November 22, 2003
STARS ON ICE BELGIUM (Antwerpen)
by Luise
Hi to everybody! I´m back from Antwerp and I´m really happy I´ve been there even I was a bit ill and really tired after my week in the USA.
I arrived the rink in Antwerp on saturday afternoon. Me and the friend I was with walked around the rink and finally we found an entree. We got in and had real luck that nobody noticed us because the practice wasn´t open for everybody. But we found a way and were lucky to watch the practice! Ilia has been there and Katia and the other single skaters. OMG, we were sooo happy to see all of them. Ilia was mostly stroking around, did some jumps, and was always near Katia. We met some other friends in the rink, so we chattet very quiet so nobody noticed us. We were behind the seats, so we had real luck. But than, Viktor Kraatz came near to us and finally saw us! It was really funny! We talked to him and were taken tons of photos with him. He was really nice to us!
After the practice we decided to get our tickets. We got them but realized that we had seats in the 26th row on Saturday and in the 27th on Sunday both on the small side of the aren! That was a big surprise because we were told to get best seats for Kuliks Krew! First we sat down there but by 7.30 pm when the show was supposed to begin, we decided to sit down on better seats, because the rink seemed not to be sold out. We got seats in the 5th row on a better side from the rink. But we weren´t able to relax completly the first part of the show, because tons of people were still arriving while the show and maybe we had their seats! After the break it was ways better for us!
The show was really great! I have taken tons of photos, but I think they´ll all bad. If they are good, I´ll send them to Laurie or Nancy so maybe you can see them. The cast was amazing - sop many great skaters! Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz had two new programs, I really liked both of them! The program of the second part was really funny!
I think I was mosdt impressed by the skating of Katia! I´ve never seen her live before and it was like one of my biggest dreams came true. She´s sooo beautyful in person. Her skating is so wonderful! at her second program "The red scarf" I was crying. It was too much to see her in person!
And the other highlight was Ilia! Of course!!!!!!! He
skated to Green Tomatoe! He´s soooo fast, I don´t know how you´re able
to take photos of him. He´s amazing! He never stops moving! He had great
footwork and his jumps are so high! I don´t know wich jumps he was doing,
I was too excited to look at it, I´m soory! I just remember a HUGE
double axel and triple Salchow. I think he doubled the lutz but I´m not
sure!
The second program was House is not a home! I like this program! And
again, he was so fast! He´s a fabulous skater!
Oh yes, I forgot to tell you that in the opening, the cast skated to Morning by Eduard Grieg. Ilia came out with Katia and Oksana. Really beautiful! He wear black pants and a black shirt I think. I´m sorry if I´m wrong!
The final was to We are Family, Ilia skated a bit with Katia again. After the show we met Susanne and Rita and our other friends and together we went to the skaters hotel. I´ve NEVER done it before! Normally I try to get autographs when the skaters are leaving the arena, but all the friends were going there so I was with them. We sat down, dinking something and were waiting for the skaters. They all came in and we got autographs and pictures of nearly everybody. When Ilia and Katia came in I was like shocked, I hope you know what I mean. I don´t know how to say it in English, I´m sorry. I took several photos of Katia and Ilia. Anett asked them to take a photo of them together and both said "Sure" and so we were able to take photos of Katia and Ilia together! I was the happiest girl on the world! I never thought I´ll ever have the chance to do this! They were both really nice to us. I had a bit bad conscience to be there in the hotel, but they both seemed to be used to it and that it was ok for them. But I´m not sure if I´m right. When we got to our hotel that night I barely was able to sleep. I was so excited of all things that happend so I got very little sleep that night! The next morning, we went to the practice again, but unfortunatly Ilia didn´t show up. But Katia was there and Kati Witt, Victor Kraatz, Steven Cousins so it was nice there, too. After practice, we met Susanne and Rita again and Susanne organized it that we were able to sit in the front row! I´ve NEVER sit in the first row before, it was so exciting. You really could feel the wind of the skater when they skated in front of us! In the opening, Ilia stand nearly in front of us, but my camera didn´t worked at that moment :-( All skaters seemed to be a bit better on Sunday, I liked the show better than that on Saturday. Ilia was amazing again. Maybe it was more special because we sat in the first row. All elements of Ilia seem to be extragood. He hadn´t any mistakes at the jumps this day. He was just - I can´t descripe it in English. I think I even wouldn´t be able to descripe it in German! I´m sorry!
After the show, we were waiting at the exit of the arena, waiting for the skaters. We got an autograph of Steven Cousins. Than, Ilia and Katia came out! Susanne wanted to have an autograph of Ilia but wasn´t able to get it herself because she had to go home. So I asked him to sign her photo and got an autograpg for myself, too! He was very kind to the fans, waiting out there. I got also an autograph of Katia, so I was extra happy! I asked Ilia to take a photo together with me and he said yes, sure! LOL, I was so happy! I don´t know how I´m looking on this photo ;-) And since it was very dark outside I don´t know if you can see anything on it. But I stand next to Ilia, that´s enough!
When the car with Ilia, Katia and some other skaters left, ilia waved us out of the window! That was extra-nice!
WOW, this weekend was soooooooooo great! I´ll never forget it! I´m still "High" of all the things that happend there!
LOL, one funny thing at the end of my report: when we got to the train station the next morning they played "Green Tomatoes" there!!!!! I´d never heard the music before and now I heard it everywhere! But I´m not crazy, Karin heard it too!
So this was my report! I hope you are able to understand it! I know my English is bad. If you have any questions to me, just ask me!
A warm goodbye to everybody!
Luise
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