We spent the weekend in Strážnice with Kája's family. Every year, Strážnice hosts the International Folklore Festival, the largest and oldest folklore festival in Europe.
Czech TV even broadcasts it across the country. This year was the 78th edition.
On Saturday, there was a parade that proceeded to the open-air museum and stadium.
It was pretty interesting. It's interesting to see how each region and village's traditional costumes vary.
Last night was the Eurovision second semi-final for this year. It was good but I think the first semi-final was better. There were 16 competitors plus Ukraine, last year's winner, and Spain and UK, who both automatically qualify as being part of the Big 5.
Australia came in first, followed by Austria and Poland. The other countries that made it to the final are Lithuania, Slovenia, Armenia, Cyprus, Belgium, Albania, and Estonia.
The countries that failed to qualify for Saturday's final are Iceland, Georgia, Greece, Denmark, Romania, and San Marino.
My favourites from tonight were Slovenia, who actually sang in Slovenian, Belgium, and UK. Here are their performances that I found on YouTube.
It's Eurovision time!! It's hard to believe that it's already been a year since Ukraine won last year. Since Ukraine won last year they should host this year's competition but they can't due to Russia's invasion. Therefore, the UK, last year's runner-up is hosting in Liverpool on behalf of Ukraine.
This is the 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest and there are 37 countries competing this year. Russia and Belarus are banned due to the invasion while Bulgaria, Montenegro, and North Macedonia opted not to participate due to cost reasons.
Last night, 15 countries participated in the first semi-final with 10 advancing to Saturday's final. Finland came in first followed by Sweden and Israel.
Czechland came in 4th place. Way to go Vesna!!
Rounding out the top 10 were Moldova, Norway, Switzerland, Croatia, Portugal, and Serbia.
Latvia, Ireland, Netherlands, Azerbaijan, and Malta failed to qualify and are out.
Aside from Czechland, my favourites last night were Sweden, Moldova, and Switzerland. Plus France who automatically qualifies to the finals as one of the Big 5 countries. Here are their performances from YouTube. Let's see you makes it to the finals from tomorrow night's second semi-final.
Back in 2020, for Christmas, I gave concert tickets to Tünde, for the three of us to see Johannes Oerding at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in February 2021.
However, due to Covid restrictions, the concert kept getting pushed back.
The opening act was ELIF, who's real name is Elif Demirezer, a local Turkish-German singer. She also later performed a duet with him.
Here's a YouTube video I found of her singing Alles Brennt with him.
He also had another Turkish performer join him on stage. Zeynep Avci, also a Berlin local, competed on season 11 of The Voice of Germany, where Johannes Oerding was a judge.
Here's them singing Stärker.
A fun weekend but to Berlin and back for a concert was a bit much. Still worth it and Tünde finally got her 2020 Christmas present. I guess I lucked out that after 2,5 years, he's still one of her favourite singers.
Kája's birthday was three week ago but we've been busy with work so we decided to celebrate later. I surprised him with a wellness weekend in Hustopeče.
The area was settled by Germans in the 13th century who called it Auspitz and its first mention was in 1247. The Germans brought viticulture to the area. From the start of the 14th century to 1599, Hustopeče was owned by St. Thomas's Abbey in Brno.
In 1572, Hustopeče was given town status by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II. It belonged to the House of Liechtenstein from 1599 to 1848. In the mid-18th century, Hustopeče was Moravia's largest wine-growing municipality.
Following WWI, and the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the area became part of the newly independent Czechoslovakia. After the 1938 Munich Agreement, which gave the Sudetenland to Germany, the Nazis took over. It then became part of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
The 1910 census indicated that most of the town's inhabitants were ethnic Germans. After WWII, the German-speaking population, even those who lived here prior to the Nazis, were expelled due to the Beneš decrees.
A lot of the almonds goes to making mandlovice (almond brandy). The almond version of slivovice.
The town's main landmark is the Church of Saints Wenceslaus and Agnes of Bohemia. The church was built in 1994 on the site of the original church that dated back to the early 14th century.
The Žumberák fountain dates back to 1595. It used to be one of the town's few sources of drinking water.
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| Town Hall |
The Neo-Renaissance town hall was built in 1906.
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| Dům U Synků |
The House of Lords of Vizovice was built from 1488 to 1492. It was renovated in 2002.
T.G. Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia lived in Hustopeče from 1861 to 1868. There is a 2 km (1.25 mile) trail that can be followed to see places associated with the family. 
The earliest known Jewish community in Hustopeče was during the 15th century. The Jewish cemetery dates back to 1886 with the last known burial taking place prior to 1942. During the German occupation the cemetery was vandalised, and later the Communists removed all of the gravestones in the 1980s. Now there is just a memorial plaque for the town's Jewish population that perished during the Holocaust.
A few years ago, Nat introduced me to Atlas Obscura. It's an American website that was founded in 2009. It doesn't list the usual sightseeing destinations. Just unusual and obscure travel must-sees that would only be known to locals. Heck, some of these, even the locals might not know about. Anytime I travel someplace, I always looks to see what the local Atlas Obscura sights are.
One of the things on Tünde's list this time was to visit the Deutsches Currrywurst Museum. The museum opened in 2009 on the 60th anniversary of Currywurst being created. Currywurst and a wacky museum? Sounded great. What we didn't know was that the museum closed permanently back in December 2018.
Here's a two-minute YouTube video I found that at least shows what the museum was like. I bet that the gift shop would have been fun.
So instead, we went to the David Hasselhoff Museum. Yes, Berlin has a David Hasselhoff museum. The museum is very small. It's basically a downstairs hallway that's located at a hostel. The museum is free and it's open 24/7. 
Dark Matter is a former factory in Berlin where they show light and interactive audiovisual exhibits in pitch-black rooms. This year they have their first open sky light installation called Winterlights.
Although it is cold outside there's coffee and mulled wine to help keep you warm.
Here are a few videos I took.
Johannes Oerding is a German pop singer/songwriter that's pretty popular in Germany. Well, he's at least popular enough that I've heard of him and I like his music. He was born in 1981, in Münster, but now lives in Hamburg.
I believe that he was discovered in 1999 and in 2009 Columbia Records released Erste Wahl as his debut album. It didn't do that great but it was re-released in 2010 and it hit number 39 on the German charts. His second album was released in 2011 and debuted at number 11. His third album came out in 2013, debuting at number 4 and going gold. One of my favourite of his songs is Einfach nur Weg which was on this album. Here's the music video that I found on YouTube.
Oerding's fourth album came out in 2015 and it too went Gold after debuting at number three on the chards. 
It looks like I'll be back in Berlin in February for a concert. This evening I found out that Johannes Oerding will be at the Mercedes-Benz Arena on 9 February so I just bought tickets for Claudia, Tünde and I to go. 
So when I was a teenager, back in the 80's in Southern California, I missed the chance to see Depeche Mode in concert. So when Claudia mentioned cheap €45 tickets for the Bratislava show I was definitely in.
The show was great! We were in the standing section and it did start to rain. But that's where the "I ❤️ Bratislava" rain poncho came in handy. The concert was to promote their upcoming album so it makes sense that their focus was on the newer material. 
They played 22 songs, including a five song encore, but I still wish their set had included "Master & Servant", "Shake the Disease", "Policy of Truth" and "People Are People", but they did include "Walking In My Shoes".
Today was another full day in Auckland. We started out in the Devonport suburb, about 15 minutes away. 
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| View of Rangitoto from North Head |
The NZSO was founded in 1946 and is based in Wellington. Tonight's programme was Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor and Elgar's Symphony No. 1 in A-flat major. The performance was wonderful. 
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