The location of the opening ceremony seemed to be very exotic - Summer residence of president of Malta - Verdala Palace, a bit of difficult in reach, but very impressive building. Unfortunately, the only press bus there (leaving from hotel) has stuck a bit on it's road, and was about 15 minutes late, while ceremony has started on time. We were lucky to have our own Ralf there to do the shootings of the red carpet from the very beginning.
Unlike at the adult Eurovision, the red carpet was photo only. After being interviewed by the host, participants were moving straight to Anton Attard and Vlad Yakovlev, who were wishing them good luck, and then entered the palace. So there was no press interview opportunity in the red carpet.
Inside, there were two rooms, the one that was upstairs held the draw ceremony, and the one downstairs the party after. Sadly, officially no press was allowed to the upper room to do any photos during the draw, which could have been a good photo opportunity, yet, we have seen some local Maltese independent photographers sneaking in it.
When the whole group of delegations got downstairs, it has appeared that room below is very small for both them and press people. It was very difficult to move there, and thus some delegations have started leaving pretty early. Others meanwhile were enjoying some drink and local Maltese snacks.
The kids used this as opportunity to chat with each other, to exchange CDs and some souvenirs - and when half of delegations have left and the floor became more open, the real fun has started - the kids disco, which included among other things Armenia vs Georgia dance-off, and Federica and Gaia girly party.
After the carpet, we've decided to talk to the kids about their very special outfits for the day. Provided than most of the performers are girls, the outfits seemed to be chosen very carefully, mostly just specially for the event. We've chatted with 15 of countries of 16 with Bulgaria leaving a bit earlier. And whose outfit did you like the most?
Unfortunately, and I've highlighted that already at JESC 2010 in Minsk, the opening party has omitted one of the biggest traditions of JESC opening parties - to actually have kids performing their entries on stage, to let them to see each other singing and get more closely acquainted with each other. We hope next year this tradition will be continued.