Hello everybody!

As you can see, I'm back from the States feeling fine. We have seen so many things that it impossible to tell them all. I have shot film material of some seven hours with my new digital video camera. Also I shot more than 100 photos - which for me is not much, actually. But I always took the video camera with me.

The last days before the SSW were quite stressful, because one of our co-travellers dropped out, which was very disappointing, since we already
had booked a car and the airport hotel.
But in the end everything turned out to be okay, and perhaps it was better that way, because the journey cost us more than we had thought.
But let's get to the first story now:
When we arrived at the entry to the Disney studios there was bad news: Nancy Lee Grahn had cancelled her appointment. I suspected that this had to do with the policy of the broadcaster and the fact that Nancy simply had too many fans, which could have a negative effect with regard to the couple of Sonny and Carly. As I said, this was what I suspected. Back home I heard that Nancy's father had died and that this was the reason for her cancellation. Ingo Rademacher replaced Nancy. Well, initially we had adapted our plans to Nancy's and Maurice Benard's schedule, and now that! But this was not really a problem, because there were so many things to see. And during those two days we only managed to do half of what we had planned. Since Kerstin is a fan of "All My Children", and because the Talk Show with David Canary, Finola Hughes, Jack Scalia, and Cameron Mathison fit well in our timetable, we decided to go there.
I had not spend too much time thinking about how the whole thing would be organised. And it was fantastic: a very relaxed atmosphere, funny guests and
a marvellous Linda Dano as talk master. After that brilliant start we visited all stands and locations of the SSW, the Disney shops, the autograph shops and the shows.
After a while we noticed that it was quite difficult to cater for everybody's preferences, so we decided to separate. I went with Kerstin, which was very funny. Every time somebody wanted to know our names we had the problem to explain that we are both named Kerstin. The day was over in a twinkling. We visited the talk show with Maurice Benard, Jackie Zeman, Coltin Scott, Marisa Ramirez, and Tamara Brown. Maurice was just magnificent, not at all macho, as I had feared, and Jackie Zeman was so nice.
In every show you could ask questions and one spectator got a chance to play one scene together with Coltin (at AMC with Cameron). Both were hilariously funny. It all depended on the co-actors, who in this case were some older ladies who did a really good acting. We almost killed ourselves laughing. Marisa, too, was very smart. And a dazzling beauty.
It takes a while to get used to Finola, and I also feel a bit uneasy about Tamara Braun, the new Carly. But this is just a question of taste. Where I am concerned, I cannot understand why Sonny should fall for her. And Maurice doesn't seem to have much to talk about with her either. At least this is how
I saw it. And do you remember how Tamara's fans welcomed his statement that she was his true love - funny, though, because I thought this was Brenda !!! Never mind - one must not take everything that actors say too seriously. Fore example, we went to the same shows again on the following day and we heard the same questions and the same answers. The actors just read their texts from the screen. I must say that I was quite relieved, because now I can still hope in Maurice and Nancy. And despite all rumours - they do have a storyline together.
What else did we see? Wally Kurth and Ingo Rademacher. John Ingle and many more. This show was also very exciting. During the brakes there was the car parade with the stars, and on the evening there was a concert.
Have I mentioned that Wally Kurth, who welcomed the guests, was the most beautiful guy of that evening. It was dazzling, and only Kassie de Paiva (formerly Springfield Story - Kassie Wesley) was as good as he.
I have the CDs of both of them, so I can hear them as often as I want to.
Susan Lucci and Coltin Scott played the two other parts. They are good singers, but not extraordinarily good.
The evening ended with a fireworks above the stage and the magic hat of Micky Mouse.
Back in the hotel we were mainly tired. Because we did not manage to join the photo and autograph session with Maurice, we wanted to try it again on the next day. But it turned out that ABC had simply underestimated the popularity of Maurice. The location had to be sealed off and visiting times were limited. You only had a chance if you had a waiting number. Susan Lucci, the star of AMC (well ...) was granted an extra spot light; but it was funny, because she was not besieged by so many fans as was Maurice. You see, also broadcasting stations can be that wrong.
At any rate, we must visit SSW another time, just to meet Nancy and Maurice.
The story about our second day follows.

Bfn, Kerstin