May 18, 2013 - Day 10 - Grand Final is here! - in progress

After a late night after the rehearsal we have a sleep in - it's becoming a bit of a nice habit I have to say. Not much going on during the day that's noteworthy although we do go to an "modern" art gallery that has about two rooms upstairs full of crappy self indulgent shite including an installation showing stars with the voice over "people out there are still painting ... why?" repeating over and over again and a large print out of a random page of a book - so artistic. But we know that we have to get back to the Arena as early as...

May 17, 2013 - Grand Final Jury Rehearsal

Another big day in a fantastic town. We have to be up early.. well early'ish. We need to be at the SBS meet'n'greet at 10.30. It's only about a 20 minute walk (if that) and the show is already under way. The producer gets up and gives a speech, and then follows with Julia and Sam. Whilst we don't actually get to talk to Sam and Julia (as people flock believing sam and Julia to be number A1 celebrities), we do talk to, we want to say Ralph, but I'm sure that's not his name, who is a camera guy (and the guy in the why Australians love...

May 16, 2013 - Semi Final 2

Today was a big walking day. We decided to go to see the Ribersborgs kallbadhus. The weather is so sunny and everything is so green. We walk around the back part of Stottsparken which backs onto the Kungsparken area, before taking a few back streets of the real Malmö to get to Ribergsborgparken. This is a huge park that goes for some ways and there's a major walking/cycling track running from one end to the other. There's even a park for dogs to be allowed off leash which is somewhat big with some mini hills for pets to run...

May 15, 2013 - Day 7 - Jury rehearsal Semi Final 2

Hello dear reader and welcome back to yet another day in Eurovision paradise. Today is a quiet day for us. We plan to post a parcel back (which in the end didn't happen) and have a general walk around the city but around 11 a word came from the tourist bureau that a pop up event was about to happen a block away from us so in case it does turn out to be Lolo (Loreen - you'll understand if you watch semi final 1) we should really turn up and see but really, we were about a metre from her twice on Monday and Tuesday nights so I doubt I'm going...

May 14, 2013 - Day 5 - Jury Rehearsal SF1

We did manage a sleep in today after not getting home before 1 last night. A late night for us since we're usually in bed by 10pm! A leisurely breakfast is in order and of course we keep seeing the Hungarian and Montenegrin delegations having breakfast. I need to find out during our stay here what they actually have to eat for breakfast. You know, hard hitting stuff. Do you think they'd mind if I snuck up behind them with a camera and took pictures of their food? Or is that just stepping over that fine line ever so lightly? Anyways, it's...

May 14, 2013 - Day 6 - Semi Final 1

A bit of a quieter day to day, knowing what it is coming up. We need to get to the Arena earlier than the previous night as there'll be more fans coming tonight. Firstly, I don't think I posted up a couple of photos from day 5's activities. Like, the official water flavour of Eurovision - rhubarb and elderflower. What a combination and doesn't taste all that bad, though I'm not sure that I'd go seeking it out again. Yesterday, whilst we missed San Marino, they were handing out promo postcards, which we assume Valentina herself has signed...

May 13, 2013 - Day 4 - a party for everybody - and we danced

Hello and welcome back dear reader for the next day's instalment. Wow, what a day. Was one of the best days. Jet lag or time zone differences (are they the same thing?) or just whatever woke us up around 4-5 am so we knew that it was going to be a long day but perhaps we could sneak in a nap before the big red carpet walk tonight at 6pm. Rog checks his emails and discovers the latest draft of his group assignment for Uni and gives it the once over, making the necessary comments and sends it back to the group. So I guess the inability to...

May 11, 2013 - Day 3 Malmö City shopping

Well, hello again dear reader, and thanks for making through another day's activities. Poor Rog didn't sleep well last night and thus was awake during the night which made him a little tired later in the day. I slept well surprisingly until just before 6am but I guess I hadn't really slept a lot in the prior 40 odd hours so my body was craving it a bit. I'd been really looking forward to my Scandic breakfast. I find it interesting that sliced meats and salad is a breakfast option here. I was however disappointed to find out that this hotel...

Jul 15, 2012 - Sweden: An unexpected surprise

In the evening, we decided to spend the extra day by driving into Sweden, not just because of the chance to add an extra country to our list but because Riekie and Rob had been to the town of Malmo before and there were two very interesting things to entice us to do the same. One is that there is a Castle there that was built, first as a fortification, in the mid-1400s. Some of the original construction is incorporated in the current building, most of which was constructed in 1542. The other reason is that there is a really long tunnel...

Apr 28, 2012 - to sweden

Today had been forecast as fine. Over night the forecast changed to rainy, so we went from going on a 1and a 1/2 hour drive to Funen; an island between here and the Danish mainland, where we would have again walked, to a 20+ km drive to Sweden. Of course it didn't rain but now I can say Ive been to Sweden! As far as Malmo, which is just over the bridge. Again you're getting an architectural picture! It isn't the Swedish version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. But the spiralling steel frame of this upmarket apartment block certainly makes it...

Nov 11, 2011 - Malmo preparing for Christmas

It is very different here to see the preparation for Christmas. Not nearly as commercial as our Christmas. The shops and public spaces are decorated with fresh pine leaves, the wreathes are made from fresh pine and other flowers and the shops are not pumping out Christmas carols. Bliss!! We have watched for two days the city workers on cherry pickers putting large present boxes in the trees in the park

Nov 11, 2011 - Parks and gardens are beautiful

Parks and gardens are beautiful and plentiful, as are the cobbled streets and early buildings. Parks are well looked after, full of sculptures and a great pleasure to walk in. Along the esplanade there is a breakwater the city has placed "black diamonds" with the other stones. The city has sent black stones to china to be polished till they are very shiny. They are then placed along the boardwalk as sculptures