eswc recollection: day 1
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I kind of failed to do anything I was meant to do.. photos, blog, irc ¬_¬ In part because I was expecting wlan everywhere (was only press room), and I only found the press room on the end of day 2 (and everything for ut2004 except the final was played)
Day 1:
Everything up to getting off the plane was easy, then the fun began. First was figuring out wheretf my baggage came off, eventually worked out it was at the last baggage carrousel, not the first. Then hunting for the exit and the metro, the illustrious "gate 20" which I think was actually pretty close to the baggage area but seperate by a thin wall.. walked all around the terminal. Got on the bus to the CDG metro, bought an RER ticket and walked down to the platform. I kid not, there was a distinct smell of warm shit at the platform and all along the RER, DvO said his RER was fine, maybe I was just unlucky. Was supposed to meet ODEE at Gare du Nord but called and found out he was already at the event. Stayed on the RER to chatelet (I don't remember it actually stopping at GDN, not all trains stop everywhere, guess I got lucky). Found my way to the metro line #1 and got off at "Louvire rivoli" assuming this was close to the louvre.. it wasn't..
Walked out of the metro station and I'm on some street in Paris and I have no idea wheretf I am, walked a 100m in one direction then saw a roadsign which had Louvre on it, so I turned around and walked 200m in the other direction. It said turn right, so I did, I keep on in this direction through the royal garden and find a church. I'm not a tad lost and ask a french girl if she knows where the glass pyramid is, she says no, so much for the french knowing their own city! Found a bus map and found out I had walked in completely the wrong direction from my station and was a good deal away. Set off in the true direction of the louvre and a while later I found it. Now to find the glass pyramid which looks like it would be alot more easier to find in the photos.
Eeny meeny miney mo, left I went. Bad choice, ended up doing a 270* walk around the outside of the louvre, but found the glass pyramid, called ODEE to find out wheretf to go, found the very-unobstructive-can-barely-find stairs that go into the Carrousel. Finding the event now was piss, went to go register. Got my pass and hunted for the iTG stand, found it. Saw ReDeYe on there who I knew and almost walked up to it to say Hi in the middle of the lauke/astz cast, I must of been dehydrated and delerious :\. Sat down behind carmac and started sorting myself out, in retrospect I hadn't stopped moving since leaving the airplane and had walked, RER'd, metro'd and walked more across paris on a warmish day (too warm for a hoody, heh), I must of looked pretty rough. Shake hands with carmac and ODEE and watch what was left of UT2004 groupstage 1. I'm not 100% on this memory, someone behind me said hello and kept trying to prounounce their name, I think it was Zeta but after 4 or 5 attempts still couldn't hear him, and I *think* magix (or rmzs) explained it, I said hi and turned back around to finish sorting myself out..
Lesson learned that day, take more breaks while travelling to tidy yourself up and drink etc, especially before entering an event for the first time.
Groupstage 1 was over, a few of us (me, astz, rmzs, forseti, odee) were thirsty so went to find a drink, DvO was just arriving and we met up with him above ground. Went to a bar (7eur for a pint!) and after abit me, dvo, odee split up with the rest to go find our hotel and sort our shit out. checked in, picked beds, dumped stuff, and spent the rest of the evening talking etc then slept. Well, I didn't sleep, I was thirsty/dehydrated to fuck and hadn't eaten anything cept some pringles, that and odee/dvo's snoring and a pillow that made paper look fat it wasn't a pretty night for me ¬_¬.
Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4, the end
Day 1:
Everything up to getting off the plane was easy, then the fun began. First was figuring out wheretf my baggage came off, eventually worked out it was at the last baggage carrousel, not the first. Then hunting for the exit and the metro, the illustrious "gate 20" which I think was actually pretty close to the baggage area but seperate by a thin wall.. walked all around the terminal. Got on the bus to the CDG metro, bought an RER ticket and walked down to the platform. I kid not, there was a distinct smell of warm shit at the platform and all along the RER, DvO said his RER was fine, maybe I was just unlucky. Was supposed to meet ODEE at Gare du Nord but called and found out he was already at the event. Stayed on the RER to chatelet (I don't remember it actually stopping at GDN, not all trains stop everywhere, guess I got lucky). Found my way to the metro line #1 and got off at "Louvire rivoli" assuming this was close to the louvre.. it wasn't..
Walked out of the metro station and I'm on some street in Paris and I have no idea wheretf I am, walked a 100m in one direction then saw a roadsign which had Louvre on it, so I turned around and walked 200m in the other direction. It said turn right, so I did, I keep on in this direction through the royal garden and find a church. I'm not a tad lost and ask a french girl if she knows where the glass pyramid is, she says no, so much for the french knowing their own city! Found a bus map and found out I had walked in completely the wrong direction from my station and was a good deal away. Set off in the true direction of the louvre and a while later I found it. Now to find the glass pyramid which looks like it would be alot more easier to find in the photos.
Eeny meeny miney mo, left I went. Bad choice, ended up doing a 270* walk around the outside of the louvre, but found the glass pyramid, called ODEE to find out wheretf to go, found the very-unobstructive-can-barely-find stairs that go into the Carrousel. Finding the event now was piss, went to go register. Got my pass and hunted for the iTG stand, found it. Saw ReDeYe on there who I knew and almost walked up to it to say Hi in the middle of the lauke/astz cast, I must of been dehydrated and delerious :\. Sat down behind carmac and started sorting myself out, in retrospect I hadn't stopped moving since leaving the airplane and had walked, RER'd, metro'd and walked more across paris on a warmish day (too warm for a hoody, heh), I must of looked pretty rough. Shake hands with carmac and ODEE and watch what was left of UT2004 groupstage 1. I'm not 100% on this memory, someone behind me said hello and kept trying to prounounce their name, I think it was Zeta but after 4 or 5 attempts still couldn't hear him, and I *think* magix (or rmzs) explained it, I said hi and turned back around to finish sorting myself out..
Lesson learned that day, take more breaks while travelling to tidy yourself up and drink etc, especially before entering an event for the first time.
Groupstage 1 was over, a few of us (me, astz, rmzs, forseti, odee) were thirsty so went to find a drink, DvO was just arriving and we met up with him above ground. Went to a bar (7eur for a pint!) and after abit me, dvo, odee split up with the rest to go find our hotel and sort our shit out. checked in, picked beds, dumped stuff, and spent the rest of the evening talking etc then slept. Well, I didn't sleep, I was thirsty/dehydrated to fuck and hadn't eaten anything cept some pringles, that and odee/dvo's snoring and a pillow that made paper look fat it wasn't a pretty night for me ¬_¬.
Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4, the end
Edited by therogue at 13:15 GMT, 11th Jul 2005 - 2609 Hits