Did anyone see the EU celebrations live?

Just curious as no one mentioned it yet -

we were in Berlin Friday night and they had a big party set up with
tents, TV sceens and a stage for live acts right behind the Brandenburg
Gate- but no fireworks. It seems the parties going on everywhere else
were 10 times better, so I'm wondering if any other NG readers were at
one and could report?

T.

On Sun, 02 May 2004 11:08:56 +0200, Thomas Peel
wrote:

Just curious as no one mentioned it yet -

we were in Berlin Friday night and they had a big party set up with
tents, TV sceens and a stage for live acts right behind the Brandenburg
Gate- but no fireworks. It seems the parties going on everywhere else
were 10 times better, so I'm wondering if any other NG readers were at
one and could report?

If there were any celebrations here (Bristol, UK) they were not
publicised and as far as the news media were concerned it was no big
deal.

I sometimes think this country is becoming more and more xenophobic.

I have, however, spent the past two days in the company of people from
France, Poland and Spain, so I suppose I've "done my bit" in a way.

Keith Anderson schrieb:

On Sun, 02 May 2004 11:08:56 +0200, Thomas Peel
wrote:

Just curious as no one mentioned it yet -

we were in Berlin Friday night and they had a big party set up with
tents, TV sceens and a stage for live acts right behind the Brandenburg
Gate- but no fireworks. It seems the parties going on everywhere else
were 10 times better, so I'm wondering if any other NG readers were at
one and could report?

If there were any celebrations here (Bristol, UK) they were not
publicised and as far as the news media were concerned it was no big
deal.

I sometimes think this country is becoming more and more xenophobic.

I have, however, spent the past two days in the company of people from
France, Poland and Spain, so I suppose I've "done my bit" in a way.

The people who organised the Berlin celebrations made a big mistake. At
the stroke of midnight, they started playing Viennese waltzes and tried
to get everybody to join in. Now, this crowd had been working its way
steadily through the Polish beer, Cyprus wine and Slovenien schnapps all
evening and was in no state to do any waltzing, even if they had wanted
to. Instead, the attention was directed to the big TV screens showing
the huge firework displays that were going on everywhere else- the
biggest one was in Malta, apparently. After midnight had past and became
apparent that Berlin was not going to do any fireworks, a Czech group
came on stage and started playing- then the crowd woke up. The music
style was kind of Irish punk folk rock, and people in the crowd were
singing along wildly.
I talked to one couple next to me, who turned out to be Czech and they
told me the group was #1 in the Czech Republic, and what they were
singing were in fact well known folk songs from all over different parts
of central Europe.

Thomas Peel wrote in message
...


Keith Anderson schrieb:

On Sun, 02 May 2004 11:08:56 +0200, Thomas Peel
wrote:

Just curious as no one mentioned it yet -

we were in Berlin Friday night and they had a big party set up with
tents, TV sceens and a stage for live acts right behind the Brandenburg
Gate- but no fireworks. It seems the parties going on everywhere else
were 10 times better, so I'm wondering if any other NG readers were at
one and could report?

If there were any celebrations here (Bristol, UK) they were not
publicised and as far as the news media were concerned it was no big
deal.

I sometimes think this country is becoming more and more xenophobic.

I have, however, spent the past two days in the company of people from
France, Poland and Spain, so I suppose I've "done my bit" in a way.

The people who organised the Berlin celebrations made a big mistake. At
the stroke of midnight, they started playing Viennese waltzes and tried
to get everybody to join in. Now, this crowd had been working its way
steadily through the Polish beer, Cyprus wine and Slovenien schnapps all
evening and was in no state to do any waltzing, even if they had wanted
to. Instead, the attention was directed to the big TV screens showing
the huge firework displays that were going on everywhere else- the
biggest one was in Malta, apparently. After midnight had past and became
apparent that Berlin was not going to do any fireworks, a Czech group
came on stage and started playing- then the crowd woke up. The music
style was kind of Irish punk folk rock, and people in the crowd were
singing along wildly.
I talked to one couple next to me, who turned out to be Czech and they
told me the group was #1 in the Czech Republic, and what they were
singing were in fact well known folk songs from all over different parts
of central Europe.

I don't think anything happened anywhere in the UK, did it?
The only news re the expanded Europe seems to have been centred on the
hordes of immigrants about to descend!
Symbolic of something!

Surreyman

"a.spencer3" wrote
| I don't think anything happened anywhere in the UK, did it?

Edinburgh is hosting a programme of events running from May until October to
help familiarise people with the 10 countries joining the EU, and encourage
debate about the issues and opportunities which this will bring for
Edinburgh and Scotland.
The programme starts on 1 May, which is Accession Day, with a family event
in Princes Street Gardens. This cultural extravaganza features
entertainment, music, stalls, family activities and information about the 10
new countries.
Other highlights in the programme include Our Europe Welcome Gala on 2 May,
featuring music, song, film and poetry from the new countries, and a unique
series of Polish events, as part of the Festival of Scottish Writing, from
15 May to 29 May.
Completing the programme on 12 October is an exciting one-day Schools
Enlargement Festival celebrating the music, arts, food, culture and sports
of all 25 member countries.

see also http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/EUevents/

The EU's listing of events is at
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/e-day_en.htm#uk

Owain

Wolfgang Schwanke schrieb:

"Owain" wrote in
:

"a.spencer3" wrote
| I don't think anything happened anywhere in the UK, did it?

Edinburgh is hosting a programme of events running from May until
October to help familiarise people with the 10 countries joining the
EU,

That's a good idea. There was a television programme here where they asked
passers in Cologne/Germany to attach the correct country names to a map of
Europe with the new member countries. Only one out of 7 or 8 candidates
succeeded, most were absolutely clueless. One lady labelled Estonia as
"Cyprus".

Regards

--
Hello Helli t'es A

http://www.wschwanke.de/ usenet_20031215 (AT) wschwanke (DOT) de

Surprising, considering the amount of media coverage the new entrants
have had, at least here in Germany. The weekly illustrated "Stern" for
example has been running lengthy articles about the countries for the
last 6 weeks at least. But Wolfgang, maybe it was one of those TV
channels whose viewers never read newspapers? The ones who can't even
remember the name of the president? g

T.

Has it was street poll results can be anything. That lady may well not
read newspapers and only watch entertainment. In street poll You can
get extremely stupid answer everywhere in Earth.

(About presidents - in 1995 (or 96) 60% Russians in Estonia think
that Estonian president is Boris Jeltsin )

Toomas


"Wolfgang Schwanke" wrote in message
...
Thomas Peel wrote in
:

Surprising, considering the amount of media coverage the new entrants
have had, at least here in Germany.

I think the fact that the poll was taken in the Rhineland has something to
do with it. For many West Germans, the East is still a blind spot. They
guessed that in East Germany results would have been slightly better. But
only slightly.

But Wolfgang, maybe it was one of those TV
channels whose viewers never read newspapers? The ones who can't even
remember the name of the president? g

I don't watch those channels. It was the WDR.

"All over this our land, wherever you are
From the Es-Ef-Be to the Doubleyou-De-Ar"



--
Hello Helli t'es A

http://www.wschwanke.de/ usenet_20031215 (AT) wschwanke (DOT) de

"Thomas Peel" skrev i meddelandet
...
Surprising, considering the amount of media coverage the new entrants
have had, at least here in Germany. The weekly illustrated "Stern" for
example has been running lengthy articles about the countries for the
last 6 weeks at least. But Wolfgang, maybe it was one of those TV
channels whose viewers never read newspapers? The ones who can't even
remember the name of the president? g
T.
We have seen,equally in Sweden, very much coverage for the new countries in
the papers as well as in the TV broadcasting. Only the most illiterate
without a TV-set can be unaware of those countries. The Baltic countries nor
Poland can be a surprise being good neighbors. Malta and Cyprus are
well-known tourist destinations.
Maybe Slovakia and Slovenia are confusing, being new established countries
with close names and flags ?

Following up to Keith Anderson

I sometimes think this country is becoming more and more xenophobic.

Xenophobia and distrust of euro politicians are not of course the
same thing. But certainly all I have seen in UK press is
discussion of problems (and to be fair benefits) of large numbers
of migrant workers. Nobody says the G word, but I think its in
peoples minds. When I heard Ireland had celebrations it came as a
surprise.
--
Mike Reid
"Art is the lie that reveals the truth" P.Picasso
Wasdale-Lake district-Thames path-London "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" -- you can email us@ this site
Eat-walk-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" -- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap

It seems to me that the only people honestly celebrating were those from
the new 10.

--
Tim C.