From Paris to Berlin...

Picture from www.shutterblade.net

I have not one, but two shameful confessions.

Firstly, I love Europop. It may be cheesy and kitsch but I don't care, the more it sounds like the work of someone driven crazy by over-consumption of sweets, the more I like it.

Secondly, I love the Eurovision Song Contest as it is the one night where I can wallow in my bad taste. This parade of the zany, overly-earnest and frankly inexplicable with widely diverse styles of music is such fabulous entertainment. Also Eurovision provides great insight into relations between European Countries. For example, Greece and Cyprus will always give each other high scores, as will the Scandanavian countries, whereas Germany usually doesn't do so well.

So I shall be watching tomorrow night munching on a big bag of sweets. Apparently the Finnish entry is a death metal with reptile costumes. How can that fail to be anything other then quality entertainment?

My prediction: I think Kate Ryan, representing Belgium will win.

Around the world in 90 days

One of my passions, shared with other bloggers as it might appear from a certain post of mine, is traveling. Therefore, I will dedicate this post to this passion of mine.

Matt Gross, frugal traveler of NY Times, is going on a trip around the world. His will have an extended time frame as compared to the journey described in Jules Verne's book, "Around the World in 80 Days". He will be posting about this trip of his, the must-see spots, costs, ups and downs, every Wednesday for the next three months.

If you are interested in costs, possible tour operators and costs for such a trip, you can find it all out here. Also, if such an adventure appeals to you, you can follow him through his articles.

I wish I were him.