Our Approach to the Royal Palace on Drottningholm
The Royal Gardens at Drottningholm
The English Park at Drottningholm, Where Scenes From "ABBA The Movie" and the National Commercial Were Filmed
Long View of the Back of Drottningholm Palace
The Water Walls at Drottningholm.jpg)
ABBA Posing In Front of the Water Walls on Drottningholm
Lisbeth Salander's Home on Fiskargatan (In the Millennium novels by Stieg Larsson)
The Best Meal I Had in Stockholm
Polar Music Studios (1978-2004), Now A GymWell, I had been working on my blog until well past midnight, so I got my wake-up call at 9:00 a.m. But the thing is that I was already up before then, so it was all good. I hurried to get breakfast because I wanted to make the most of my day, and that included a tour of Drottningholm, the royal residence near the island of Ekerö. Finally, I remember to tell you all about the exhibit in the hotel lobby. For Love 2010, the hotel lobby hosts a slide show of artwork chosen to depict the theme of love. Thing is it includes quite some raunchy scenes, and I am often surprised that the exhibit is playing in a public space like the hotel lobby. I mean, there are very graphic orgy scenes. Meanwhile, back home, an exhibit at the National Gallery which has been placed behind a screen telling people it is restricted is still the subject of public hostility. What a cultural difference!!
After buying a new pair of earphones for my iPod (the last pair just suddenly stopped working), I got to the dock to take the ferry from Stadshuset to Drottningholm. I got to the dock by 10:35, but with the ship leaving at 11:00, there was already a line-up. I guess the trip could be described as "the milk run", because along the way, we must have stopped at about a half dozen docks, delivering the morning papers to these isolated communities. We finally got to Drottningholm at noon sharp, having taken exactly one hour to get there. I spent that time trying to see if I could locate Agnetha Fältskog's house on the island of Ekerö, but to no avail. It was only when I got to the hotel and looked it up on the Internet that I discovered her home is located on the other side of the island, so I would not have been able to see it from the ferry.
My main concern when I got to Drottningholm was that I wanted to take the time it takes to visit the palace and the grounds (the guide book says it takes a full three hours minimum), but at the same time, I wanted to be back in Stockholm for the start of the Millennium tour at 6:00 p.m. When I got to the information desk to buy tickets, I was very, very disappointed. Despite what the guide had told me at Kungligaslottet the day before, Drottningholm was not open. I was really peeved. The whole palace was closed because of the royal wedding, just like the royal apartments in Kungligaslottet. Since it was noon, I decided to start with lunch at the restaurant. I ordered the köttbulle macka (meatball sandwich), and waited. Twenty minutes later, I had to ask them where my meal was, and they had forgotten to get it. A minute later, I sat at the table with my meal, which was quite a disappointment. It was an open-faced sandwich which heaps of chopped beats in mayo, with cold meatballs on top. I managed to eat about half of it, washing it down with "Coca Cola Light". Then, I spent about ten minutes trying to get soap from them so I could scrub my white shirt which had gotten a beet juice stain on it. Let's just say at this point, I was not exactly a happy camper... I got out of the restaurant at 1:00 p.m., and bought my combined ticket to see at least the Drottningholm Court Theater and the Kina Slott (Chinese Pavilion). At least the visit of the grounds was free.
I got to the theatre at 1:05 p.m., and was allowed to join the group that had started the guided tour of the theatre about five minutes earlier. It was a grand building, and I was finally starting to get into the whole thing after the initial disappointment of the palace being closed. We were ushered into the actual theatre part of the building and sat down so that our guide could describe the huge room we were in. I had completely forgotten that it was here that Ingmar Bergman had filmed parts of his movie version of Mozart's opera, "The Magic Flute". Hans had told me this some time last week. It was a great feeling knowing that I was in the very room where he had filmed that movie!
After leaving the theatre around 1:30 p.m., I made my way onto the Drottningholm grounds and took extensive photos. The gardens have been compared to Versailles and I can see why. It was a perfect baroque garden and I could easily see why it has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site. And to think that the royal family lives here permanently! I saw the long gravelled pathways along which Agnetha Fältskog strolled in the 1999 ABBA documentary, where she says the walks have been helpful for her to come to terms with the turmoil of the ABBA years. (She lives nearby, so she can walk here often). I also took several photographs of the English Park, where ABBA were filmed having a picnic and riding a horse as part of Ashley's dream sequence in "ABBA The Movie". And they also filmed parts of their Australian National commercials here in 1977. Heading further south, I came to the famous water walls that grace the cover of their 1977 single, "The Name of the Game". It was great seeing all of these ABBA connections in one spot. I got to the China Pavilion and had a quick tour of the buildings, which I thought were just OK, and then headed back through the garden to the ferry. It was 2:45 p.m. then, and I was relieved to think that at least I would have plenty of time to make the Millennium tour tonight. As I crossed the grounds, I listened to music from the movie "Orlando" on my iPod. It seemed like a very appropriate, regal choice. As I was reaching the palace again, a car drove up and the guard opened the gate to let it into the palace area. I couldn't tell who it was, but I took a picture all the same. I got to the ferry just in time and joined the long queue to the boat. As I was one of the last people on board, there was hardly any room left outside, so I sat inside and enjoyed a glass of white wine. The journey back was a little quicker because we didn't stop anywhere along the way. I got to Stadshuset in Stockholm by 4:00 p.m.
Knowing that the Södra Stadshuset on Södermalm closed at 5:00, and that I had to get my ticket for the Millennium tour here, I made my way to the building as quickly as possible and got my ticket. Then, since there was still ninety minutes before the tour, I went back to the hotel to leave my back pack, and only brought the Millennium map and my ABBA guide book with me for the evening. Troy's camera was firmly attached to my belt, and I had my sunglasses on because it was yet another gloriously sunshiny day!
I hadn't yet had dinner by the time the Millennium tour started at 6:00 p.m. in front of Bellmansgatan 1, the address where investigative reporter Mikael Blomkvist lives, in Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy: Män som hatar kvinnor (which was translated as "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"), Flickan som lekte med elden ("The Girl Who Played With Fire") and Luftslottet som sprängdes (which was translated as "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest"). The tour brought us from Mikael Blomkvist's house in the book, to his house in the film (not the same location), to the marvellous view of the city from Monteliusvägen with a perfect view of the courthouse where Mikael Blomkvist is convicted of slander, to Lundagatan where Lisbeth Salander lives at the beginning of the first novel, to the Mellqvist Coffee Bar where they always hang out, to the Synagogue on Sankt Paulsgatan where Detective Bublanski worships, to the headquarters of Millennium in the book, to the headquarters of Millennium in the film, to the 7-Eleven where Lisbeth Salander goes shopping all the time, to Mosebacke where Lisbeth Salander meets her lawyer, and finally, to Lisbeth's magnificient flat on Fiskargatan she buys with the billions of dollars she stole. I really, really enjoyed this tour, and it was the very first time I have gone on a literary tour. The guide we had read relevant exerpts from the novels as we travelled. It was great. I hope to be able to do other literary tours in the future, especially the "Tales of the City" tour in San Francisco! By the way, Troy, the tour has got me in the mood to re-read the Larsson books, so perhaps if you'll lend them to me I can read them in English this time. The guide also pointed out that in the trilogy, all the good guys live and work in Södermalm, and the evil people are located elsewhere in the city, with the heart of evil being located on Strandvägen, in Östermalm.
The tour brought me to locations I had already seen in the city. Bellmansgatan 1, for instance, was near the house that appears on the back cover of Agnetha's "Elva kvinnor i ett hus". I pass the 7-Eleven on Götgatan all the time because it is between my hotel and the Slussen subway station; and when our guide decided to take a break from the tour to outline Stieg Larsson's life, she chose the park in front of Benny's hotel, the Rival hotel, to do so. It was really cool. She also informed us that this park was the spot of a riot in June 2004 when neo-Nazis and anti-Nazis clashed, right in front of Benny's hotel.
By the time the tour ended around 8:00 p.m., I was famished. I hadn't had dinner yet and I really wanted to eat something good. I chose a restaurant in Södermalm on Götgatan I had noticed on my walk yesterday. I sat myself down and ordered a dish that looked good. But then again, anything would be better than that horrible lunch I had. I ordered the pasta dish which was described as "pasta med musslor i en hummersås" (pasta with mussels in a lobster sauce). I also ordered a fantastic mango-hibiscus cooler I just discovered, and then ordered a second one. When the dish came to the table, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it also included a half lobster on top. This was the best meal I have had in Sweden up until now. I was really, really impressed.
It was not yet 9:00 p.m. at that point, the sun was still shining in the sky, so I set off with my ABBA Guide to Stockholm. My goal was to see the last four spots in Stockholm I really wanted to see before leaving Sweden. The four sites were scattered to the north of the city in Vasastan, but I thought if I used the subways I could get to see them. I located the first two very easily. The first was the building that used to house Polar Music Studios. ABBA had this built for them in 1978, and the first song recorded here was "Summer Night City". They produced their final three albums here: "Voulez-Vous"(1979), "Super Trouper"(1980) and "The Visitors"(1981). In addition, Frida recorded her albums "Something's Going On" (1982) and "Djupa Andetag" (1996) here; Agnetha recorded her albums "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" (1983) and "Eyes of a Woman" (1984) here; and Benny and Björn recorded "Chess" here (1985). Quite disappointingly, the studios became a gym in 2004. The seond site I located was Atlantis Studios, formerly Metronome Studios. It was here that ABBA recorded their early albums "Ring Ring" (1973), "Waterloo" (1974) and most of "ABBA" (1975). It was also here that Agnetha recorded her comeback album "My Colouring Book" (2004).
I won't go into unnecessary detail about how I got lost, but it took over an hour for me to find the last two spots. It was well past 10:30 p.m., and the sun was beginning to set when I found the street where the cover photo for the album "ABBA" was shot: you might remember it is the one where the four members are sitting in a parked Rolls Royce sipping champagne. The fact is that after ABBA won the Eurovision song contest with "Waterloo" in 1974, the Swedish press had a field day saying that ABBA was a commercial pop band only concerned with making money, so the decision was made to shoot this tongue-in-cheek cover. The back cover showed them in the lobby of a swanky hotel wearing glamourous 1930s clothes. And finally, I came to the old headquarters of the Polar Music Offices during the glory days of ABBA, from 1975 to 1980. It was here that the band prepared for their 1977 Australian Tour and their 1979 world tour.
And with that, I took the subway back to the hotel. Since it was well past 11:00 p.m. by the time I got in, the business centre was long closed and I had to wait until this morning to write my blog. I awoke early to make the most of my day. I wrote this post, had breakfast and am getting ready to tackle my day. I am starting to feel very nervous about my trip to Iceland. I simply don't like moving from place to place when I travel: I much prefer being in the city. I checked my ticket, and my flight leaves Stockholm tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m. After a three hour flight to Iceland, I arrive in Reykjavik at 3:00 p.m. local time. I hope they have an Internet connection so that I can keep writing my blog, otherwise I might have to stop writing it.
The last few days, I rushed to get a lot done because I wanted to leave this last full day in Stockholm open so that I could relax and not do much. It is still a gorgeous day, so I plan on going to Djurgården and lying down on a shady bank somewhere to read. I plan on bringing my Frommer's Guide to Iceland with me because I confess that I haven't even started looking at it!
The only definite plan I have is meeting up with Hans tonight at the hotel at 6:00 so we can go out for a drink.
I was also very nervous this morning when I read the news on the Internet and read Troy's e-mail about the earthquake that just hit Ottawa. At 5.2 on the Richter scale, it wasn't massive, but according to the news sites, it did cause damage in the city (shattering windows at City Hall), and I am more than a little concerned about my place. The last time we had a tremor, the fissure in my foundation allowed some water to seep into my basement. (A very minor incident with a small patch of wet carpet, and I had the foundation seeled, but still...) And I keep thinking about my having both natural gas and cats alone at home... All I can do is hope for the best...
So that's about it for now.
Cheers!
M.
After buying a new pair of earphones for my iPod (the last pair just suddenly stopped working), I got to the dock to take the ferry from Stadshuset to Drottningholm. I got to the dock by 10:35, but with the ship leaving at 11:00, there was already a line-up. I guess the trip could be described as "the milk run", because along the way, we must have stopped at about a half dozen docks, delivering the morning papers to these isolated communities. We finally got to Drottningholm at noon sharp, having taken exactly one hour to get there. I spent that time trying to see if I could locate Agnetha Fältskog's house on the island of Ekerö, but to no avail. It was only when I got to the hotel and looked it up on the Internet that I discovered her home is located on the other side of the island, so I would not have been able to see it from the ferry.
My main concern when I got to Drottningholm was that I wanted to take the time it takes to visit the palace and the grounds (the guide book says it takes a full three hours minimum), but at the same time, I wanted to be back in Stockholm for the start of the Millennium tour at 6:00 p.m. When I got to the information desk to buy tickets, I was very, very disappointed. Despite what the guide had told me at Kungligaslottet the day before, Drottningholm was not open. I was really peeved. The whole palace was closed because of the royal wedding, just like the royal apartments in Kungligaslottet. Since it was noon, I decided to start with lunch at the restaurant. I ordered the köttbulle macka (meatball sandwich), and waited. Twenty minutes later, I had to ask them where my meal was, and they had forgotten to get it. A minute later, I sat at the table with my meal, which was quite a disappointment. It was an open-faced sandwich which heaps of chopped beats in mayo, with cold meatballs on top. I managed to eat about half of it, washing it down with "Coca Cola Light". Then, I spent about ten minutes trying to get soap from them so I could scrub my white shirt which had gotten a beet juice stain on it. Let's just say at this point, I was not exactly a happy camper... I got out of the restaurant at 1:00 p.m., and bought my combined ticket to see at least the Drottningholm Court Theater and the Kina Slott (Chinese Pavilion). At least the visit of the grounds was free.
I got to the theatre at 1:05 p.m., and was allowed to join the group that had started the guided tour of the theatre about five minutes earlier. It was a grand building, and I was finally starting to get into the whole thing after the initial disappointment of the palace being closed. We were ushered into the actual theatre part of the building and sat down so that our guide could describe the huge room we were in. I had completely forgotten that it was here that Ingmar Bergman had filmed parts of his movie version of Mozart's opera, "The Magic Flute". Hans had told me this some time last week. It was a great feeling knowing that I was in the very room where he had filmed that movie!
After leaving the theatre around 1:30 p.m., I made my way onto the Drottningholm grounds and took extensive photos. The gardens have been compared to Versailles and I can see why. It was a perfect baroque garden and I could easily see why it has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site. And to think that the royal family lives here permanently! I saw the long gravelled pathways along which Agnetha Fältskog strolled in the 1999 ABBA documentary, where she says the walks have been helpful for her to come to terms with the turmoil of the ABBA years. (She lives nearby, so she can walk here often). I also took several photographs of the English Park, where ABBA were filmed having a picnic and riding a horse as part of Ashley's dream sequence in "ABBA The Movie". And they also filmed parts of their Australian National commercials here in 1977. Heading further south, I came to the famous water walls that grace the cover of their 1977 single, "The Name of the Game". It was great seeing all of these ABBA connections in one spot. I got to the China Pavilion and had a quick tour of the buildings, which I thought were just OK, and then headed back through the garden to the ferry. It was 2:45 p.m. then, and I was relieved to think that at least I would have plenty of time to make the Millennium tour tonight. As I crossed the grounds, I listened to music from the movie "Orlando" on my iPod. It seemed like a very appropriate, regal choice. As I was reaching the palace again, a car drove up and the guard opened the gate to let it into the palace area. I couldn't tell who it was, but I took a picture all the same. I got to the ferry just in time and joined the long queue to the boat. As I was one of the last people on board, there was hardly any room left outside, so I sat inside and enjoyed a glass of white wine. The journey back was a little quicker because we didn't stop anywhere along the way. I got to Stadshuset in Stockholm by 4:00 p.m.
Knowing that the Södra Stadshuset on Södermalm closed at 5:00, and that I had to get my ticket for the Millennium tour here, I made my way to the building as quickly as possible and got my ticket. Then, since there was still ninety minutes before the tour, I went back to the hotel to leave my back pack, and only brought the Millennium map and my ABBA guide book with me for the evening. Troy's camera was firmly attached to my belt, and I had my sunglasses on because it was yet another gloriously sunshiny day!
I hadn't yet had dinner by the time the Millennium tour started at 6:00 p.m. in front of Bellmansgatan 1, the address where investigative reporter Mikael Blomkvist lives, in Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy: Män som hatar kvinnor (which was translated as "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"), Flickan som lekte med elden ("The Girl Who Played With Fire") and Luftslottet som sprängdes (which was translated as "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest"). The tour brought us from Mikael Blomkvist's house in the book, to his house in the film (not the same location), to the marvellous view of the city from Monteliusvägen with a perfect view of the courthouse where Mikael Blomkvist is convicted of slander, to Lundagatan where Lisbeth Salander lives at the beginning of the first novel, to the Mellqvist Coffee Bar where they always hang out, to the Synagogue on Sankt Paulsgatan where Detective Bublanski worships, to the headquarters of Millennium in the book, to the headquarters of Millennium in the film, to the 7-Eleven where Lisbeth Salander goes shopping all the time, to Mosebacke where Lisbeth Salander meets her lawyer, and finally, to Lisbeth's magnificient flat on Fiskargatan she buys with the billions of dollars she stole. I really, really enjoyed this tour, and it was the very first time I have gone on a literary tour. The guide we had read relevant exerpts from the novels as we travelled. It was great. I hope to be able to do other literary tours in the future, especially the "Tales of the City" tour in San Francisco! By the way, Troy, the tour has got me in the mood to re-read the Larsson books, so perhaps if you'll lend them to me I can read them in English this time. The guide also pointed out that in the trilogy, all the good guys live and work in Södermalm, and the evil people are located elsewhere in the city, with the heart of evil being located on Strandvägen, in Östermalm.
The tour brought me to locations I had already seen in the city. Bellmansgatan 1, for instance, was near the house that appears on the back cover of Agnetha's "Elva kvinnor i ett hus". I pass the 7-Eleven on Götgatan all the time because it is between my hotel and the Slussen subway station; and when our guide decided to take a break from the tour to outline Stieg Larsson's life, she chose the park in front of Benny's hotel, the Rival hotel, to do so. It was really cool. She also informed us that this park was the spot of a riot in June 2004 when neo-Nazis and anti-Nazis clashed, right in front of Benny's hotel.
By the time the tour ended around 8:00 p.m., I was famished. I hadn't had dinner yet and I really wanted to eat something good. I chose a restaurant in Södermalm on Götgatan I had noticed on my walk yesterday. I sat myself down and ordered a dish that looked good. But then again, anything would be better than that horrible lunch I had. I ordered the pasta dish which was described as "pasta med musslor i en hummersås" (pasta with mussels in a lobster sauce). I also ordered a fantastic mango-hibiscus cooler I just discovered, and then ordered a second one. When the dish came to the table, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it also included a half lobster on top. This was the best meal I have had in Sweden up until now. I was really, really impressed.
It was not yet 9:00 p.m. at that point, the sun was still shining in the sky, so I set off with my ABBA Guide to Stockholm. My goal was to see the last four spots in Stockholm I really wanted to see before leaving Sweden. The four sites were scattered to the north of the city in Vasastan, but I thought if I used the subways I could get to see them. I located the first two very easily. The first was the building that used to house Polar Music Studios. ABBA had this built for them in 1978, and the first song recorded here was "Summer Night City". They produced their final three albums here: "Voulez-Vous"(1979), "Super Trouper"(1980) and "The Visitors"(1981). In addition, Frida recorded her albums "Something's Going On" (1982) and "Djupa Andetag" (1996) here; Agnetha recorded her albums "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" (1983) and "Eyes of a Woman" (1984) here; and Benny and Björn recorded "Chess" here (1985). Quite disappointingly, the studios became a gym in 2004. The seond site I located was Atlantis Studios, formerly Metronome Studios. It was here that ABBA recorded their early albums "Ring Ring" (1973), "Waterloo" (1974) and most of "ABBA" (1975). It was also here that Agnetha recorded her comeback album "My Colouring Book" (2004).
I won't go into unnecessary detail about how I got lost, but it took over an hour for me to find the last two spots. It was well past 10:30 p.m., and the sun was beginning to set when I found the street where the cover photo for the album "ABBA" was shot: you might remember it is the one where the four members are sitting in a parked Rolls Royce sipping champagne. The fact is that after ABBA won the Eurovision song contest with "Waterloo" in 1974, the Swedish press had a field day saying that ABBA was a commercial pop band only concerned with making money, so the decision was made to shoot this tongue-in-cheek cover. The back cover showed them in the lobby of a swanky hotel wearing glamourous 1930s clothes. And finally, I came to the old headquarters of the Polar Music Offices during the glory days of ABBA, from 1975 to 1980. It was here that the band prepared for their 1977 Australian Tour and their 1979 world tour.
And with that, I took the subway back to the hotel. Since it was well past 11:00 p.m. by the time I got in, the business centre was long closed and I had to wait until this morning to write my blog. I awoke early to make the most of my day. I wrote this post, had breakfast and am getting ready to tackle my day. I am starting to feel very nervous about my trip to Iceland. I simply don't like moving from place to place when I travel: I much prefer being in the city. I checked my ticket, and my flight leaves Stockholm tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m. After a three hour flight to Iceland, I arrive in Reykjavik at 3:00 p.m. local time. I hope they have an Internet connection so that I can keep writing my blog, otherwise I might have to stop writing it.
The last few days, I rushed to get a lot done because I wanted to leave this last full day in Stockholm open so that I could relax and not do much. It is still a gorgeous day, so I plan on going to Djurgården and lying down on a shady bank somewhere to read. I plan on bringing my Frommer's Guide to Iceland with me because I confess that I haven't even started looking at it!
The only definite plan I have is meeting up with Hans tonight at the hotel at 6:00 so we can go out for a drink.
I was also very nervous this morning when I read the news on the Internet and read Troy's e-mail about the earthquake that just hit Ottawa. At 5.2 on the Richter scale, it wasn't massive, but according to the news sites, it did cause damage in the city (shattering windows at City Hall), and I am more than a little concerned about my place. The last time we had a tremor, the fissure in my foundation allowed some water to seep into my basement. (A very minor incident with a small patch of wet carpet, and I had the foundation seeled, but still...) And I keep thinking about my having both natural gas and cats alone at home... All I can do is hope for the best...
So that's about it for now.
Cheers!
M.
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