London

After a very bad start to our stay in Paris, we spent the a good chunk of the following day at the embassy getting an emergency passport so that I would be able to travel to London.  Luckily things were sorted out rather smoothly and afterwards we went back to the police station to see if there was anything else we could do regarding my stolen bag.  We waited there for a long time before we found out that I would be better off going to the "lost and found" office and reporting it there.  I have yet to do that (it's on the list for tomorrow morning) but I'm hoping that if it's on their radar that they'll notify me with any developments.

The remainder of the day wasn't too exciting.  I was still tired and emotionally drained and the weather wasn't really that great either.  However we did take our time walking around some of the less touristy neighborhoods and discovered a rather nice part of town; we enjoyed talking and just being together.  It turned out to be a relaxing day and just what I needed before my adventure to London.

For those of you who are wondering why I decided to make a day trip to London, I went to see Alex compete at the olympic test event.  Through a series of fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it) events, he ended up being selected to represent USA at the competition.  The combination of the last-minute timing with the disappearance of my bag led to a scrambling effort to get things sorted out, but I was able to make it happen.  I woke up early and made my way to the train station to catch the chunnel (train that goes across the English Channel) to London.  It was an easy ride and it's funny because it takes two and a half hours but the actual tunnel part only lasts for 20 minutes.  The train moves at such a high speed that things are just wizzing by and it's almost impossible to tell what's what.

I arrived in London around 11am and immediately began to manipulate the underground system to get to the hostel I was staying at.  Along the way I grabbed lunch and eventually I made it to an outlying suburb of London.  After some research I decided to kill time by heading out to Buckingham Palace.  It took me awhile to find it but I was able to see many things along the way.  I didn't have too much time before I had to find O2 Arena (where the event was held) and my journey took me much longer than expected due to my choice to walk there.  About an hour after I began I finally walked up to the doors of a very large complex.  It was a little intimidating and my heart was pounding because I was so excited to be there...not only to see a gymnastics competition in the olympic venue, but to see Alex compete there as well!  The session I walked in on finished up and then there was a break before it was time for USA to take the floor.  This competition served as a qualifier for some teams, but USA had a strong showing at world championships so Alex and his teammate Steve were just there for experience and to feel out the equipment and the arena.

Just as a reminder, I haven't seen my friends since last February (except on Skype, but that doesn't really count) and watching Alex walk out onto the floor of the olympic venue was just amazing.  Basically, my best friend is cooler than any of yours and I would like to think that I'm cool by association, haha.  USA started on vault before moving onto pbars where Alex had a really clean routine even though there were some weird timing things that happened in the warmup that could have thrown him off.  I stayed where I was to watch high bar and floor but then decided to move so that I could see the last two events more clearly.

I ended up next to a really nice British couple and they gave some colorful commentary and made the experience that much more enjoyable.  Alex didn't know where I was sitting but I was able to grab his attention after he finished up on his last event and I think this made both of us really excited.  Through mouthing and hand motions we were able to agree on a time to meet and I left the arena to find my way to his hotel.  I was reading in the lobby when he came down and I couldn't believe he was finally right there in front of me and that I was able to hug him!  I think I may have done so more than once before we made it out the door to find some food.  We ended up at a mexican place and even though we only had an hour and a half (he had curfew, haha) it was fantastic.  I was so, so happy and it just made me feel that much better about my decision to make the trip.  Because it was late and he is a gentleman, he got me a cab back to my room so I wouldn't have to worry about manipulating the bus system.  I got back around midnight and immediately crashed, happy as a clam.

I can't believe that I was able to sit in the olympic venue...it's not as bad-ass as competing there but it's as close as I'll get.  Something that is cool that we sorted out last night is that only seven americans will get to compete in that arena and Alex was one of them, wooo!  That was an "I know him" moment I'm proud of :)  I made it back to Paris safe and sound reallyyyyy early this morning (I got up at 4am) and am exhausted so the tale of our adventures from today are going to have to wait.