NORMAL LIFE: Eurovision Fever Takes Hold

"I can feel it in my waters, Kimmy," Kath would say if she were in Helsinki right now. The atmosphere is almost electric with Helsinki aswarm with tourists from all over. The semi-finals are tomorrow already and I'm honoured to have been invited to limited seating screening of the semi-finals in one of Helsinki's cinema! That Danish Drama Queen will look fab on the big screen!

I met up with my friend, the Swedish-Finnish one, for a wander around town. It all started on the tram into town. Who do you think will win? Isn't the Finnish act this year so rough? Isn't the UK entry camp, and what about that freak from Ukraine?! I felt sorry for my Swedish-Finnish friend because his partner, who I barely know, has overdone it on the Eurovision excitement and I sense he was reluctant to share my enthusiasm whole-heartedly.

We took a walk through Helsinki's Esplanadi downtown and, there, mini tourist offices (in the form of garden sheds!) appear, one for each of the participants in this years Eurovision; I scooped up loads of material, suddenly contemplating holidays in mysterious Romania, sun-drenched Turkey and even found an brochure on the distant Azores, the Portuguese islands in the middle of the Atlantic; I managed to get my hands on a free CD, containing the Croatian entry for this year as well as tourist DVDs about Croatia and Finland's Lapland. I just love freebies!

We moved on to Kamppi where, in front of the newly opened Kamppi shopping centre, is the Eurovision Village, sponsored by corporate giants such as Nokia, Sonera and Toyota; inside one of the tents, we watched barmen juggle bottles as they made an assortment of drinks to give our to their impressed audience. As we left the tent where the cocktail show was being hosted, we emerged back into the open square, where Estonia was performing. Little did we know that my friend's partner was somewhere in the crowd, taking photos frantically of all the goings on.

Later, when Estonia finished performing, we headed inside for a coffee. After a bit of gossip, my friend's partner joined us and his face told of his excitement, and his determination, that Serbia would win this years Eurovision! I was like: calm down, mate! Any, it's because of him that I am able to add some exclusive, close up photos of the entries (thank you so much, M! You can check out his own website, featuring his travels, here) who made appearances yesterday in the city! Below each of the pictures is a link to that artist's entry this year.

ABOVE: Kenan Dogulu with represent turkey with his butt-shaking Shake It Up Shekerim! See the video here.

ABOVE: Kabat will represent the Czech Republic with their growling Mala Dama. See the video here.

ABOVE: DJ Bobo will represent Switzerland with his bizarre, but somewhat enjoyable Vampires Are Alive. See the video here.

ABOVE: Alenka Gotar will represent Slovenia by performing her appealing operatic pop Cvet Z Juga. See the video here.