Today was exhibitions. It was a 3 hour show including the closing ceremonies and was a lot of fun. The closing ceremonies was short but had great colorful costumed skaters. I've never been to one of these but found it very uplifting & pleasing.

Most of the programs will be on TV on Thursday (check Heather's TV schedule) so I'll just write a few notes. Laurent Tobel did a messy but fun version of his LP and Yagudin did a messy version of his SP. He also did an exhibition to a hip-hop rap piece. He even did a cartwheel, it was fun. Lyons and Wells were first and did a great job with "Everybody Jam." Elena Sokolova skated to Latin piece with a title something like "Que Bonita" She was very cute as always. Xue & Hongbo skated to a soprano Italian opera aria perhaps from Madame Butterfly. She fell on the huge throw but I think he just tossed her a little too high and far! Yikes!

Laetitia had her hair down and actually looked nice. Her piece I didn't recognize but also sounded like it was in Italian (tenor). Lobacheva & Averbukh did their OD which is the only program of theirs that I like. Krylova & Ovsiannikov did the end of their FD and had lots of trouble getting the right music to start, oops! They also did Malaguena later in the program. Fusar-Poli & Margaglio even had a table with chairs set up and Gilberto Viadana played the waiter. They skated to a nice duet version of "Unforgettable" (Nat & Natalie Cole). Zaggy skated to a fun piece, it was mostly synthesizers and percussion. Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze did two programs (yeah!) I hope they both get on TV. So far the only one I've seen has been the Barcelona one but they also did the Rachmaninov program today. It is the same piece that Katia skated to last season but this version is arranged for 2 violins (or 1 vln and 1 viola) and piano. It was so gorgeous, I think it is my favorite program of theirs yet. Schwarz & Mueller did a Rock n' Roll piece with lyrics like "Ain't Gonna Tell Ya" (I think) They both wore black pants, white shirts and black ties (reminiscent of Brasseur & Eisler's Blues Brothers costumes)

The rest will probably be on TV but there were 2 other highlights before I wrap this up. Michelle and Todd skated to new programs (probably for tour) They both got standing ovations but Todd's was the biggest of the afternoon! You'll have to wait and watch them for yourselves! :) BTW, watch out for Plushenko......

The week in review: I have many of the same things to say that Heather wrote at the end of Nationals. It was more exciting that I thought and I am SO glad I went. It seemed expensive but considering I had 10 full days of thrills and adventures I can definitely say it was well worth it! The absolute highlights were meeting Michelle and Dorothy Hamill for sure.

Another thing that was great to see was how the skaters all seemed to get along so well with each other. Most all of them speak English so we could all communicate well. They were mostly all very gracious and accessible. I saw famous people everywhere I went it seemed. I had a great time and am glad I stayed up late writing these reports. I will love to reread them again over the years! Thanks for reading!