If you ever get the chance to travel to Malmö I would highly recommend it. What a lovely city in which to spend a few days. We have been very lucky with the weather so far, with the sun shining on the World of Eurovision. Good times.
Over the last couple of days I have snapped a few images of life about town here in Malmö…
The more we explore the city, the more the presence of Eurovision becomes almost unavoidable, with the local host theme “We Are One” on every billboard, hoarding and lamp post…
It really does make you feel a part of something special – more than an exercise in branding. It’s hard to explain. I love the theme and the artwork – a stunning piece of design. I have noticed that when visiting the host city over the course of five Contests that I become quite obsessed by flags. I’m not sure why! Somehow yesterday I managed to take a really good picture of the local theme flags…
Good, right! So, that’s life about time in downtown Malmö. Let’s now turn out attention to the life and soul of the press centre…
It is still relatively early in the week – and the press centre does get gradually busier as we move through the semi-finals into the final weekend. It’s a really nice environment in which to work. Brian and I have been posting to our Eurovision Research Network website (www.eurovisionresearch.net – click through to the blogs link). I have been finalising a conference paper that I delivered earlier today (more on that shortly), and I’ve been blogging for my friends and colleagues at Edge Hill. It all take a lot of time, and this is the most hospitable press centre that I have experienced. Who can forget that in Moscow the press centre was built on a false floor on top of a swimming pool. No, really – health and safety, anyone?!.
One final note on this post, and something that will amuse my friends and music students, who hear me gushing about how much I like Swedish music and all things schlager *all the time*. You can see from the notices (below) that there is dedicated ‘schlager time’ as part of the daily diary of cultural events.
It made me smile – sound of schlager harps, indeed… 😀