Merlin Trip : Report and Pics // BFI Screening
Now that internet is finally back, I can write my report about one of the best trip of my life so far =D
Just to remind you where I went
Weekend 4 and 5th of September in London and on Sunday, I went to the BFI screening with my two friends Nats and Stace.
Monday, 6th of September : off to Paris with Nats and we were joined by Yasmin in the Paris Nord Station ^^ and then it was off to Compiegne
We stayed until the 9th of September.
I am aware that I have already written a report for the BFI (well sort of, it was incomplete) but I think I'll start it all over again with pics added this time ^^
So this is how my trip started. I arrived far too early in the Strasbourg train station (yeah because I always fear of arriving to late and miss my train...) but I had taken with me a Merlin novel *yep it was time to get into the mood of the trip ^^* "Poisoned Chalice" *if you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it, especieally if you love Merlin/Arthur =D *
Anyway, I went aboard the train about an hour later and then I listened to some music while the train was off to Paris ^^
I arrived in Paris an hour before my Eurostar was here so I just had enough time to eat something ^^
On the train, I watched "the witchfinder" and then read a bit of a fiction that I can't remember the title but that I refer to it as "Merlin future fic" I hope I can find the link again so I can write my review for the fic, maybe one of you can help me, it's about Merlin going back in time to prevent a war in the future between Camelot and the Druids. Merlin becomes Arthur's tutor (who is 14 the first time they meet) .
Anyway, back to the trip.
I arrived in London St Pancras station around 12 pm and then I immediately went off to the tube station to go to my hotel (ok, maybe not immediately as I may have gotten a bit lost while looking for the right tube I had to take ... I blame it on the tiredness )
I arrived safely at the bed and breakfast "Dover Castle" (as if you were interested where I stayed in XD ) and after the guy at the reception had forgotten to give me my key, I finally manage to go to my room. I had little accident and pinched my finger in the door and though I was doomed, but it wasn't too bad and was definitely not going to stop me from going to the screening the day after. I went in bed shortly after that and slept quite well.
On the Sunday, I woke up early (yeah because of time differences I suppose) and so I tried my best to sleep a bit more but I was too excited for the day that I decided to get up and prepare.
I left the hotel shortly after receiving a text from Nats telling me that she and Stace had just taken their train to Waterloo station.
About 30 minutes later, I finally found them and it was so great to see them again =D Nats then told me that there was a signing before the screening which was really exciting ^^
Then we were off to the screening.
When we arrived, people were queuing, Nats went to get posters for all 3 of us (ok it was the photoshoped promo pic with Morgana on top, no comment... ) and so we waited.
and waited.... and waited....
Then we heard some movement above us and it was Bradley and Andreas who were performing some sword fighting ^^ I did not get to see much of it but it was great to see it anyway =D
A few minutes later, I spotted Roxane !!!! It is always great to meet people with whom you've been talking for while on msn (and having the craziest converstaion usually ending in the gutter or starting in the gutter, it all depends lol ) we hugged (yep because, contrary to Arthur we like hugs ! I guess that could be an explaination why we're Colin Girls, because Merlin likes to hug too ^^) I showed her the t-shirt I was wearing, yep I dared wearing my "Merthur Goddess" t-shirt as I had promised I would ^^ . She showed me the one her friend did for her with the manip I had done on Sony Vegas. For those who wonder what manip it is, there you go :
Then, she told us about her meeting with Colin and how he had said her name *I admit it , I was a bit jealous *
While the queu was not moving much, we quickly understood that we wouldn't get on time for the signing and so we went closer to at least take a few pics of our lovely cast ^^ First Nats went, and in the meantime Andreas came just above us and was teaching sword practice to children which was really adorable. Then there were also older fans who wanted to try their hands at the sword ^^
While I was watching the sword training, two girls came to me to tell me that they loved my t-shirt =D It's always great to meet other Merlin/Arthur Girls =D
Then it was my turn to go take a few pics of our lovely cast while they were still busy making their fans happy ^^
I would have liked Colin to be closer to the edge of the table since I'm a Colin Girl ^^ but being close to Bradley was not bad at all and I must say that I have fallen for his laughter even if I did not hear what the security guy said that was so funny I couldn't stop myself from laughing along ^^
I think I must have a gift for taking pics when people wouldn't want me to lol but what can I say I just love this one too much even if it's a bit blurry. And if I remember well Braldey was having a quite animated (in a good way) chat with a fan ^^
Oh and doesn't Angel look so sweet in the BG ? ^^
I really love this pic because we can see them all (well not all because Johnny and Julian are hidden behind Anthony) and Bradley makes me melt for some unknown reasons here ^^
So we were finally coming closer to the signing table when they announced they would be done in about 30 minutes. At that point, we did not have much hope left but we stayed in the queue anyway.
But as we expected it, we did not get there in time, but we still managed to get two autographs, I chose Colin and Bradley, I think Stace took Bradley and Angel, and Nats took Richard and Colin but I'm not entirely sure. Anyway, we saw them off. Bradley was asked if they would return afterward for another signing and he said *fingers crossed*
Erm, yeah, as I said earlier, I sometimes take strange pics, but I'm sure that no one is going to complain about this one hehe ^^
See you later Bradley ^^
Then we all headed to the hall where we were going to watch the episodes. There were two halls because of the succes of the event and the amount of people who were there. With Nats and Stace we were really hoping that we would be in the hall where there would be the q&a afterwards and when we took our seats, the two big cameras next to me kinda confirmed that we would get to see the q&a ^^
So we sat and then waited. It was really exciting for me because it was my very first time at a screening ever so I was squeeing inside and also a bit outside but not too much, I did not want people to think French fans are strange lol
Before seeing the episodes, a guy and a woman (sorry I can't seem to remember their names if ever anyone knows, please enlighten me ^^) introduced the event *as if we did not know why we had come there lol* and also talked about the screening of the previous year and the reactions of the fans in two words "squee" and "slash dragon" (ok I know that's three words but two expressions then because I doubt that I would find "Squee" in a dictionnary if I searched for it *goes to dictionnary* I did not find it, if any of you does find it in a dictionnary I would love to know about it ^^ )
That of course got cheers from the audience, I suspect that there were quite a lot of us who knew what "slash dragon" was refering too hehe
Then, it was time to reward winners of contest about writing a story, prizes were collector books and posters signed by the whole cast =D
We also had a pop quizz Merlin style, if I remember, these were the questions :
"What was the name of the druid girl Merlin fell in love with? " Freya
"What was the name of the dark knights Morgause woke up to take over Camelot" The Knight of Medhir (not sure of the spelling here :s )
"What was the name of the druid who convinced morgana to steat a chrystal?" Alvar
"What was the name of the said crystal?" Niurted (again not sure of the spelling)
I don't remember if there were any other questions. I tried to win one of the prizes but apparently I need to learn a few things about wooing a beautiful blond woman XD
Anyway, after that the guy made a sort of recap summary of series 2 to make sure we were ready for series 3 (I am really sorry but I can't remember the summary, I just remember having laughed almost all along )
Then the cast came in and took their seat in the back of the room, waving at their fans as they climbed up the stairs ^^
The only thing I am going to say about the screening is that I would love to watch our lovely boys on the big screen every time !!!!!! Gosh, the little screen of my laptop really isn't enough now compared to that lol
I really enjoyed both episodes, laughed, smiled, cried a little (yeah because I'm sensitive, so what ) and some scenes really scared me. I know not many of you have seen the second episode yet so I won't write any spoilers. But I really enjoyed watching both episodes as if it was a movie on the big screen, I really hope I can renew the experience if there is a screening next year *fingers crossed*
I'm sure you have already read many reports of the q&a so I won't developp too much and just post my best pics of it ^^
Thoughtful girls ^^ Katie was really beautiful in her dress, I'm sometimes really jealous of her lol (as probably many others lol ) Angel looked beautiful as well (even if she's looking really serious on this pic )
All of them were quite thoughtful on that day ^^
and there are moments when I really hate my camera for going blurry at the wrong moment... This is the only time I actually managed to catch a moment when Bradley is looking at Colin, argh better buy a new camera for next year lol
Yay for smiling cast =D I wonder what Colin and Bradley are looking at lol
Johnny showing where a few members of the crew are sitting in the audience ^^
I am so in love with this picture *stares for a while*
looking at Bradley's face there, I just can't help thinking of the lyrics "we're not gonna live in fear" XD yeah I know, a bit stupid lol
I Love Colin's thoughtful expression there ^^
If I remember well, that's when Bradley got really animated as he was talking about sword fights, hehe I love Colin's smile there *.*
Awwww Smiley Boys =D
hehe as I said earlier, sometimes my camera takes strange pics, Bradley's face while explaining what he is explaining ,yeah because I can't remember what it was,can you blame me when you see how Gorgeous Colin looked ? ^^
I love it when the girls are looking at the boys ^^
I did not actually catch it with with my camera but at one moment Colin was looking in my direction for a bit, at first I had not noticed because I was looking at Katie who was talking, but then I felt as if observed you know and I turned and Colin was looking at me, I think it must have been because of my t-shirt lol
Katie spotted it as well at one moment, because she was looking at the audience in our direction then she stopped and it was as if she was reading something then she looked up and smiled at me =D Hehe I was sure she would approve hehe ^^
Bradley and his faithful ring ^^
Bradley's handmoves are too fast for my camera lol
Yes, Katie came make funny faces too =D
This one makes me and Nats laugh because of Bradley's look lol
I love it when Colin makes this face, I have a similar pic from the london expo ^^
Bye Bye !
After the screening, we squeed like crazy fangirls with Roxanne about all the Merlin and Arthur scenes (I won't say which ones because the majority of them are in episode 2 )
Then we waited to hopefully see the cast one last time but the security guy asked us to leave.
With Nats and Stace we decided to wait a bit longer outside and we did goo because we saw them all off :
First Bradley who was with his mother *awwww ^^* , then Colin who waved at us before going in the car, then it was Angel who waved at us too, then Richard who stayed a bit longer, he is such a lovely man, I am not Brittish so I'm not aware of how a legend he is but I really love him and it was really nice of him to accept signing our items ^^
I was really hoping to see Katie and be able to give her the dvd my friends and I made for her. It was a mission and I was determined to fulfil it ^^ She arrived shortly after Richard, so I took my chance and walked to her. She was surrounded by people who wanted an autograph so I waited patiently, then she was close enough so I handed her the dvd and said "With my friends we made this for you" and she smiled and said "thank you very much" and I just smiled back because I did not know what else to say. She waved one last time in our direction before climbing in the car. I was really ecstatic after that because I had fulfilled my mission, my friend Destiny and Chicken would be proud of me =D If you wonder what was on the dvd, here is the first video and the second. I also wrote a little message to Katie on behalf of my friends and I ^^
Shortly after, Anthony arrived and he stayed for a good ten minutes =D He accepted signing and taking pics with people so I asked him kindly (or at least I hope it was kindly ) he smiled and said "sure" , I aslo think he spotted my t-shirt lol, now I have a proof that King Uther approves =D hehe I'm really proud of myself for having dared wearing the t-shirt lol
Oh and I actually couldn't stop laughing, because he was giggling just a bit before this pic was taken hence my big smile =D also I was really happy but I guess I don't need to precise that lol
Anthony and Nats ^^
Anthony and Stace ^^
Then it was time for Nats and Stace to go back home, so we headed towards the station and hugged, I really hope I can see you again soon Stace it was really great spending the day with you two again =D
Later, I took a long walk along the Thames ^^
It was an eventful Sunday, and I surely slept very well that night thinking of what was coming next =D
Just to remind you where I went
Weekend 4 and 5th of September in London and on Sunday, I went to the BFI screening with my two friends Nats and Stace.
Monday, 6th of September : off to Paris with Nats and we were joined by Yasmin in the Paris Nord Station ^^ and then it was off to Compiegne
We stayed until the 9th of September.
I am aware that I have already written a report for the BFI (well sort of, it was incomplete) but I think I'll start it all over again with pics added this time ^^
So this is how my trip started. I arrived far too early in the Strasbourg train station (yeah because I always fear of arriving to late and miss my train...) but I had taken with me a Merlin novel *yep it was time to get into the mood of the trip ^^* "Poisoned Chalice" *if you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it, especieally if you love Merlin/Arthur =D *
Anyway, I went aboard the train about an hour later and then I listened to some music while the train was off to Paris ^^
I arrived in Paris an hour before my Eurostar was here so I just had enough time to eat something ^^
On the train, I watched "the witchfinder" and then read a bit of a fiction that I can't remember the title but that I refer to it as "Merlin future fic" I hope I can find the link again so I can write my review for the fic, maybe one of you can help me, it's about Merlin going back in time to prevent a war in the future between Camelot and the Druids. Merlin becomes Arthur's tutor (who is 14 the first time they meet) .
Anyway, back to the trip.
I arrived in London St Pancras station around 12 pm and then I immediately went off to the tube station to go to my hotel (ok, maybe not immediately as I may have gotten a bit lost while looking for the right tube I had to take ... I blame it on the tiredness )
I arrived safely at the bed and breakfast "Dover Castle" (as if you were interested where I stayed in XD ) and after the guy at the reception had forgotten to give me my key, I finally manage to go to my room. I had little accident and pinched my finger in the door and though I was doomed, but it wasn't too bad and was definitely not going to stop me from going to the screening the day after. I went in bed shortly after that and slept quite well.
On the Sunday, I woke up early (yeah because of time differences I suppose) and so I tried my best to sleep a bit more but I was too excited for the day that I decided to get up and prepare.
I left the hotel shortly after receiving a text from Nats telling me that she and Stace had just taken their train to Waterloo station.
About 30 minutes later, I finally found them and it was so great to see them again =D Nats then told me that there was a signing before the screening which was really exciting ^^
Then we were off to the screening.
When we arrived, people were queuing, Nats went to get posters for all 3 of us (ok it was the photoshoped promo pic with Morgana on top, no comment... ) and so we waited.
and waited.... and waited....
Then we heard some movement above us and it was Bradley and Andreas who were performing some sword fighting ^^ I did not get to see much of it but it was great to see it anyway =D
A few minutes later, I spotted Roxane !!!! It is always great to meet people with whom you've been talking for while on msn (and having the craziest converstaion usually ending in the gutter or starting in the gutter, it all depends lol ) we hugged (yep because, contrary to Arthur we like hugs ! I guess that could be an explaination why we're Colin Girls, because Merlin likes to hug too ^^) I showed her the t-shirt I was wearing, yep I dared wearing my "Merthur Goddess" t-shirt as I had promised I would ^^ . She showed me the one her friend did for her with the manip I had done on Sony Vegas. For those who wonder what manip it is, there you go :
Then, she told us about her meeting with Colin and how he had said her name *I admit it , I was a bit jealous *
While the queu was not moving much, we quickly understood that we wouldn't get on time for the signing and so we went closer to at least take a few pics of our lovely cast ^^ First Nats went, and in the meantime Andreas came just above us and was teaching sword practice to children which was really adorable. Then there were also older fans who wanted to try their hands at the sword ^^
While I was watching the sword training, two girls came to me to tell me that they loved my t-shirt =D It's always great to meet other Merlin/Arthur Girls =D
Then it was my turn to go take a few pics of our lovely cast while they were still busy making their fans happy ^^
I would have liked Colin to be closer to the edge of the table since I'm a Colin Girl ^^ but being close to Bradley was not bad at all and I must say that I have fallen for his laughter even if I did not hear what the security guy said that was so funny I couldn't stop myself from laughing along ^^
I think I must have a gift for taking pics when people wouldn't want me to lol but what can I say I just love this one too much even if it's a bit blurry. And if I remember well Braldey was having a quite animated (in a good way) chat with a fan ^^
Oh and doesn't Angel look so sweet in the BG ? ^^
I really love this pic because we can see them all (well not all because Johnny and Julian are hidden behind Anthony) and Bradley makes me melt for some unknown reasons here ^^
So we were finally coming closer to the signing table when they announced they would be done in about 30 minutes. At that point, we did not have much hope left but we stayed in the queue anyway.
But as we expected it, we did not get there in time, but we still managed to get two autographs, I chose Colin and Bradley, I think Stace took Bradley and Angel, and Nats took Richard and Colin but I'm not entirely sure. Anyway, we saw them off. Bradley was asked if they would return afterward for another signing and he said *fingers crossed*
Erm, yeah, as I said earlier, I sometimes take strange pics, but I'm sure that no one is going to complain about this one hehe ^^
See you later Bradley ^^
Then we all headed to the hall where we were going to watch the episodes. There were two halls because of the succes of the event and the amount of people who were there. With Nats and Stace we were really hoping that we would be in the hall where there would be the q&a afterwards and when we took our seats, the two big cameras next to me kinda confirmed that we would get to see the q&a ^^
So we sat and then waited. It was really exciting for me because it was my very first time at a screening ever so I was squeeing inside and also a bit outside but not too much, I did not want people to think French fans are strange lol
Before seeing the episodes, a guy and a woman (sorry I can't seem to remember their names if ever anyone knows, please enlighten me ^^) introduced the event *as if we did not know why we had come there lol* and also talked about the screening of the previous year and the reactions of the fans in two words "squee" and "slash dragon" (ok I know that's three words but two expressions then because I doubt that I would find "Squee" in a dictionnary if I searched for it *goes to dictionnary* I did not find it, if any of you does find it in a dictionnary I would love to know about it ^^ )
That of course got cheers from the audience, I suspect that there were quite a lot of us who knew what "slash dragon" was refering too hehe
Then, it was time to reward winners of contest about writing a story, prizes were collector books and posters signed by the whole cast =D
We also had a pop quizz Merlin style, if I remember, these were the questions :
"What was the name of the druid girl Merlin fell in love with? " Freya
"What was the name of the dark knights Morgause woke up to take over Camelot" The Knight of Medhir (not sure of the spelling here :s )
"What was the name of the druid who convinced morgana to steat a chrystal?" Alvar
"What was the name of the said crystal?" Niurted (again not sure of the spelling)
I don't remember if there were any other questions. I tried to win one of the prizes but apparently I need to learn a few things about wooing a beautiful blond woman XD
Anyway, after that the guy made a sort of recap summary of series 2 to make sure we were ready for series 3 (I am really sorry but I can't remember the summary, I just remember having laughed almost all along )
Then the cast came in and took their seat in the back of the room, waving at their fans as they climbed up the stairs ^^
The only thing I am going to say about the screening is that I would love to watch our lovely boys on the big screen every time !!!!!! Gosh, the little screen of my laptop really isn't enough now compared to that lol
I really enjoyed both episodes, laughed, smiled, cried a little (yeah because I'm sensitive, so what ) and some scenes really scared me. I know not many of you have seen the second episode yet so I won't write any spoilers. But I really enjoyed watching both episodes as if it was a movie on the big screen, I really hope I can renew the experience if there is a screening next year *fingers crossed*
I'm sure you have already read many reports of the q&a so I won't developp too much and just post my best pics of it ^^
Thoughtful girls ^^ Katie was really beautiful in her dress, I'm sometimes really jealous of her lol (as probably many others lol ) Angel looked beautiful as well (even if she's looking really serious on this pic )
All of them were quite thoughtful on that day ^^
and there are moments when I really hate my camera for going blurry at the wrong moment... This is the only time I actually managed to catch a moment when Bradley is looking at Colin, argh better buy a new camera for next year lol
Yay for smiling cast =D I wonder what Colin and Bradley are looking at lol
Johnny showing where a few members of the crew are sitting in the audience ^^
I am so in love with this picture *stares for a while*
looking at Bradley's face there, I just can't help thinking of the lyrics "we're not gonna live in fear" XD yeah I know, a bit stupid lol
I Love Colin's thoughtful expression there ^^
If I remember well, that's when Bradley got really animated as he was talking about sword fights, hehe I love Colin's smile there *.*
Awwww Smiley Boys =D
hehe as I said earlier, sometimes my camera takes strange pics, Bradley's face while explaining what he is explaining ,yeah because I can't remember what it was,can you blame me when you see how Gorgeous Colin looked ? ^^
I love it when the girls are looking at the boys ^^
I did not actually catch it with with my camera but at one moment Colin was looking in my direction for a bit, at first I had not noticed because I was looking at Katie who was talking, but then I felt as if observed you know and I turned and Colin was looking at me, I think it must have been because of my t-shirt lol
Katie spotted it as well at one moment, because she was looking at the audience in our direction then she stopped and it was as if she was reading something then she looked up and smiled at me =D Hehe I was sure she would approve hehe ^^
Bradley and his faithful ring ^^
Bradley's handmoves are too fast for my camera lol
Yes, Katie came make funny faces too =D
This one makes me and Nats laugh because of Bradley's look lol
I love it when Colin makes this face, I have a similar pic from the london expo ^^
Bye Bye !
After the screening, we squeed like crazy fangirls with Roxanne about all the Merlin and Arthur scenes (I won't say which ones because the majority of them are in episode 2 )
Then we waited to hopefully see the cast one last time but the security guy asked us to leave.
With Nats and Stace we decided to wait a bit longer outside and we did goo because we saw them all off :
First Bradley who was with his mother *awwww ^^* , then Colin who waved at us before going in the car, then it was Angel who waved at us too, then Richard who stayed a bit longer, he is such a lovely man, I am not Brittish so I'm not aware of how a legend he is but I really love him and it was really nice of him to accept signing our items ^^
I was really hoping to see Katie and be able to give her the dvd my friends and I made for her. It was a mission and I was determined to fulfil it ^^ She arrived shortly after Richard, so I took my chance and walked to her. She was surrounded by people who wanted an autograph so I waited patiently, then she was close enough so I handed her the dvd and said "With my friends we made this for you" and she smiled and said "thank you very much" and I just smiled back because I did not know what else to say. She waved one last time in our direction before climbing in the car. I was really ecstatic after that because I had fulfilled my mission, my friend Destiny and Chicken would be proud of me =D If you wonder what was on the dvd, here is the first video and the second. I also wrote a little message to Katie on behalf of my friends and I ^^
Shortly after, Anthony arrived and he stayed for a good ten minutes =D He accepted signing and taking pics with people so I asked him kindly (or at least I hope it was kindly ) he smiled and said "sure" , I aslo think he spotted my t-shirt lol, now I have a proof that King Uther approves =D hehe I'm really proud of myself for having dared wearing the t-shirt lol
Oh and I actually couldn't stop laughing, because he was giggling just a bit before this pic was taken hence my big smile =D also I was really happy but I guess I don't need to precise that lol
Anthony and Nats ^^
Anthony and Stace ^^
Then it was time for Nats and Stace to go back home, so we headed towards the station and hugged, I really hope I can see you again soon Stace it was really great spending the day with you two again =D
Later, I took a long walk along the Thames ^^
It was an eventful Sunday, and I surely slept very well that night thinking of what was coming next =D