Random Moments 1) Beach At Cascais 2) Seeing The Show Of Under The Stars At Carmo Convent In Lisbon That

Random shots, many faces of Lisbon. 

Masterlist

Contains my photos and blogs from 2017 on. Updating as we go along and digging some older posts from MTL times. 

BLOG 

Eurovision

UMK 22 

Host City 22 : Turin

ESC 20 : Best Non-English Entry

UMK 20

Eurovision 2018, Lisbon. 

ESC 19: Songs that I love but others don’t / Artists coming back to ESC / Songs that I don’t love but others do / Different genres / UMK artist guess / 

ESC 18: Positive review / Negative review / Songs that I loved but other’s didn’t / Non-English songs / Biggest growers / Different genres / The BIG 6 / Saara Aalto Songs / Mid tempo tracks / 

ESC 2023: 10 things I don’t want to see / Voting system to be changed / Who will qualify SF2 / Who will qualify in SF1 / Top 5 Non-English Songs / 

UMK23: Keira / Benjamin / Robin / Lxndra / Käärijä / Kuumaa / Portion Boys / The worst UMK stagings / UMK23 review / 

UMK24: Cyan Kicks / Sexmane / Sara Siipola / Jesse Markin / Windows95Man / Sini Sabotage / Mikael Gabriel x Nublu 

Lisbon Life : 

LX Blogs / LX tips Part 1 / LX tips part 2 / 1 year in LX / Sintra first impressions / Quilty 6 months in LX /  Fall 2017 / One month in LX / 2w / PT expectations / Going to LX / 

Something else 

100 years of Finland / 3 x / Home / Geography of my way / 

PHOTOGRAPHY: 

Lisbon

Sintra / Lisbon before Covid-19 

Lisbon Before Covid-19

Lisbon Before Covid-19 Part 2

Mixed: Olaias Metro, the most beautiful / Xmas / Less known LX / Random Part 1 / Pantheon + random / Rua August sunrise / 

Waterfronts : Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / 

Parque das Nacoes: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / 

Belem: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / 

Palaces: Queluz part 1 / Queluz part 2 / Belem Part 1 / Quinta da Regaleira Part 1 / Pena and the Moors Part 1 / Pena and Moors Part 2 / Pena and Moors part 3 / Pena and the Moors part 4 / Pena and the Moors part 5 / Royal Palace of Ajuda / 

Lisbon Streets: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 /  Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / 

Beach: Part 1 / Cascais / Praia da Ursa

Sétubal: Part 1 / Part 2 / 

Arrabida : Part 1 / Part 2 / 

Portugal

Berlengas: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / 

Azenhas Do Mar: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / 

Porto: Part 1 / 

Nazaré: Part 1 / Part 2 / 

Évora: Part 1 / Part 2 / 

Braga: Part 1 / Part 2 / 

Coimbra: Part 1 / Part 2 / 

Costa Nova

Helsinki

 Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / 

Lahti

 Lake: Summer Part 1 / Winter Part 1 / Winter Part 2 / 

Travels

Bologna: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / 

Amsterdam : Part 1 / 

Galicia:  part 1 /  part 2 / part 3 / part 4 / part 5 / 

I had a vision of taking a photo of Rua Augusta in Lisbon like in the touristic brochure when NOBODY’S THERE. And this is the busiest street of the city! Preferably in the sunrise. So when I had my holidays in February I woke up 5:30am to catch the first metro at 6:30am to take me to downtown to catch this moment. Such an disappointment when there were people there and morning was foggy and missing the sharp light I was looking for. Anyhow this is the closest I got. 

These are the last photos of my Berlengas trip two months ago. Will be going through new photos :) 

I keep..

Allô!

March has been so full of #mtlmoments that I don’t even know where to start!

The much praised La Nuit Blanche which was already a month ago was indeed one of the greatest events of my Mtl year. Ten well spent hours by doing free activities in the greatest company. The highlight of the event was definitely vinyl scratching just around the corner from the place I live. Other stuff included penguin watching, so called tramway ride, ice sculptures and several other different art performances all over the city. Some activities didn’t exactly match the original description but were still somewhat enjoyable. And they were all free so can’t complain.

(LNB, 2014)

Also the long anticipated Laura Pausini concert which was even more back and beyond than what I imagined first. In total 9h of travelling in a bus from Montréal to this small town of Orillia, in Ontario. Even my first apartment was bigger than the local bus station. But the people there were the friendliest I’ve ever met. It came handy at that point when we were checking out from the hotel (we stayed in the same one with the band and crew btw!) and there was only 30min to our bus’ departure to Toronto and we seriously thought that you could have a taxi in that time but noup. Our travel plans would have changed dramatically unless the hotel’s manager hadn’t driven us herself to the bus station. What a service!! http://www.daysinn.com/hotels/ontario/orillia/days-inn-orillia/hotel-overview

(You'll never find me in this one! pic by Mario Torre)

We were lucky enough to see Laura doing a tv interview before the concert and where we were literally 1m away from her. She saw my flag and signed some autographs, again I was super lucky to get one! Otherwise there were no more chances to meet or talk to her. But I don’t wanna complain cause I’ve been so lucky with her in the past in London and Madrid. I did give her the post I wrote about her here in my blog ( http://lageografiademicamino.tumblr.com/post/68130494682/she-uguale-a-lei ) through a staff member of a casino. Not sure if she's read it or checked out my blog or anything.

The concert followed the same tracklist as the previous concerts in America and Europe. More or less. Some songs weren’t performed like Con la musica alla radio which I’ve been praising here in Tumblr too.. But I guess you can’t have it all. Laura seemed tired. But she’s now a mom of one-year-old and still touring around the world so who wouldn’t be tired in her place The problem with an artist like Laura is that she gives so much of her time to her fans and when she's acting normally and just doing her job it doesn't feel like enough.

But the concert was great overall. Her voice was in top condition as always. The majority of people were quite old, I felt super young among those canadian-italian grannies. That was one of the reasons why the concert seemed a bit slow compared to the concerts I attended in A'dam and London which were just full of energy. But I did love to see the show with my own eyes and hear the latest versions of the songs. Now all I’m looking forward to, is the live release. #pausini20th

The latest event which I’ve been to was St. Patrick's Day,  probably one of the rare Sunday afternoons in the winter time when it's totally okay to get wasted here. Totally new acquaintance as an event since we don't have it in Finland. Originally an Irish thing but celebrated widely in all over North America. Also in Mtl where almost half of its population has some sort of Irish background in the family (who knew?!).

It was fun, cold thou but fun. There was a parade of three hours long, more commercial apparently when compared to the real thing in Ireland. Or so I was told. But I did get to see some mounties, which I've been dying to see ever since I came here! Green was the theme colour of the day and the streets of centre-ville were packed of people wearing all sorts green clothes and accessories. Even the beer was green at the Irish pub where we later ended up with the bunch of couchsurfers.

(Moi, on St. Paddy's)

ALSO, I'm almost embarrased to tell you this but I did attend to a seminar of "Get the Guy" by Matthew Hussey. Apparently he's quite big in his field, wrote books and doing a world tour now with this seminar thingie. Definitely a #mtlmoment I never thought I'd do! It was just one post or two before where I was telling how I'm not looking for anyone or anything but.. yeah friend had a free ticket and I thought what the hell.

It was okay, he didn't tell anything that I wouldn't have known before but gotta admit that it was still pretty entertaining with his jokes and that gorgeous british accent. In the other hand, it did have a bit of a commercial taste cause it ended up lasting over five hours! When I left he was still talking.. not about pick up lines or how to get any guy but about himself and trying to sell his book, tour or whatever. Well now, I've been there and done that too! :)

Single ladies, interested or curious in the subject, this is for you :)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnFUFy4GbdQ

But I have worked as well. Quite a lot actually recently. Just had my first days off for 11 days. I’m be working now only in the evening shifts since there’s not enough of physical space for all the employees to work during the day. And naturally the day shifts are more popular compared to the evening shifts which last until midnight. Like I said before, nothing against working in the evenings but I gotta admit non-stop working until midnight five times a week might get in the way of my social life. So in some point I’m thinking of cutting it down to four days a week kind of thing. But at least Babel is paying $12/evening shift more now!

Against what people might think about it, the job ain’t about the playing the game but to find all the things that might go wrong while playing the game. The employees are usually divided into different teams and we have different themes, areas etc, we need to work on. Still fun thou. People are still super friendly and there are worse jobs in the world. Haven’t done translating since there are now more finnish people but I enjoy the team I get to work with while doing the regular testing. 

It’s been pretty hectic at the flat as well. First one room mate from the flat downstairs got evicted after he started fighting about this rat issue at the building with our landlord. And now that room mate is suing our landlord. A bit more dramatic the disagreements here between landlords and tenants compared to Finland. Yeah but now he’s moved out. We also had a week of renovations being done in our kitchen and bathroom which was just pain for me cause it didn’t just fit into my daily routine at all. Cause I worked in the evenings when they were gone and then when I was at home so were they. But it’s over now and no more leaking taps etc. But now the toilet doesn’t work! I hope the landlord gets it fixed by my bday which is next weekend..when I’m just gonna do the traditional finnish thing: get drunk… with great friends of course to carry me home afterwards. #finnish #bday #justkidding

Weatherlike. It's been back and forth with spring and winter over here. There's been pretty gorgeous days with sun and warm temperatures over 0 but then there has been snowstorms too, the latest one today. But I'm still brave enough to say that I have indeed survived the famously cold canadian winter. #mtlmoments

Okay, now I stop! Thanks again for reading :)

UMK 2020

After two years of selecting internally our representative YLE has gone back to have an open competition. Out of the 400 songs sent out, the final 6 artists with their songs were released in January. I feared the worse and hoped for the best. But compared to many other years material we’ve had this is a gigantic leap to the right directions. Here are my thoughts (the songs appear in the order of their release) - please click the link in the title of the song to listen the tracks.

Saara Aalto represented Finland in 2018 as internally selected artist.

1. TIKA - I LET ME HEART BREAK 

THE power ballad. The X-Factor winner 2018 in Finland is specialized in them and she has a voice for it! However I feel something is missing. It has the right structure but it’s missing some filling. Surprisingly it has kept in the race within the ratings on Youtube (almost 200 000 views) and Spotify (over 120 000 streamings) making it the third most popular UMK entry this year. I haven’t lost my faith though and I’ll give the live version a chance. 

2. ERIKA VIKMAN - CICCIOLINA

The most buzzed about. The song special theme (Italian porn star /politician whose story gave the name for the song) has received attention international and national along with the headlines. I’m bothered by Erika’s poor English skills though and her mispronunciation of the title. However I find her way from the Finnish tango scene to the pop sky interesting. It has a nostalgic Euro/ Finnish pop vibe but doesn’t represent the 2020 scene of either of them - it can be a pro or a con. The song sounds just out dated and something that Finns have been sending to ESC for decades with a little success. I find it difficult to understand why would we be going back for that. However it has a catchy chorus though. Unfortunately general opinion is against me and Cicciolina has been viewed over 1 million times on Youtube and streamed on Spotify  over 1200 000 times. I just hope that these people click the song out of curiosity for once and will not be voting for it. Even though the international ESC bloggers seem to excited about it too. I really stand alone. 

In 2014 Softengine brought Finland our best result (11th in the final) since Lordi’s victory (2006).

3. AKSEL KANKAANRANTA - LOOKING BACK 

Our only male entry. This was the first one I actually liked. Well produced but tt could go further though. I wish they’d update it a bit or the live version will give it much needed kick. I really like his singing! He is fairly popular also among UMK 2020 entries - viewed over 200 000 times on Youtube and streamed almost 200 000 times on Spotify. 

4. F3M - BANANAS

I understand why people wouldn’t like this but that’s exactly why I do! It’s a bit goofy,definitely catchy but also annoying. The song has some definite hooks that will be playing in your head all day but I wonder is it too forgettable? And people like this! Not doing bad on bloggers lists and on Youtube + Spotify considering. 

5. SANSA - LOVER VIEW 

Hate to say this but the loser of the crowd. A very unlikely winner. It doesn’t interest people. However Sansa’s song was the one I was the most excited about beforehand because of the dance and electronic style. It’s nicely produced but too light and easy. I wish there would be something to catch me properly. A great ac companion for a run or to the gym but perhaps that is its biggest problem. The most annoying thing is that I get it why they’ve left the song like this because I understand people who like music without too much drama or screaming. 

6. CATHARINA ZUHLKE - ETERNITY

She competed in UMK 2017 and is back for another round. The first time I heard her song Eternity I knew this was it! From the Perfect Villain to a perfect pop song! However I’m afraid that it might be too predictable and that’s why it hasn’t become a Youtube/ Spotify favourite (or is  it because she was released last). I really hope the live goes well for this one. I’m hopeful based on the positive comments and the mix of two genres (slow ballad in the beginning to catchy euro pop in the end). 

The representitive will be selected tonight at 9pm (finnish time). Make sure you’ll be voting for your favourite(s)!

UMK artists 2020.

Tampere part 2.

What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do – especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.

William Least Heat Moon

Top 10 reasons why Turin is the best Italian city to host Eurovision 2022

The Eurovision 2022 is officially open as any song released since September 2021 can be considered to compete in Eurovision next year. Usually this has been accompanied by the news of the location and exaxt dates and possibly to go with the logo, theme of the upcoming contest. However this year the wait was fashionably late as customed in Italy- the winning country of Eurovision 2021. 

17 Italian cities competed to host world’s most watched TV contest for example the Italian capital Rome, fashion and business hub Milan, culinary and musical center Bologna and of course the city where Eurovision itself origins : San Remo. Turin made it’s way to number one spot and Eurovision Executive Supervisor Martin Österdahl describes it is the perfect host city!

Here are my top 10 reasons why Turin, this dark but festive city is the best choice to host Eurovision 2022! 

1. Turin is the capital of Piedmonte and significant cultural and business center in Northen Italy. All together 2,2 million people live in the city’s metropolitan area. 

2. Turin is no stranger to great international events and is best known for hosting Winter Olympics of 2006. Actually the venue is the very same PalaOlimpico (13 000 capacity). 

3. The city has an excellent location up North close to the French and Swiss borders and other major Italian metropol Milan. Besides city has it’s own iternational airport 16 km from the city with direct connections from Paris, London, Amsterdam, Munich, Barcelona for example. 

4. Italian espresso, TV, automobile industry and telecommunications have all their origins in Turin. 

5. RAI - the Italian broadcaster has significant amount of production in the city which eases the steps to organize the event. Turin has been mentioned frequently as a potential host city in Italy over the years whenever Italian artist (almost every year) has come up close to winning. 

6. Turin was the first capital of Italy. 

7. Turin is popular among Italian and international tourists and it’s famous of its multiple museums such as National Museum of the Italian Risorgimento, National Cinema Museum and National Car Museum. 

8. Turin is known by a nick name “Little Paris” or “The Paris of Italy” for its natural beauty.  

9. Besides Eurovision you can also squeeze a day trip or two to the Alps! 

10. Mole Antonelliana - the iconic tower from Italian two cent coins is in Torino!. 

Turin is definitely on my travel to do list! Do you agree with my choices and with the selection of the ESC host city 2022?