The day’s off to good start – woke up feeling at least 90% less shit than yesterday so let’s call that a huge win!

We started the day with breakfast in the hotel, had to go the ‘full English’ option of course, which was pretty darn tasty.

Afterwards we caught a bus from the hotel up to Liverpool One, a bit open air mall, kinda like Pitt St Mall but on steroids. It had some very important shops though – an Apple shop, and a Eurovision merch shop. We had to mark this pretty momentous occasion by getting a pretty momentous souvenir – a Kosta Boda mini replica of the Eurovision trophy. It’s really nice, and they only made 300 of them, so very glad we were able to get our hands on one.

At Liverpool One there was also a huge Liverpool Football Club merch shop which is understandable. And more or less next door, rival club Everton also has a shop. Remember we’re at a place called Liverpool One, so it’s kinda brilliant that they’ve called their shop:

We wandered back to the docks past a few more installations that the city has put on dune to Eurovision, including one of Ukrainian Songbirds which are dotted around town.

At the dock (one of them, I don’t remember, there’s a few to choose from!) we hopped on a hop-on-hop-off bus, which ended up being a personalised tour because it was just the two of us, the driver and the guide on board. He was a funny guy, knew a lot about the town too. The only downside is that I was too busy talking to him to take photos of all the things he was talking about, like the registry office where John and Cynthia Lennon were married, some hotels owned by or named in honour of some talented footballers, and a bunch of Liverpool’s biggest/mostest/first-est things. One I didn’t know – Liverpool’s Chinatown, while not huge itself, does have the largest gateway anywhere outside of mainland China. INstead of a photo here’s something I grabbed from google street view.

After the quick tour we tackled another important tourist item – the Ferris wheel, giving us a bit of a look over and above what you might normally see from the ground. I’ll let the pictures do the talking:

We wandered back toward the hotel (pictured below) but this amusing taken-out-of-context sign also got my attention

There was a short detour past ‘Camp & Furnace’ the venue where ‘Euroclub’ is being held this year, to get our wristbands for entry during the week. Back at the hotel it was time for preparatory nap for the evening ahead.

When you’re here on the ground, Eurovision isn’t just 2 semi finals and final. There’s a whole microcosm of things going on, both official an unofficial, dotted all over the town. There are three main centres of activity – the arena for the actual shows, The Euroclub (i.e. Camp & Furnace), and lastly, the EuroVillage, a massive area reserved for everyone to enjoy free of charge, where bands are performing, food trucks are plentiful, and security is everywhere. Which can only be seen as a good thing when you’re hosting a big public event on behalf of Ukraine. Sydney friends, it would kinda like if they shut off most of Circular Quay for an event, that’s kinda how it felt. As we made our way there it was nice to see some more sights including a few of the Superlambananas which are there because, um, reasons? Not a Eurovision thing, these sculptures all decorated by different artists have been around for a fair while. It was also a delight to get up a bit closer to the Royal Liver Building, one of the ‘three graces’ that make for a beautiful skyline.

Today at the EuroVillage was a day to focus on Ukraine – not just its plight, but its history, culture, and most of all its music. We got there in time to see the band ‘Go_A’ who had an awesome song, ‘Shum’ in the 2021 Eurovision which placed 5th. I became on of those annoying people who holds their phone up for the whole show instead of just being present and enjoying the moment – but still really enjoyed the moment nonetheless. The crowd were really into it even though judging my video they look a bit on the calm side. They played a whole bunch of songs which was lovely to see. What was also lovely’s was the number of people who responded when the lead singers asked if there were any Ukranians in the crowd. A few songs may not solve the problems of the world, but it gives at least a moment of solidarity in some truly awful times.

When Go_A did indeed Go Away, after playing a bunch of great tunes, it was time to grab a bite to eat (shout-out to Smokehouse, the hardest working food truck I’ve ever seen)

Next up on stage we TVORCHI – this year’s Eurovision act from Ukraine. They were here for a good time not a long time, and of course played their song for this year’s contest, Heart of Steel.

By this time (around 9:30) it was starting to get dark, so a good enough reason for one more shot of the Royal Liver building, lit up in Ukraine flag colours.

Despite being about 9:30pm that’s only the start of festivities for the hardcore Eurovision crowd. There was plenty more still to come at Camp & Furnace — but, after a lot of walking already and lot of standing watching the bands perform, I knew I wouldn’t make the 2km walk to the venue so I shuffled back to the hotel while Perry went on ahead. Bit of a shame i couldn’t make it but, gotta accept your limitations. And I’d rather miss that than miss the grand final, that one’s non-negotiable! 🙂

More fun tomorrow, stay tuned! 🙂