“We were on our way to a Japanese restaurant in Moscow to get some Sushi and when we were stepping out of the car out of nowhere comes a truck and drives into the back of our car,” says Maria Björk, Johanna’s spokesperson. All of the travellers escaped unharmed but were understandably shaken.
This incident however does not typify the Icelandic Eurovision delegation’s travels in Moscow so far, which has been mostly been running smoothly. Some members of the group are reported to be disappointment at the prices charged at the Cosmos Hotel for their usage of the hotel gym – prices calculate to some EUR 15 (ISK 2000). Johanna and her trainer and dance choreographer, Yesmine, use the gym every day to stay in shape and help prepare for the competition. Yesmine has said that she might actually take the group outside of the hotel to a training boot-camp to prepare the Icelandic team for the coming battle on the Eurovision stage in Moscow.
Johanna Gudrun has been making some impact in the local media, and last Wednesday she dressed up in a Russian national costume for an interview with Russian state TV. The interview took place at the Russian national museum and Johanna and co sang a part of the Icelandic Eurovision contribution this year, Is it True, in Russian.
Frettabladid reports
I was shocked when I got to know this. It’s such a sad situation. But yeh, she really did perform well in Moscow. Loved it there.
She’s been really the best at the contest in Moscow!!
This video is Iceland in a nutshell
always cool :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-TLovEGBEE&feature=fvsr
GUS.
You claim you HAVE TO type with CAPS LOCK. That’s OK with me.
But can you READ? If you can – read the title of this topic. It’s about terrible traffic in Russia ;-)
ALEXANDER,
PEOPLE THAT IS DOING NOTHING TO IMPROVE ICELAND AND FIND SOLUTIONS TO THE MANY PROBLEMS THIS COUNTRY HAS, THAT IS BAD NEWS!!
PEOPLE WHO DEFEND THAT THERE ARE NOT MANY ICELANDIC FAMILIES IN URGENT NEED, FACING FORECLOSURES AND HAVE NO JOB, HAS NO RESOURCES TO FEED THEIR CHILDREN PROPERLY, AND PURCHASE ALL THE NECESSARY THINGS FOR THEIR CORRECT GROWTH AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT…
THAT IS BAD NEWS!
PEOPLE WHO HAVE AN OLD-STYLE THINKING AND CANNOT PROPOSE FRESH AND INTELLIGENT SOLUTIONS OF TODAY FOR PROBLEMS OF TODAY, AND NOT THE SAME TRADITIONAL NATIONALIST-ORIENTED AND MENTALLY-CLOSED POSITION “OLD SPEECH”
THAT IS BAD NEWS!
PEOPLE THAT ARE CULTURALLY CLOSED TO LEARN, ENRICH AND INTERACT IN TOLERANCE AND RESPECT WITH OTHER HUMAN BEINGS AND CULTURES. THOSE WHO THINK THEY HAVE A SUPERIOR AND PURE GENETICAL POOL ( WHEN THE TRUTH IS THAT THEY ARE VERY MIXED WITH ALMOST ANYTHING) AND CONSTRUCT A NATIONAL IDENTITY THAT BLINDS THEM TO ACT HONESTLY AND REALISTICALLY WITH THEMSELVES AND THE REST OF THE WORLD
THAT IS BAD NEWS!
AND WHEN A WHOLE COUNTRY HAS BEEN RULED BY PEOPLE LIKE THAT, HUGE QUANTITIES OF MONEY DEFAULTED FROM THE NATION, AND CORRUPTION SPREED TO THE POINT NOT EVEN THE ECONOMY NOR THE BANKS ARE TRUSTWORTHY ANYMORE FOR FOREIGN INVESTORS, AND THE NATIONAL CURRENCY HAS NO VALUE AT ALL!!!
THE BAD NEWS, ALEXANDER E. IS THAT THERE IS STILL A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO THINK LIKE YOU AND WILL BE MAKE MORE DIFFICULT FOR THE REST OF US TO GET TO THE POINT AND DO SOMETHING TO CHANGE WHAT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED AND DO WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE, BECAUSE THE SAME OLD ATTITUDE IS NOT GOING TO TAKE US ANYWHERE!!
Although I understand that people care about an incident occurring to the Iceland eurovision main singer but writing a paragraph about the band members complaining of their hotel gym prices…
Yes, that is Lefortovo tunnel, also nicknamed “the tunnel of death”.
In St. Petersburg I had the privilege to stay in a real soviet hotel, Hotel Neva. Never saw anything like that in my life. It was so bad that it was in fact fun . Go there for the experience!
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g298507-d305158-r12699655-Hotel_Neva-St_Petersburg_North_West_Russia.html
watch the pictures on flickr too
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=hotel+neva+st+petersburg
Here is the song in Russian:
http://www.kp.ru/online/news/480960/
Time has changed in Russia. I staid at hotel Cosmos just before the fall of the communism. (We was a small group that should take the Trans Sibirean Railroad to Khabarovsk.)
In the package there was a dinner at the huge hotel, but our guide managed to fix a visit to a Georgean restaurant. We wanted the most expensive meal – price was 12 rubel all! inclusive. When we should pay, we was only asked for 7 rubel, as the guide had got a 5 rubel payback transferred from Cosmos to the other restaurant!
I remember that crossing streets was terrible. A short movie from a russian tunnel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wO2sApvTXc
YES, WE NEED TO RELY IN THE CREATIVITY OF THE SO MANY ARTISTS THAT ARE IN ICELAND. DRESSING A RUSSIAN DRESS AND SINGING IN RUSSIAN MEANS THAT ICELANDERS ARE WILLING TO SHOW THAT THEY CAN ABSORB AND GROW THANKS TO CULTURALLY MIX WITH PEOPLE FROM OTHER COUNTRIES.
BUT IT COULD MAYBE BE JUST A POLITICAL STRAGEGY TO ATTRACT THE SYMPATHY AND ATTENTION OF THE RUSSIANS ( WHO ARE MOST LIKELY THE ONES WHO NEXT TO BORROW SOME MONEY TO ICELAND)
SO YES NOW ICELAND WEARING RUSSIAN DRESS AND SINGING IN RUSSIAN MEANS THAT ICELAND IS SO DESPERATE THAT IS WILLING TO SELL ITSELF TO JUST ANYONE.
I TOLD YOU ALL, ICELANDERS WILL HAVE TO ABANDON THEIR USUAL ROMANTIC-NATIONALIST IDEALS OF SUPERIOR VIKING PEDEGREE, THEY WILL HAVE TO GET INTO THEIR KNEES IF THEY WANT SOMETHING…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUEvHNp5ioI&feature=related
The good performance over there won’t hurt Iceland at all. We need some good news. For bad ones we have SIR GUS. :-)
Perhaps each person in Johanna’s entourage should buy a one month membership card, instead of many one day passes:
http://www.hotelcosmos.ru/efitcentre.html
Really??
who cares!!!!
By the way 15€= 2000ISK haha, who are they trying to full?
Actually more like 2550ISK