen in love with this city and I hope to come back again, but at the same time, I can’t wait to get home and sleep in my own bed! A bed that won’t give me 8 “bug” bites… or at least we think that’s what it is, but we have absolutely no idea. I just want to not have huge itchy red spots anymore! I even have one on my face now. =/
Today I tried to go shopping, but in Paris apparently all the shopping is closed on Sundays. A little odd. I feel like so many people shop on Sundays, usually, but maybe that’s only in the U.S. So, after finding out the stores were closed, we decided to walk around some more, enjoy the view and eat some delicious food. I found out today why there is so much fuss over the hot chocolate here — it was amazing! It was basically melted chocolate and made Swiss Miss taste like water. DELICIOUS.
After that we ventured over to the Eiffel Tower. We just so happened to be turning the corner right when the lights turned on! It started to sparkle and it was a spectacular sight. It’s amazing how big it is once you stand in front of it! We unfortunately didn’t go in because the line was too long and I was definitely not walking up the stairs. However, we went back later in the evening and was able to go in it because there were absolutely no lines! It was an amazing site — you can basically see everything in Paris. It even sparkled while we were up there, which was really beautiful. =)
I will be leaving Paris with lots of great memories and stories, great pictures, and a great SB for SD. This was an extremely successful and great week! Even with the unfortunate skate. Once again I am very happy we had a chance to come here and compete and enjoy this beautiful city. My advice to anyone traveling to Paris would be to try the hot chocolate, eat at least one macaroon, and see all that you can see!
Next up, Nationals! But first…some free time because I’m spent! This past month has been an amazing — but crazy — one! Can’t wait to have a few days off!
Thanks for reading!
Bella
November 27, 2010 – La BellaBlog á Paris
Hello again!
Well, today was FD day, and I’m not so pleased with today as I was with yesterday. We had a rough free dance. Ian tripped over me in the beginning resulting in an unfortunate fall. Then on our layback lift, my foot slipped which created a bobble which then made me not feel comfortable enough to do a full layback for 3 seconds. And then we had a few trips here and there which resulted in poor levels and a shaky feeling overall. It was one of those performances that I’m not proud of, but I am still very, very happy with our short dance and I’m glad we had one program to be proud of. Sometimes you have an off day, and today was ours.
I’m still very happy we had a chance to compete here. We were able to redeem our SD from Cup of China and get a much higher Season’s Best (which was a major goal coming in), as well as get a one-point higher SB for our FD, even with the mistakes. Our first season in Senior has been a great one so far. Coming into this season I didn’t really have high hopes, but here we are, at our second GP, with a lot to be proud of. I am truly happy that we were able to get 2 Grand Prix competitions this year and were able to hopefully show that we belong here. It’s been an unreal experience that I will never forget.
Bug bite update — I have 5 now… =( Yes. 5. Two on my right foot, one on each arm, and now one on my face….UGH. The other two are getting better, but the new ones are starting to bug me (no pun intended). People keep saying it may be bed bugs…but I really, really hope it’s not! Hopefully the doc will give me good news tomorrow. =/
In between practice and competition (we had FOREVER), we went to The Louvre. We were only able to see some of one wing of the museum because when we got there we realized it was HUGE and we didn’t have enough time to see it all. I did however see the Mona Lisa, which was really cool! It’s amazing how many paintings and sculptures are in there! People kept telling me The Louvre was large, but I had no idea how big it was until we got there.
Tomorrow I am going to shop and see the Eiffel Tower! I’m really excited and will take lots of pictures to share!
Talk to you soon!
Bella
November 26, 2010 – La BellaBlog á Paris
Hello!
Today was short dance day, and I’m still in complete shock with our scores! In Cup of China we basically went out there, tried our best with what he had, and also hoped for the best. Unfortunately, we didn’t do so well score-wise in China, but it gave us a huge push these past two weeks before France. All we did was the Golden Waltz. Golden Golden Golden — and it apparently paid off! We have never gotten anything higher than a level 1, maybe level 2, in the Golden, but here we got a level 4 on both sequences! When I saw our scores initially, I thought it read 42.19 not 52.19, and then I heard Ian’s reaction…then Karen’s reaction…then I looked again and realized it said 52.19! Our SB was 38-something, so we made a HUGE jump from China which is even more than Ian and I had hoped for! Never did I expect this, so needless to say I am super happy right now, and excited to compete FD tomorrow! This time, we skate 4th. 😉
Madison Chock and Greg Zuerlein skated very well! I wasn’t able to watch anyone else compete other than the ladies event. The U.S. ladies skated well! Alissa had a bobble on one of her jumps, but other than that I thought she skated beautifully (I’ve always been a fan of her skating), and Mirai skated well, too. Looking at the scores from the other events it seemed like everyone skated pretty well!
It’s amazing how nice the people are here. All I heard before coming here was that the people here were rude and hate Americans, but I’ve found some really nice people who have helped me out quite a bit. Everyone here is also super polite. We practically had an escort before getting on the ice for our competition! During our practice this morning, we had a school group come in and watch us skate. They were all super loud, almost to the point of screaming! I thought it was a lot of fun and kind of took the edge off of the first practice of the day. =)
Last night I went to bed with two rather large bug bites — one on my right forearm and the other on the top of my right foot. They have progressively gotten bigger…and itchier…so I’m hoping they clear up soon! The doctor gave me cream to put on them, so I’m thinking by tomorrow they’re both be gone! But seriously, the one on my arm is so big…you probably could see it from space. haha!
Tomorrow is FD day, and I’m ready to go! I think we might be going to the Louvre tomorrow in between practice and competition, since we have more time in between them then we had today, so that should be fun. =) I’m hoping to spend some more time with my family since I feel like I’ve been stuck in the hotel for the past two days!
Talk to you soon!
Bella
November 25, 2010 – La BellaBlog á Paris
Hi again!
Today was our first day on the ice, and it felt great! The rink is on the colder side, but I didn’t mind it. The rink is also large, red, with lighting that’s a little odd, but the ice itself felt good! Our practice went really well for a first practice, so I’m happy about that! Everyone seemed to be saying they had a good practice as well, which is great!
My day was pretty boring. I had breakfast, caught up on emails, had practice, then had the team dinner (AKA Thanksgiving dinner) that our fantastic team leader, Robbie Rosenbluth, organized! We unfortunately had no turkey, but I did eat chicken! Kind of close, right? 😉
I heard that a few team members had a good time walking around Paris, sightseeing, and going shopping. I saw that pairs skater Felicia Zhang bought a cute pair of boots!
After dinner I went and caught up with my sister, Anastasia, who is here for a VACATION, while I compete. Not fair! She told me about her fantastic time around Paris and various cafes my mom, my aunt, and she went to — so needless to say I didn’t stay with her very long due to jealousy and went up to my room to get some rest before our long day tomorrow.
Tomorrow is the first day of competition! We are the last event of the day, which is very unusual for me. Ian and I are used to waking up early and skating first at every competition! We skate second in the short dance which I am very pleased about. I hope everyone skates their best tomorrow and rocks it!
GO TEAM USA!
Also, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a fantastic day full of turkey and family!
Talk to you soon!
Bella
November 24, 2010 – La BellaBlog á Paris
Bonjour from Paris and hello again!
My first day here is coming to an end, and I’m exhausted! Our flight left at 6:30 p.m. from Philadelphia and went straight to Paris. The flight was 6 1/2 hours, which was a piece of cake! After doing two long flights to Asia within a year, this flight was nothing! We landed at around 8 something in the morning, and then headed to the hotel.
Where we are staying is in the Bercy district, at least I think that’s what it’s called… I’m still trying to get my surroundings straight! The Bercy district doesn’t really have much, other than a few restaurants — and the rink of course. We couldn’t check in for a few hours when we got here, so we decided to venture and get some food. Right outside of our hotel was a little cafe, so we all got coffee and croissants (typical), then went back to the hotel and prayed our rooms were ready! They weren’t, unfortunately, so we waited another hour and a half in the lobby until we FINALLY could get into our rooms!
After freshening up, Karen Ludington (my coach), Taylor Toth (pairs skater who trains with us at UDel), and I went to a different section of Paris. Ian couldn’t come, unfortunately, due to him not feeling well =( So he slept the day away (and hopefully the sick feeling) while the three of us traveled all through Paris and shopped! Surprised?? 😉
I thought I was in heaven in Beijing with all the deals, but the shopping is 10X better here. Yes, you have to basically sign your life over to them if you want to purchase something here, but the experience is totally worth it! The first stop we made was the Galeries Lafayette, which was basically a really cool department store with little bits of a designer’s collection. It was all decked out in Christmas decorations and Christmas music, which was fun!
The next stop we made was the Avenue Des Champs Elysees, which was amazing. It has every high-end store you could ever imagine, and it even had the Louis Vuitton flagship store (pictured, right), which was the greatest thing I have ever seen. I was starstruck with a store, basically. Also, it had lights up everywhere for Christmas which was a great sight — especially at night!
After walking down the Avenue Des Champs Elysees, we hit the Arc De Triomphe. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be and a very cool thing to see! After seeing that, we went back down the Avenue Des Champs Elysees and hit these little souvenir shops and the Ferris wheel!
I wasn’t able to buy anything in the high end stores our boutiques because I’m not quite ready to sign my life over, but I did buy some fun sweets for people back home! I refuse to buy tacky Eiffel Tower key chains and such, so I’m trying to find the best fun stuff that I can!
Tomorrow is our first official practice here, which I’m excited about! It’ll be our first time on the ice here which will be fun! Hopefully Ian is %100 tomorrow!
Talk to you soon!
Bella