OK, here's my report of our trip to Paris! This might be repetitive and very long, but I don't care! ;)

First of all, let me say that I had a wonderful time. These few days were filled with many experiences I made for the first time: meeting Vicky, being in West Germany, carnival, going to France, going to PARIS (which has always been a dream of mine), seeing top skaters live ('cause "Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs" doesnt really count, nor does "Carmen", plus these were more than 10 years ago), and, of course, seeing JOHNNY on the ice! :D

The show was on Monday, but my trip actually already started on Sunday. You know, my trip was longer than Vicky's, because I live much further away from Paris than she does. So I first had to get to her, and then we'd start together on Monday morning.
By the time I reached her city, I was already afraid that I'd get some serious problems from being on trains for such a long time. Don't ask me how much time, probably 15 hours or something close to that. But somehow everything went fine, I'm still doing alright. It was a funny coincidence that I arrived there when the German carnival, the so-called "Fifth Season," approached its highlight. It's a very big deal in West Germany, and so we were very lucky that Vicky didn't have to go to school these days. And I saw people in costumes everywhere. As you can probably guess by now, carnival isn't that big in Northern Germany, where I come from. ;) But it was in Vicky's house when I arrived there. Yeah, she was right her family knows how to party! And no need to apologize, Vicky!

We had a nice chat in Vicky's room before going to bed, about many things that wouldn't interest you at all, about Johnny and how we became interested in him, and then she was a really sweet Angel and gave me a "Johnny's Angels" button! (Thanks again, Vicky!)
We could hardly sleep that night. Partly because of the excitement, partly because of the time (at least in my case). We went to bed at 11 PM, and I asked myself, "When have you been to bed that early for the last time?" I couldnt remember. I only remembered that I went to bed at 5.30 AM the night before. But the reason why we went that early was that we had to get up again at 4.30 AM or so. Goodness.

So we started our trip without having slept much. We saw some more dressed up people in Cologne and a drunkard who was happy to join our Angels conversation, and then we headed to Paris. We actually decided to first get the tickets for the show there (they couldn't be sent by mail for some reason) and then search our hotel, but because we failed getting access to the right mtro station, we decided to go to the hotel straight away. We did not stay at the hotel right next to the arena, but at one that was just around the corner. And we didn't stay there for a long time after checking in we wanted to see something of the city and, most importantly, get hold of our tickets! So we did lots of sightseeing, got the tickets, and then relaxed for some time at the hotel before the show. I set the alarm, so we wouldn't have missed the show if we had fallen asleep. ;)

We went over to the arena a little earlier and sat down on a bench in the park nearby. There were also lots of fans standing right at the skaters' entrance. Of course we hoped to see the skaters getting in there, but we soon realized no one was coming, so after some time we decided to get inside. Vicky told me that when she was there for the last time, a woman led her to her seat and wanted to get rewarded for this, so this time we should say we'd know where we were seated. We weren't given any chance. We gave our tickets to the guy in front of the entry to section R (where our seats were), and one of the two ladies standing there took them from him. She then stooped in order to look at our Angels buttons, and then started a conversation in French. She wanted to know who the person on the buttons was, and Vicky explained that it's Johnny Weir, whom she had never heard of. Vicky tried to convince her that she'd have to watch him. :) When we said that Johnny is from the States, the lady asked us why we support an American skater. Phht. She then wanted to know whether we were American as if you'd have to be American to support an American skater. And of course we had to pay her afterwards.

While more and more seats were taken, we closely watched two pretty front-row seats. We really hoped we could occupy them, but all of a sudden, they were taken as well. The arena was really full, which was great. The atmosphere was incredible. You can't really tell from the videos how loud and supportive everyone was. And I can say that you can be very proud of us we were two very supportive spectators. Of course we went crazy whenever we saw Johnny (and earned some looks from the people around, in particular from that strange guy next to me who probably didn't like the fact that we were two loud German girls), but we kept cheering all the time, for every skater. We were both really happy to see Elena Sokolova, who wasn't announced, and bit by bit we realized that many of the skaters who were announced didn't appear (Sasha Cohen, Arakawa, Lambiel, Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze). There were some really cool performances, and the introduction and especially the finale were just awesome. I should mention that during these parts there was live singing. Let's put it this way: some of the singers were more gifted than others. I really felt sorry for Brian Joubert that he had to skate to that terrible version of "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go." Vicky and I both wondered who decided which songs the skaters would skate to. It was just perfect that Johnny's music was the Robbie Williams song ""Angels." I also found it quite funny that Evgeni wore a white shirt while skating to "La Camisa Negra," which means "The Black Shirt" in English.
Some more impressions of the introduction: at the beginning, I didn't understand a word of what the introduction was all about, and it wasn't until the name Pierre de Coubertin was mentioned that I got the idea of having the history of the Olympics as the topic. I think we were both a little shocked when during the next part a short audio clip of Hitler was played. Then Surya Bonaly took the ice, skating to German music. I won't go into detail about every skater, because I really don't remember perfectly. I know, I could watch all the clips and comment, but if you're interested, you can do the same. :)
It was rather strange at first for me to see the skaters live. I had to learn to clap when they took the ice because you don't really do that when you're sitting on the sofa. ;)
We kept staring to the left all the time to see Johnny appearing, and the first thing I remember is Vicky saying, 'I see the heart! I think he's wearing the heart costume! He's wearing the purple one!" OK, we were getting excited. And we were getting loud and got the first looks. :) Then "Angels" started to play, and he really looked like and angel.

I soon realized that Vicky is a fan of glittering costumes whenever I heard a "bling bling" on my right, I could tell she liked the costume. And Johnny's got the best "bling bling" judgement. Of course!

Hey Vicky, it was me who said that Elena wore the hat in the first number! :p Yeah, we couldn't remember everything, and we tried to "reconstruct" the show the following day at McDonald's. I do remember that when Anissina/Peizerat were on the ice for their Star Wars number, the light was green on the one side and red on the other side of the rink with a bit of white in between to represent the opponents. That caused someone in the audience to shout "Italia!!!" this really looked like the Italian flag from our side of the arena. I was also quite surprised to see Grushina/Goncharov dressed in black for their first number, if you consider their apparent love for the color of white. :p
It was a very sweet moment when Brian Joubert was interviewed after his first number and he apologized for his Olympic performance. The audience was SO sweet (including us), everyone was like Aawwwwww and then clapping in appreciation. Well, the audience was going crazy for every French skater that night, in particular for Brian, but Evgeni was the first to get standing ovations. It was incredible to see him nailing those triple axels! Right in front of my eyes! That was just WOW.

But of course I cared more about Johnny's performance. Again, when we saw that he was waiting to take the ice, we got all excited. Vicky had just decided to throw her little gift on the ice like some people had already done for other skaters. When he was announced, he got an amazing applause. We were by far not the only Johnny fans out there. You could hear people shouting in several parts of the stands, as you can also hear in the video. btw those "Johnny" shouts are from French fans, which you can hear from the emphasis on the y. ;) I was so happy to hear the first notes of "Unchained Melody," and so were many others. That was just absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful spins, beautiful jumps (my gosh, that combination!), the catch-foot, everything was just mesmerizing! By the time he was finished, everyone was clapping wildly, and Vicky kind of pushed the two ladies next to her aside to run downstairs. She later told me she felt sorry to leave me behind, but at that moment I just thought, "Well, I'm alone, so I have to be twice as loud! And I won't be intimidated by the guy on the left, no matter what!" So I watched Vicky down there, and Johnny of course, and he first started a short encore before he got into our corner in order to collect the things from the ice. I was too busy watching this to listen to the announcer, so neither Vicky nor I could tell whether he'd be performing in the second half as well. We hoped so and interpreted his choice for "Unchained Melody" that way, so that "My Way" could be his choice for the second half. But he only showed one program.
Yeah, Vicky was quite surprised that he answered with a "merci beaucoup" he should have said "dankeschn!" ;)
I didn't even notice he was interviewed after the performance. But it's so cool to hear him talking in French! I've always wondered what he'd sound like. I remember reading that he thinks it would hurt the French's ears. This interview was just for television, I think, but both Evgeni and Brian did interviews that we could hear in the arena. Which takes us to the second half

One of the things I remember quite clearly from the second half is what happened after Brian's second performance. (Oh, btw, was that kiss or whatever after the first or the second, Vicky? He skated to the boards and must have given a kiss to someone, I guess. I can't really tell, he was covered by many heads and the cameras didn't show that, but the crowd was like "whew!") Anyways, I didn't get it at first (again, I know), but we were asked to do the wave! I don't remember having seen the wave at a figure skating event before. Ever. It circulated three times, one more than planned. LOL
When Abitbol/Bernadis skated, he first wanted the audience to cheer up for them. We did, and it was great to see them again, and they got a nice welcome. But when they were finished, there was a flower left on the ice, and I couldn't really understand why it took several performances until it was removed. I mean, it was dangerous. Oh, and Vicky asked me about their music after the performance I was like, "It's "The Mission" you should have heard this more than enough the past weeks!" ;)
I also enjoyed this very different version of "The Swan" by the acrobats Besedin/Polischuk. You just have to love them; they are funny and just unbelievable.

The best part, however, of the second half was the finale. We counted the part that's labeled "Chillout Lounge" by the video maker Koral (if you happen to get those) as part of the finale, because that was when all the skaters came together again somehow. There was this saloon/bar/lounge/whatever thing next to the ice, and it actually only consisted of a few tables and chairs. We saw these things standing there before the show and already wondered. Well, they were needed for this number. Some of the skaters came out and sat down, dressed up quite elegant and acting a bit funny, and the singers started to sing again. It started with a group of 6 ladies, and again it took some time until we realized how great and how much fun this whole thing was going to be. It was like a short story!
Plushenko joined the other skaters, cowboy hat on top, and then took the ice. He was followed by Abitbol/Bernadis, but then came back on the ice just to start a little fight with Stphane to conquer Sarah. Stphane seemed a bit shocked at first because Sarah just went away with Evgeni, but then Irina came to him, took care of him, and he kissed her arm. LOL So then it was Irina's turn, and she was followed by Grushina/Goncharov and Anissina/Peizerat, who skated at the same time to "Unforgettable." The 6 ladies came out again, and they soon were joined by Brian Joubert, who looked adorable in his suspenders and his cap. The 6 ladies probably thought the same, because the grouped around him. They had to leave him alone when Irina Grigorian appeared and got Brian's undivided attention. She then took one of her hula hoops, caught him and took him with her. LOL He only shrugged his shoulders. The next one was Elena Sokolova, but we couldn't quite remember anything about her since we saw Johnny already stepping on the ice and crouching near the boards. He was dressed in black, wearing the one that says "Johnny" in Cyrillic and a woolly hat. His music was "Mack The Knife," and he definitely had some criminal energy. ;) He also had a flashlight with him, and it was really funny to see him in such a number, and he looked really cool and cute. Vicky's comment: "Like a snake." Of course we were watching him all the time, so we were surprised when Maxim Marinin was standing next to him all of a sudden! He came out of nowhere! Maxim, being dressed in a long coat and a hat, obviously wanted to prevent him from doing whatever criminal he wanted to do. They got into a fight, and then there was this shot, and Johnny "kissed the dust!" We couldn't believe it! Maxim shot Johnny! You could hear a mixture of disbelief and sadness all around. Poor Johnny! But imagine how much fun this must have been! Then Tatiana Totmianina came, dressed in black as well, as if in grief, with this enormous hat. She danced a bit with Maxim, and while this took place, Johnny suddenly moved, and to us it seemed as if the dead Johnny grabbed the gun. (After having watched the video, I have to admit that it actually was Johnny's gun, and he never gave it away, but we didn't experience it this way in the arena.) So we had to laugh really hard when he made this sudden movement. I guess we were about the only ones laughing, because everyone else was already watching Tatiana and Maxim, but we just had to keep our eyes on Johnny. He was exactly in the corner where we were sitting, how could we not look at him all the time?! Anyways, I laughed so hard that I got a cramp in my back, no kidding! Johnny then left the ice, and suddenly Tatiana shot Maxim! She avenged Johnny! When Besedin/Polischuk arrived as policemen and hauled her off, the scene was perfect. It was this moment at the latest when I thought, "Oh my, this is incredible! What a great show they put together!" There were the 6 ladies again, joined by Surya Bonaly (who fell during that number with no obvious reason), and last to skate was Viktor Petrenko. He had been sitting at the table during the whole thing, and he must have had lots of imaginary drinks while waiting. His music was "My Way" (so we got to hear that song at least we actually got to hear a lot of Johnny music), and he looked really drunk.

After this, all the skaters took the ice together for the "real" finale. I was watching for Johnny, and he came closer, and closer, and again stopped in our corner! In the video, you can only see him from behind, but we could watch his face. :) It was hilarious! The skaters were grouped into pairs, and he was doing this with Irina Slutskaya. He kept grinning and acting funny, folded his arms and sent Irina some provoking looks. He looked as if he was having lots of fun. We went crazy when a close-up of him was shown on the screen, and we were definitely enjoying the moment. :)

We couldn't really decide on what to do after the skaters went away. Gwendal stayed on the ice and gave autographs in the corner opposite to ours, but the other skaters disappeared. So we first went downstairs again (the French girls in front of us were all shouting for Gwendal to come over), then walked upstairs, remained indecisive, and then went outside to occupy our bench again. The show was over at 12.15 AM, and we were waiting and waiting and waiting. We couldn't really see the entrance/exit from there, but we could see some fans standing there, and the skaters would have had to walk past us to get to the hotel. More and more people were leaving (my thought was that they'd all have to catch the last mtro, good for us that we could walk LOL), and at some point we could only see a Russian family with three little kids waiting there. Unfortunately we couldn't understand them, which might have been quite informative, because they partly left to check other places, but always returned for some reason. It was getting really strange; nobody came out! We waited in the freezing cold until 1 AM and then decided to leave. They skaters must have taken another exit, or they were still inside. Vicky felt really sorry for me because I didn't get the chance to meet Johnny in person. However, seeing him on the ice was more than I ever expected. He'd probably never skate in Germany again, and just some time ago I would never have imagined that I'd be going to Paris in order to see him! Of course it would have been great to meet him, especially after everything Vicky told me about his aura. ;) But it was alright who knows, maybe I'll get another chance?

So we walked over to the hotel. The weather still hadn't decided whether it should rain or not, but we were freezing and dying to get inside. We were already making plans for the rest of the night (taking notes of the show, eating some brownies) when we found the entrance of the hotel locked. Oh no. The door wouldn't open. Vicky pushed a button saying "sonner," but no one came! It took a long time until a man came from somewhere in the back to open the door, and there has never been a "merci beaucoup" in unison that sounded more relieved. What a shock!

We still did what we had planned, slept really well (although I woke up once from the sound of the police car outside those police cars seemed to like our street), and left the next morning (in the rain I told Vicky how lucky she was that I was with her, me who always carries an umbrella with her and then it unexpectedly was kind of broken). We had breakfast at "Lina's Sandwiches," which was exactly on the opposite side of the skaters hotel, and we watched the entrance. Maybe they didn't even stay there over night. At least we didn't see any skaters leaving.

So we continued or sightseeing tour (Montmartre) and then headed towards the train station where we bought a postcard to thank Johnny for this wonderful show, and then we left for Germany again. A long travel followed, and I arrived in Hamburg at 1.15 AM. I got home with a bleb under my left foot, a bruise on my finger from clapping (no kidding!) and a cramp from laughing, but I don't think I've ever experienced 59 hours that were more exciting.

Janina.

PS: I haven't taken any pictures of the skaters because my camera is even worse than Vicky's, but I'll post some of the other pictures later on. I haven't even looked at them myself yet.