DIVA.CHRONICLES : WEG Day One

Yay FIRST DAY OF WEG!!

The bad thing is that today was kind of hard. First off, the first round of individual dressage, and the team dressage started at 8 am. So I had to wake up at 5:30. After going to bed at 11:00. Being jet lagged so I couldn't sleep. Plus we had noisy neighbors. It was not a great combination. So I was tired off the bat and really never recovered.

Then we tried to go to the train station to find the free shuttle the the Games - you'd think that'd be easy, no? A HUGE event with thousands of people, but we still walked around the train station for 20 minutes before realizing the station was right under our noses. We GOT to the shuttle at 7:45-8:00 - not ideal but the person we wanted to see first didn't go until 9:55. But then we waited. And waited. Made friends with some Australians. Waited some more. Finally at 8:45 a bus finally came, but the 10-15 minute ride took so long, we didn't get to our seats until 9:15 or so (Mother was not a happy camper). From there it was good. It didn't rain much, a woman we know from MacNairs was there so we had a friend all day, and the dressage was mostly good. Its funny that even at this level of competition, there are they superstars, the average people, and then some people who you wonder if they are really one of the best riders in their country. I like dressage, but I'm glad that today (Wednesday) we will only be watching the top 30 (they cut 70).

I've been feeling a little weird since I arrived here. Caen is nice enough, but really lacks the charm that so many French cities have, because it was so badly bombed in WW2. The Games themselves are not what they've been in the past either. You can't watch the warmups, schooling, people grazing, or look at the barns. You are just stuck in a stadium all day. Even the Games Village which has all the shopping on off site near the reining, para-dressage, and driving (aka everything we DON'T have tickets to), so you literally have nothing to do if you need a break or to stretch your legs. The food in the stadium sucks, which to me, is a real shame because there are some people who - that stadium food will be a majority of what they eat while at the Games and they won't experience the amazing food that France has to offer. The days are longer than I thought they would be, from 6:00-6:00 because you have to include travel time, and then that doesn't give you much time to relax before you have to go eat for 2 hours at 8:00.

I'm writing this Wednesday AM - I got more sleep last night (6 hours!) so here's to hoping today is a little better than yesterday.

See some of my favorites from today: