ABBA The Museum

So I woke up on my own about 6:30 a.m. this morning. I was too excited to go back to sleep. Today is the day I go to ABBA The Museum! I had asked Jarl to wake me at 8:00 a.m. to make sure I had time to make it to Djurgården for my scheduled entrance at 10:30 a.m., as per my ticket. But I didn't need the wake-up call after all. I took advantage of my free wi-fi and checked my Facebook page and yahoo e-mails. I then shaved, showered and got dressed. I then went to the kitchen, where Jarl had told me I could take anything I wanted from the fridge. I just got a banana, because I still had half a giant lemon muffin and half a bottle of water from the night before. Jarl introduced me to his school-age daughter, who lives part-time with him, part-time with her mom.

I left the house at 9:00 a.m. and took the subway to Centralen. From there, I discovered I could take the street car to Djugården. I had never taken a street car in my life, so this was another first for me. I got off the street car at The Nordiska Museum and made my way on foot to the ABBA museum, where I arrived around 9:45. There were tons of people there in the courtyard, including two young Swedish women dressed in the costumes just like those Frida and Agnetha wore at the Eurovision song contest in 1974. The first group of people who had been issued tickets could go in at 10:00 a.m., so when I arrived there at 9:45, it was still closed. At 10:00, the CEO of ABBA The Museum and the CEO of the Swedish Music Hall of Fame announced that two very special guests would dedicate the opening of the building: the latest Swedish winner of the Eurovision Song contest, Loreen, and the first Swedish winner, Björn Ulvaeus. They solemnly declared the museum open, and the lucky 10:00 a.m. time-slot people ushered in. I waited outside, where i photographed a man who was juggling lit torches. It turns out that he was the same man juggling fire on the cover of the Super Trouper album back in 1980. In the courtyard, I also recognized Owe Sandström, ABBA's costume designer, so I took a photograph of him.

Even though my entrance to the museum was just at 10:30, there was nothing to prevent me from spending time in the gift shop at the entrance to the museum, so this is what I did. It gave me time to scout the shop and see what I could pick up on my way out. Lots of t-shirts, fridge magnets, notepads, CDs, etc.

At 10:30 I could finally enter the exhibit. OMG it was so fun and entirely interactive. With the ticket we had when we went in, we could scan it at each interactive booth, and our performances were all digitally recorded. At one point in the near future, they will be placed on our own created personal page on abbathemuseum.com. From there, I will be able to share them with my family and friends, and even post them on Facebook. The interactive exhibits included a sing-along in virtual costumes, a dance routine set to one of ABBA's videos (I chose "Take A Chance On Me"), karaoke (I chose "Waterloo"), dancing with four holograms of ABBA (I chose "Mamma Mia"), and trying our hand at mixing an ABBA song. In the ABBA Trivia game, I chose the moderate questionnaire and scored 15 out of 15. In addition, the exhibit featured recreations of the Polar Music Studios, the Polar Music Office, the Viggsö writing hut in the Stockholm archipelago where Benny and Björn penned their songs, the backstage area at a concert, and Björn and Agnetha's kitchen. I got to have my picture taken inside the helicopter that is featured on the "Arrival" cover. And I got my picture taken on a park bench in front of the famous park bench photo. And I saw tons of impressive memorabilia: all of the costumes I was hoping to see, Hep Stars and Hootenanny Singers posters, a piano that is synched to the one in Benny's music studios so that when he plays it there it plays in the museum, a Hudson's Bay jacket one of the girls got in Vancouver in 1979, Benny's first accordeon he got when he was 6, an ABBA Rubik's Cube and the marionettes from "ABBA The Last Video". The last room in the exhibit is a theatre, where they play "ABBA The Movie".

The rest of the exhibit space is devoted to the history of popular music in Sweden, and I have to say that I was disappointed by it. There was not very much substance here, and just fleeting references to Ace of Base, Roxette and (my favourite) Ted Gärdestad.

In the museum shop, everything was so expensive. So I exercised some self-control and bought myself two t-shirts and dolls of the four ABBA members. I also bought my niece Emilie a gift here. When I got outside, it was close to noon, and I noticed there was a crowd of people that formed a circle around something, so I went to have a look. It turns out that it was a camera crew from NBC that had come to film a segment on ABBA The Museum for the Today Show. As luck would have it, I was positioned strategically in front of the camera, three rows back. I called my parents to let them know that I would be on TV, and then I waited a while. There were a lot of breaking news stories, like those three missing women who were just discovered this morning trapped in a house by two brothers. So, our segment kept getting delayed. Eventually, the crew began filming, and the hostess introduced Björn and Frida, who came out into the little square and stood just feet away from me (again). The couple who stood immediately in front of me were thrilled. The woman has been an ABBA fan for 30 years and this was her first time seeing any of the ABBAs. When we got to chatting I discovered that they are from Halifax. Small world.

At the end of the interview, it was 2:30 p.m., and I had still not eaten lunch, so I decided to leave Djurgården on foot and to make my way to Gamla stan. On the way, I called my mom to find out if they had seen me, and she said that they saw me very well, with my sunglasses on my forehead. I mentioned the museum shop, and mom requested a t-shirt of ABBA The Museum, so I turned back and picked one up for her, in addition to two fridge magnets for myself.

This task done, I sought out the small cemetery on Djurgården where Stikkan "Stig" Andersson, ABBA's manager, is buried. I had visited his grave site three years ago, but since then, his widow Gudrun has been buried beside him. I got a photograph of the new stone.

Now, it was definitely time for lunch. Almost off the island, near Blåporten (The Blue Door), I found a little food stand. I didn't feel like having an expensive meal just then (after having spent so much in the museum shop), so I ordered something I had been meaning to try, a tunnebrödrulle: a pita filled with mashed potatoes, fresh tomatoes and lettuce, a hotdog, mayonnaise and shrimp. It was okay, and very filling.

I was in the mood to walk in the city, so I slowly made my way on foot to Drottninggatan. Memory told me that this was the street where I had seen a large CD store three years ago. And memory served me well. (It was also the street where a small bomb exploded shortly after my last trip to Sweden). I went inside the CD shop, but there was nothing worthy of notice. On my way out, I headed south through Gamla stan and finally found a gift for Gabrielle. Now all three nephews and nieces have a gift. I also bought myself a new Sweden t-shirt, and a couple of wooden Christmas tree decorations like the ones I bought three years ago that I love so much.

I stopped for a cone of soft vanilla ice-cream during my walk. Man, I had forgotten how good these were! Real vanilla. I decided it was time for me to find a computer so that I could get caught up in my blog. After all, I had nearly two days' worth to get caught up on. So, I took the subway from Slussen to Karlaplan, near my lodgings. I made my way to the 7-Eleven, where I am currently writing this post. I have also tried to log onto the abbathemuseum web site to see my interactive activities, but they say to check back soon. Can't wait! I will definitely post to Facebook...