Well today was a day I've been excited about for months...my pilgrimage to the ABBA Museum. Many thanks to Karl for putting up with my enthusiasm about the museum. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, the ABBA Museum is located on Djurgårten. Again we took the subway and tram to get there. It opened at 10:00 and we got there at 10:04. We waited for about 25 minutes to buy tickets. We could've booked online ahead of time for a certain time slot but wanted some flexibility. While waiting, we asked another visitor to take our photo with our faces in cut outs of Björn and Agnetha. Everyone was having fun passing their cameras to others in line.
We opted to pay extra for the audio tour, and I think it was worth it. The tour starts down two flights of stairs. The first thing we saw at the bottom of the stairs was the lit up ABBA letters...another photo op. We then watched a 4-minute montage then went into the first room of exhibits. Each ABBA member told about their early life and how their careers got started. The next area told about how they got together and won Eurovision in 1974. The exhibit continued with their stardom, personal lives, and the break up. We saw a mock up of their recording studio, a dressing room, several of their costumes, and their albums, gold records and other awards. Along the way there were fun things like a telephone. If it rings, you should answer it because it will be one of ABBA calling! There was a piano there hooked up to Benny's piano at home. If he starts playing at home, the piano in the museum will play, too! (Neither of these things happened when we were in those rooms). There are more interactive things to do, which I would've done if I'd been with one or both of my daughters. We can get a little crazy playing ABBA Singstar on the PlayStation! There was a recording booth, where you could do karaoke and it could be recorded for you. We also saw a stage where you could be the 5th member of ABBA and sing with hologram images. In another place you could just dance and be shown on a screen.
After the ABBA portion of the museum you come to the Swedish Music Hall of Fame. It seemed well done, but aside from ABBA and Roxette we didn't know any Swedish musicians. I think we were in the museum for about an hour and a half. I spent 945 kroner in the gift shop!
Our next stop was the Vasa Museum. The line for tickets was probably 50 yards long and wasn't moving. We decided to try again tomorrow, earlier in the morning. We headed to my favorite place in Stockholm, Gamla Stan. We went to the Royal Armory and looked at clothing, armor, and weapons of the Swedish Royal family.
By this time it was 1:30 and Karl and I wanted some lunch. We had the fixed price lunch at a little restaurant. We both had meatballs today. After lunch we went back to the Royal Palace and toured the State Apartments. They were much fancier than the rooms at Drottningholm Palace. While there was still some Trompe l'oeil, there was also a lot of real marble and carvings. This Royal Palace was built in the 1700s. All the kings since that time lived there until the current King Carl XVI Gustav. He lives at Drottningholm but his offices are at the Royal Palace. The Royal Palace is undergoing a 20 year restoration on the exterior.
When we were done touring the Palace, we did a little shopping as we walked to the Gamla Stan subway station. We were back at the apartment by 4:15. The skies were threatening and Karl seems to be catching a cold. We did dash out between rains to pick up Indian food from a food truck at Telefonplan.
Photos from the ABBA Museum and the rest of the day are here.
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