May 17

WELCOME TO THE 10TH EDITION OF THE EUROVISION DIARY!

VODKA EVERYONE!

OK, I promised more from May 16…. But the internet is still very slow at the hotel, so I tell you what, hold your horses till Wednesday, when we’ll do the final update from Sweden! I’m flying back tomorrow, and will go directly to my daughter’s birthday party, so there will be no update tomorrow I’m afraid!

Here was the interval act – swimming pool descending from the roof with people swimming around overhead! We had a total of 5 pools, three big ones and two small ones. Two big and two small ones were placed over the audience out in the hall, and a fifth big one was placed over the artists in the Green Room. VERY spectacular! By the way, the photo above and below were taken by our translator Olga Kuznetsova – thanks love!

A close up of one of the big pools.

And I had to show my photo collage from Kristiaan Dakaijser (one of our production photographers)

And Leif couldn’t resist giving me rum! So now I REALLY have to kill him!

As I told you before, we only have 52 hours to get all the gear out from the venue. The load out started at 03:00, and will continue around the clock to Tuesday morning when the venue has to be cleared out.

This adventure is about to come to an end. The stage is gone, so is the video and most of the light. Trucks are being loaded outside, and all the gear is going back in its boxes. It’s a strange feeling walking through the empty corridors that was so full of life and people just 24 hours ago and to look out over the empty bleachers. This has been our home for seven weeks, and today is the day when we have to say goodbye to all the wonderful people that we’ve been working so close to for such a long time. People that we share a VERY special memory with, people that will be in our hearts forever. Many of them, we may never see again. It’s a true Eurovision Hang Over that happens every year……

We finally managed to get a photo of one of the cats that’s been living in the arena since before load in! I think there were about 4 of those sneaky little fellows. I bet they’re glad we’re gone! But I guess they will miss all the warm cozy dimmers. The funniest was the grey geezer that walked into the Green Room during the Final Broadcast.

My brain is MELTED, it’s time to hit the bed and get some sleep! Got to get up early tomorrow and pack all my bags!

Over and out from Moscow!