One by one the national delegations are arriving in the Finnish capital. They are being welcomed by rain, high winds and cold (around 5 degrees centigrade) but the excitement is still riding high.
The Georgian delegation landed around noon today, and many more delegations competing in the semi-finals will arrive today. The rest of the delegates, especially the finalists, will continue to arrive throughout the weekend. The last to arrive will be the Swedish delegation late Monday afternoon.
The first semi-finalists are arriving in Helsinki so that they can take part in their first on-stage rehearsals tomorrow. Bulgaria will rehearse first at 9.00 tomorrow. Each delegation will have about forty minutes on stage during their first rehearsal, and they will each speak to journalists after their rehearsal. Latvia will be the last group to see the stage. They rehearse at 8.20 Friday night.
