Saturday, May 14, 2011

Eurovision Song Contest 2011–Duesseldorf

First of all I have to say something about the outing at Blogger for several days. I know my fellow Blogger bloggers have had strange stuff happening to their blogs. For me the odd thing was that I tried to put up a post from the Kappesfest in Rheindahlen, but it took forever before it came up with a message like “no can do”. Then I tried the shorter post I had prepared about the lily, since I thought the many photos in the other post were the problem. No luck there either. So I tried a few times, and all of a sudden the Lily post made it through. So I had to wait a couple of days before the Kappesfest post was finally up.

The oddest of all was that it then was displayed as posted on Tuesday, I guess it must have registered my early attempts somehow. Weird and wonderful world it is, isn’t it, the techie side of things.

Now to a quick proper post about this big European event, (or should that be non-event?,) The European Song Contest, which nobody but Eastern European countries seem to take seriously these days. We just came back from a meal in Duesseldorf where this event kicks off in exactly one minute.

We will be following it from the sofa, commenting on how ludicrous it all really is. Euro pop has earned a very dubious reputation, and there is a certain negative ring to it. However the city was full of life, in particular the old town, where all the revellers were roaming freely, even before it all had started.

As we walked down the central avenue, Koeningsalle, a cacophony of honking horns went slowly past us. German flags were abundant and some young women’s bottoms were precariously balancing on car door frames. I think it was a Ni**an promotion more than anything else.

Euro Dus DSC_2107_20110514_13055 lowrespng

Euro Dus DSC_2112_20110514_13060 lowrespng

Then there were thousands of flags everywhere, in people’s hands, on people’s heads, painted on people’s faces, and also in shop windows, like here. Notice how appropriately the Swedish flag sits between the British and the German ones!

Euro Dus DSC_2115_20110514_13063 lowres png

No, I had better get downstairs and check it all out. I can hear Graham Norton’s voice on BBC now, which most likely will be the most entertaining aspect of the evening. His sarcasms and witty observations will do nicely for me.

2 comments:

Zuzana said...

Oh yes, Blogger has certainly given me a headache in the lats few days.;)
As for the song contest this is the first time in years I opted for not watching it. And considering the winner song, I must say that the I am glad I did.;))
Love all the images though, can imagine the hype.;)
xoxo

swenglishexpat said...

Zuzana - My only challenge is to figure out where the votes will go. I, like so many others, was surprised by Italy's success. That was well-executed music that I could sympathise with. If you think of the quality of the music and the money spent on the whole occasion, you must question whether it wouldn't be better to send the money to some people in the world who need it much better!