Spain - Italy - New York!

May and June found me on a total travel frenzy, so I've decided to combine the blog posts and pictures together to end the season for us. The best World Cup of the season is definitely Madrid. It has everything I could ask for. A perfectly well run competition, great hotel, beautiful weather and amazing friends. I know I've mentioned this several times before but this trip wouldn't be the same without our Spanish friends. They welcome us to their country like family. We've acquired our usual spots when it came to dining and social hour and made sure there was an evening out at the Restaurant 'Campeon'. Their specialty....garlic mushrooms with jamon. Mixed into the evening was some really funny karaoke....especially when Olympic Medallist Tim Morehouse (USA) did 'his' version of 'New York, New York'!!!

Sorry Tim, almost as good as Ol' Blue Eyes! I know I make this all sound like a vacation but really its not. We are only allowed a few days and nights off during training and curfew this trip was 11pm. Not easy, especially when the Spanish don't serve dinner until that hour. I did manage to make it to my first bullfight though, and what a scene it was! Talk about tradition....this is dating back hundreds of years and I can swear everything from the stadium to the dress and the actions of killing the bull haven't changed since the beginning. There are a few good pictures to tell the story of my week.

The week later took us to Padova, Italy. A tiny town tucked quietly 40min outside of Venice. I really don't have many exciting adventures from Padova since we were only there for 4 days. It was nothing but resting in our hotel, eating thin crust pizza from the corner store and preparing for the competition. One thing the Italians do know how to do is put on a classy competition. Sponsored by Luxardo and Porsche, it makes love at first sight that much more possible. See picture of me and Mr. Luxardo, the nicest man in the entire world!

Finally, after spending a week at home we made our way to New York for a training camp and the final competition of the season. With some connections (yes, fencers can be somewhat cool) we managed to stay at the New York Athletic Club while training that week. Located at the base of Central Park its the perfect location for doing anything you want. If you haven't been, Central Park is the utmost happiest and energetic park I've ever had the pleasure to run in. The amount of people using it for personal exercises, team rec-sports, horse back riding, sitting in the meadow having lunch and sun-bathing or taking a carousel ride (like Kyle and I did) is nothing but outstanding. It truly is a heavenly place. And what is New York without a celebrity sighting....in my case walking into a tiny late-night dive bar in Soho and having a drink and conversation with Lady Gaga. Priceless!

As for fencing....I had 1 out of 3 good competitions to finish off the season. I must say a little disappointing from the strong and confident beginning I had. Keeping that feeling up for 6 months is hard, and now that I've had the experience of winning more it doesn't feel good not to win all the time. In short, I don't like losing. Especially with thousands and thousands of training hours behind me. But again, that is why I love it too! I must give thanks to those who helped me through the season even with the tiniest of efforts. Coach Mirkin, Rhonzin and Becker....my massage and physio girls Sandy and Sandra.....Pilate's specialist Amy Brown....my nutritionist Trionne Moore and of course my parents for worrying about me every trip! Its been a two week break and I've had the time to reflect a lot and relax my body and mind. But a break should only last so long and with next season being the pre-Olympic year there is much work ahead. I also feel a lifestyle change is in order. Life is good and I'm learning to accept certain things about myself. Could that actually be called maturity.....you never know, so stay tuned my friends. Thanks for reading and see you in September.