Beardy Bunch of Brady Bears

That would have made the Brady Bunch even more interesting!

Mini Opera

Last weekend we had our Eurovision Party with some friends. Erik and I made Tapas and we rearranged the furniture to be ready in front of the TV set when the Song Contest started.



My personal favorite was Alenka Gotar with "Cvet z juga" (Flower of the South). I can't help it but I LOVE the drama she is performing on stage. I can imagine that some people think it's overdone en never would vote for this song, but if I were in charge we would go to Ljubljana next year in stead of Belgrade. Though I like the song of Serbia as well.

Our winner here in Zwolle by the way was Georgia.

ESC 2007 (2)

Now we know the finalists for Saturday. Edsilia Rombley, the Dutch entry, will not take part in the finals.

I completed my ballot paper for Saturday. We will party anyway!

Eurovision Song Contest 2007

After Queensday (I didn't give you a full report on that yet), it's already time to prepare ourself for the European Song Contest 2007.

During the semifinals I have to work in the Fraterhuis. That's too bad, since there will be made the decision weather The Netherlands will go to the finals or not. Edsilia Rombley is great, but her song sucks. So I have no illusions this year.

As for Saturday we have invited some friends for a Eurovision party. We will have our own tele voting after all 24 songs are sung. I even designed a ballot paper for our own voting (it will be completed after the semifinals). And the point that can be given are 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-10 and 12 points. The only thing I'm not sure of is if we should repeat all votes in English and French as they will do on TV.

Those days in May...

Friday night before Queensday (Koninginnedag) I was getting our friend Pino from Schiphol Airport. Pino came from Berlin to celebrate Queensday with us. The weekend was sunny as all 5 weeks before. So weatherwise we couldn't complain.

Saturday we went to Alkmaar and to the beach near Bergen aan Zee. In the evening we had a BBQ on Erik's little balcony.

Sunday we were touring around by bicycle around Amsterdam. We saw Diemen, Driemond, Wezep and Muiden. After dinner we went to the city to celebrate Koninginnenacht. Usually it is even better the Koninginnedag, but this year only a few people showed up. Nevertheless it was very funny.

Monday, the actual Koninginnedag we started with some live TV coverage of Queen Beatrix visiting Woudrichem and Den Bosch (both places in the province of North Brabant). After that we went to show Pino something of the so called Vrijmarkt. A sort big yard sale where a whole city participates. We went to the Vondelpark where children reign during that day. After that experience we went to the Amstel river where we met a lot of friends (Cees, John & Arend, Paul, Danyal, Joop & Paolo, Geert, Ferdi & Franz, Krijn & Jan Willem, Henkie, Nick, Jan & Timon, Klaas & Klaas, Ulli and Søren, Yaser & Jos, and lots of others). It's becoming a little of a tradition that we end the Queensday at our friends (Timon & Jan) houseboat. Jan had cooked pasta and tomato sauce to feed the bears they had invited.

Tuesday 1st May is no holiday here in NL as it is in the rest of Europe, but I had taken a day off. So Pino and I could visit Haarlem and make some dinner for Erik after a hard day of work. Later in the evening I went to Zwolle, while Pino could stay for an other day.

Bevrijdingsdag (5th May) (Liberation Day), Erik and I spent in Zwolle. Though there was going on a big party with many live performances we both didn't have the energy to attend the Bevrijdingsfestival. (The festival is held in all 12 province capitals, but in a few years time Zwolle grew out to be the largest Bevrijdingsfestival)

Azis - No Kazvam ti stiga

Sorry Pino, but I had to "steal" this video from your weblog, it is just too good to keep it for yourself!!!

And here for my sweet Erik Azis's version of Lane Moje (the 2004 entry of Serbia and Montenegro of the Eurovision Song Contest). The original was sung by Željko Joksimović, who ended up second after Wild dances from Ruslana.