Before I forget, yesterday when Frida and Björn were on the Today show, a French fan screamed something out which Frida couldn't quite make out, so she turned to her and asked, "Qu'est-ce que tu as dit?" It was cool hearing her speak French fluently.
This morning, I woke at 6:00 a.m. to bright sunshine. So I just rolled over and managed to sleep another hour. I got up at 7:00 and started to get ready. Jarl informed me that his Internet connection, which was not working last night, was back up and running, so I was able to check my Facebook status, e-mails and text messages.
I left the house around 9:00 a.m. with the t-shirts I bought yesterday at ABBA The Museum. The first thing on the agenda for today: return to the museum so that I can exchange the medium t-shirts I bought for myself for large sizes. The medium shirts fit right in the belly, but my chest is too wide for them. So I took another street car from Centralen and got to Djurgården around 10:00 a.m. The people at the museum were very cooperative, and since I was there again, in addition to exchanging my t-shirts for larger sized ones, I also gave in and bought myself a t-shirt I had eyed yesterday. It is a limited edition shirt with the message: "I Was There First, Stockholm 2013". And I had a minor mishap in the museum. I am having problems dividing prices in my head. I have to work with the table of 6, so every price in Swedish kronor I divide by 6 to get a rough estimate of a Canadian price. So, when I saw the ABBA magnets, I thought they were really cheap at 60 cents Canadian, so I brought some. It was only after I had left the shop that I realized they were 6 dollars each. I was not impressed... but it was a learning experience and I am more careful with my math now.
After leaving the ABBA Museum, I figured I would go to Skansen, since it was a short walk from the museum. Skansen is Sweden's largest outdoor historical reconstruction, a sort of King's Landing. One of the buildings here is Julius Kronbergs atelje, the working studio of Swedish artist Julius Kronberg. I had tried to visit this building in 2010, but it was closed to the public then, much to my utter dismay. The reason I wanted to visit it is because ABBA posed here in front of the artwork for the cover of their 1981 album, the Visitors. After asking at the entrance to the park, the attendant confirmed for me that the workshop happens to be open this week. (It is only open a few weeks a year.) So I made my way to the bright yellow building, just as its doors were being opened. I was not the first to arrive, however, because there was already a gay couple from Los Angeles who were waiting to enter. It truly was an exciting moment for me to finally see the setting for the classic album cover, and also to admire the tall, central painting of the angel.
It was past noon, so I decided to have a bite to eat in one of the restaurants in Skansen. I chose to have another amazing serving of köttbullar (Swedish meatballs, with mashed potatoes, lingonberries and pickled cucumber). Delicious.
I took the ferry back from Djurgården to Centralen, and saw that it was close to 2:00 p.m. by this time. One of the things I wanted to do on my list was to return to Silverdahls griftegård, the cemetery in Sollentuna (northwest of Stockholm), where singer Ted Gärdestad is buried. He was a child prodigy and teen idol in Sweden and released his first album when he was just 15 in 1971. Unfortunately, he suffered from schizophrenia, and in 1997, at the age of 41, he committed suicide by jumping in front of a subway car. Ted was a protege of Benny and Björn, and this is how I came to discover his music. The way to the cemetery was very long. I had to take a subway from Centralen, then another subway, then the bus out to the cemetery. I got there after about 90 minutes of commute. Surprisingly, I was able to locate his grave from memory. I bought a single red rose at the flower shop at the entrance to the cemetery. I sat down on the sidewalk beside his grave, once I had deposited the rose, and got my iPod out to listen to three of his songs: "För kärlekens skull" (For Love's Sake), "Sol, vind och vatten" (Sun, Wind and Water) and "Himlen äroskyldigt blå" (The Heavens are Unbelievably Blue).
I took two buses and a subway to get back to Centralen, from which I walked out to Gamla stan, in search of a place to have dinner. This was perhaps a bad idea because the Old Town district is the main tourist area, and prices are very expensive. I didn't feel like dishing out a lot of money for dinner (I was still reeling from my fridge magnets), so I had a burger and fries and a beer. That's just about it. I then found a 7-Eleven in Gamla stan, where I am currently writing this post. All in all, a good day.
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