I have so enjoyed spending time catching up with old friends from school! I am back in my hometown, after all, so a little sightseeing is mandatory. I must look like a wide-eyed tourist, or rather an expatriate who’s been away for far too long!
That said, following a much-deserved “collective” day off on Day 5, we are now fully back on ESC track, and in full gear!
The highlight of the day was welcoming Christopher Neil (my executive producer and co-writer of “Is It True?”) without an ounce of exaggeration. The man is a true legend, and responsible for some of the biggest worldwide hit records, including Celine Dion, Cher, Rod Stewart, I mean, the list could go on forever!
While our folks were watching some of the rehearsals for semi 2, I drove to the airport with our ESC hosts. I was finally going to meet Chris for the first time in my home town. It was a very special moment for me!
This moment was brief, however. There was a minor mishap, for we soon realized that Chris had misplaced his Eurovision Pass! Since we were due at Olympiisky Stadium by 6 PM for the second Icelandic rehearsal (it was already 5:50 PM by then) our driver, Denis, took matters into his own hands. He must have broke the Guinness World Record. We got from A to B within 15 minutes, and through a manic traffic jam at that!
The set looked really beautiful, and we were all impressed with the sound, especially during the playback in the viewing room. Chris, who has been to more mega-huge gigs in the last few decades than I can even imagine, told me that it’s far more professional-sounding than he had expected. Did you know that one of the top sound engineers from Europe (who happens to be from “our neighboring” country of Sweden) is in charge of the ESC sound this year? 
As soon as Yohanna got on stage, she blew everyone away with her performance. Unlike most rehearsals, ours was actually one of the few that felt like the real deal. The crew and some of the press people attending clapped after every soundcheck and every take, which apparently is very unusual.
After the rehearsal and our private playback (where we discussed the performance and made last minute comments about bits and pieces – mostly technical stuff) the organizers escorted us to the press conference room. There was going to be some media madness on the spot! 
Although today’s conference was a little shorter than Monday’s extravaganza (probably due to press representatives trying to juggle a million things at once during the pre-ESC prep time) it was really cute to hear Yohanna sing a cappella in Russian, especially for the benefit of the local press! 
By the time we had wrapped up at the venue, it suddenly hit us that we hadn’t eaten a thing since God knew when. So, the next stop turned out to be quite predictable, and not too exotic, either – our new favorite Italian restaurant in downtown Moscow!
The best part so far, I have to admit, has been ordering food for our delegation every time we go out. Since I’m the only other Russian speaker, aside from our hosts, do I feel like a true Muscovite when I’m around them?!
Although I’ve promised our musicians that I’ll take them out clubbing tomorrow night, I’m actually very limited in my knowledge of the Moscow nightlife. Aside from the restaurants, I don’t know too much about it, so it will be interesting to see if they’ll like my local Zagat choice!
Tomorrow is another crazy day, or so we’ve been warned. The highlight will certainly be our Icelandic Party, to be hosted by the Icelandic Ambassador, at the Embassy here in Moscow. This is extremely exciting, as there will be a lot of singing, dancing, and probably quite a bit of drinking as well. But, I promise to behave! In all seriousness though, it should be interesting, as I’ve never really been to a purely Icelandic party. That’s quite an intriguing prospect, to say the least! 
I daren’t look at the time, in case it has gone past 2 or 3 AM again. So far I’ve been going to bed at or around 5 AM, at the earliest. I’ve been doing a seemingly endless amount of radio promo interviews in Europe every night, and it’s made a regular bedtime somewhat awkward, if not impossible. Of course, it’s been amazing to be able to promote both my UK single, “Thinking of Someone Else”, and the Eurovision song, “Is It True?” at the same time. But it’s also been a little hectic! Plus, I’ve got to draft the synopsis for my book sequel (which I’ve only just submitted to my agent) while I’m in Moscow. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get some time off to party with my new Icelandic friends. Of course, you’ll be the first to know on BTR, so stay tuned! 
Oh, and one more thing before I turn my laptop off for the night – a major Russian TV channel, ORT 1, and the main news show, “Vremya,” are endorsing “Is It True?” They are highlighting it as one of the ESC songs with a strong Russian connection, and they are telling our compatriots to keep their eyes and ears on throughout the competition for it. So with ORT’s support, which is a huge deal over here, we shouldn’t do too badly at all! In fact, we are very optimistic, so, fingers crossed!
Love your blog. It´s nice to see the perspective of an insider. I like the song and Yohanna gives it great justice with her fabulous singing. Her presentation of the song is also improving. In the second rehearsal she doesn´t seem so indifferent to the words, specially after the first verse. Actually she pulled it off very nicely and hopefully she keeps it up. You really deserve going to the final.
The only problem for me is that horrible dress. Really it makes her look like a 30 year old woman during her 5 month of pregnancy. How the designers could make such an awful dress is beyond me. They really managed to make the most beautiful woman in the competition look like crap. I would be willing to pay 5.000 kr. onto an account to RUV so she could be able to go Monday morning to a shop in Moscow to buy a new dress. I am sure that if one of your delegation would talk to Ras 2 Monday morning than more would be willing to do the same. It would be easy to raise 200-300 thousand kr. which is I presume a standard prize for a nice dress in Moscow.
Please do not dissolution yourself´s and ignore the countless bloggers that have dissed that dress. It doesn´t look good on camera.
I will be sending good thoughts to you all.
Sincerally
Birna