crystalcazzie | Worlds Part Two: Enter The Dome

Day two and it was time to ENTER THE DOME! Yes, after seeing it in pictures and online for so long I was finally able to go inside. I imagine this is how contestants on Bake Off feel.

Part Two: Enter the Dome

First things first, we start this entry in the morning at my hotel as I got ready for the day:

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I wore my puzzle dress and puzzle necklace! My hair actually looks pretty good here too. Shame it wouldn't stay that way!

I made my way over to the dome and met up with the UK contingent. We got the shirts that we'd ordered online, and also made up a gazebo so we'd have our own little section out front to gather and socialise in.

Look at that. Clearly erected by a team of true experts.

Then it was the moment we've all been waiting for:

Time to ENTER THE DOME!

I'm here! I'm in the dome!

First up was the rather haphazard opening ceremony. I was stood near the front and wondered if I'd appear on the livestream video, but it turned out that the livestream wasn't working so there is no video of the opening ceremony!

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Then it was time for the World Record Attempt as 400 of us put together a 40,320 piece puzzle in under 30 minutes. To be honest I'm not sure what record it was we were attempting exactly. I've watched the livestream back and the commentators get very excited and announce that everyone in the dome is now a world record holder, but none of them explain in what or why. To be honest I don't think you can really say we solved the jigsaw properly, since all the sections were pre-prepared and we were each given bags of 50 pieces to put together and give back to the runners who then placed them in the correct position in the jigsaw on the floor. But it was fun. I did two bags, then helped the person next to me with his.

The whole puzzle was completed in 25:55, which is pretty fast!

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Not a great picture of the finished puzzle, but it's there! You can see it on the livestream and watch it get dropped as well!

The organisers had mentioned a second attempt later on but then scrapped the idea. I'm not sure if that was because we did so well or if something didn't really work out as planned!

Lynn and I then went and met up with our teammates for a puzzle practice. We'd brought a few puzzles and chose to do a Ravensburger image that Allison had found in a charity shop and which turned out to be so much harder than we expected!

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We didn't even finish it. That wasn't great for our morale and I worried that they regretted joining up with us cos I was pretty rubbish at my section.

Lynn and I then headed back to the dome as part of the United Kingdom team to compete in the Countries Challenge. I felt like an Olympian in my shirt!

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It was a 1500 piece puzzle of Cats of Mykonos. I put together a lot of the cats, which I felt proud about since fur is notorious in the puzzling world for being difficult.

Because there were so many of us and we were only allowed ten people at a time we all had to swap in and out. Lynn didn't really want to swap out though. Once she was in she was really into it! I admired her tenacity, even if I was looking at the clock and thinking it was my turn! Towards the end I swapped with someone else so I could get back in, but to be honest I wasn't helping much because by that point I couldn't really reach anything from where I was, so I left to give the others more room and let the fast puzzlers finish it off!

I'm not sure how long we took but I know we were nowhere near winning. I don't think we were even in the top ten! I'm pretty sure the Netherlands won though.

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Such a pretty picture.

That evening was the Welcome Dinner. A lot of the UK group decided not to go, but Lynn and I did along with our teammates.

I went via the square to meet up with a couple who had posted on the WhatsApp looking for others who were also going.

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So pretty at night. Just a shame about the cherry picker!

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The restaurant was very cool. I loved the decorations and the fancy desserts looked amazing. But that was the ground floor. Our group were downstairs:

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Still very cool. I sat with Lynn but the Canadians sat with other Canadians elsewhere. I was opposite a few people who were representing Argentina but who all lived in Dublin or London now!