Davis Cup 2000 Final
- Barcelona -
by Susan
I have so many wonderful memories of the
trip. It was a wonderful reunion with the Nice babblers, and it was great to
meet so many new babblers. Although I won't miss the process of organizing the
"group dinners" each evening, I will miss having dinner with all of
you. The conversation each evening was highly entertaining. I have especially
fond memories of my conversation with Bee and Wendy at dinner on Sunday night.
Seeing the Aussies lose was not as much fun, but I was so proud of the team,
and of the way they and their fans handled themselves. Although I have many
fond memories of Spain, they do not include the behavior of the Spanish fans
at the arena. It was disgraceful, for the most part. One of my fondest
memories, however, was a moment after we left the arena on Saturday night.
There is a spectacular fountain in front of the Olympic building. The fountain
changes colors and the water changes direction to the tune of a waltz (we
think by Strauss). It's hard to explain unless you actually see it. There were
several Spanish people who had joined hands in a circle and were dancing to
the waltz. They invited us to join them, and it was wonderful to join hands
with them and dance in front of that spectacular fountain. It was a beautiful
moment.
Unfortunately, we did not always have such a wonderful relationship with the
Spanish. A tourist in Barcelona must always be vigilant for pickpockets and
other trouble. We had several scary incidents, and some babblers actually were
robbed. The area at the lower part of the Las Rambles was the worst, and Jody
and I had a terrible experience trying to walk back to the hotel one night.
After being accosted, we literally ran back to the Irish Winds and got some of
the Fanatics to walk us back to the hotel. After that we learned to take cabs,
particularly late at night (or early in the morning).
Still, I found Barcelona to be a beautiful city. I fell in love with Gaudi. I
think Park Guell is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The
architecture in the city is amazing, and I'm glad we had some time to explore
the city, in addition to the tennis.
The Babbler excursions to Montserrat and Figueroa were wonderful, too. Thanks
to Astrid and Diane for arranging them. They both did a great job. I have some
wonderful pics from both trips, including a picture of all of us at the top of
the mountain at Montserrat. There just happened to be a group of Fanatics up
there (we couldn't escape them -- or they couldn't escape us -- even at 5,000
feet), and one of the guys offered to take pictures of us with our cameras.
One of my fondest memories is of meeting Jocelyn Rafter on Sunday morning.
Robyn arranged for a few of us to meet with her, and I was included because of
the work I have done with the Rafter forgeries. (Thank you, Robyn.) She is the
most delightful woman. She spent an hour or so with us, thanked us profusely
for all that we do for Pat and kissed us all goodbye. I saw her a little
later, and she made a point of waiving at me. A few minutes later, Pat got out
of a car, kissed both his Mum and Dad and then headed into the hotel. He
obviously has a wonderful relationship with his parents.
Jocelyn did mention that Pat will be modifying his claycourt schedule next
year. He probably will play only the French Open and one lead-up tournament.
She said she would make sure Robyn gets a copy of his schedule soon. This info
may be helpful to those of you planning to attend the lead-up tournaments to
the French Open.
Another fond memory is the player's party. It was very different from Nice
and, even though the team had lost, they partied as though they had won. It
was wonderful to see the unity of the team and their team spirit. We had
advance word from Astrid as to where the team would be coming in, so a number
of us were quite close to the "action." It was a lot of fun. I
thought Kim and Lleyton were absolutely adorable, and Pat and Lara looked
quite smitten, too. One of my favorite moments was seeing Lara and Kim hugging
and dancing together. They seemed to be having a blast, and it was wonderful
to see that.
It also was wonderful to see Pat having a good time. I know it was a very
stressful and disappointing weekend for him, but he took the microphone and
gave a tribute to Newk and Rochey. It was very touching.
There were many wonderful moments during the 10 days -- too many to mention,
don't worry. :) Among them were seeing the Flamenco dancing on Wednesday
night, the "last supper" on Monday night with Sheena, Marce, Joelle
and Marjolein, and partying again with the Rafterless girls, Joanie, Kathy and
Catherine, and Vera. It's hard to believe that a year had gone by since our
last meeting.
All in all, it was a wonderful experience -- one that I will always treasure.
Thank you again, Robyn, for making this possible. It was great to see
"old" faces, and to meet "new" ones. The Babblers are a
terrific group of people.
Another wonderful memory is of seeing my sons waiting for me to get off the
shuttle bus. They were jumping up and down, so excited, and the people on the
bus were laughing at them. They were so funny. The minute I got off the bus,
they jumped on me and were hugging me. It was so good to see them. They had
made a banner saying "Welcome Home, Mom," that I saw the minute I
got in the house. It's good to be home.
Susan
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