Once More, But With Feeling...

Sankt Jakobskyrka, Where Stig Anderson's Funeral Was Held in 1997

The Staircase Frida Runs Up and Down on in the Video for "Head Over Heels"

The Grave of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme



Nanne Grönvall



Peter Grönvall

I had a very good night´s sleep last night. Amazing what a little 25+ km walk will do to the body. When I woke this morning, I got ready and made it to breakfast by 9:00. My stomach seems to be doing a lot better, so in addition to my regular fare, I tried the smultronfilmjölk (milky strawberry yogurt). It was quite good. Perhaps tomorrow I´ll try those other things that scare me in the buffet: pickled herring, herring in mustard, pickles... right alongside the bacon and eggs...

After breakfast, I got my map of Stockholm out (not that it does me much good...) and made my way to the front desk. I spent a lot of time chatting with the receptionist, and I was really proud of myself, because I didn´t use any English at all. The receptionist is originally from Australia, and his first language is Chinese, but when he spoke Swedish slowly, I understood almost everything he said. He was able to give me directions to the different cemeteries that I want to visit while in Stockholm. There are many famous dead Swedes to visit, and chances are that there will be fewer people hanging around them than around the living ones... So now that I have the begravningplatser (cemeteries) all mapped out, I can start thinking about adding them to my itinerary. It would be cool just to get pictures of the graves of Greta Garbo and Ingrid Bergman, I think.

Around 10:00, I made my way to the subway station to explore further afield, north of Gamla Stan. I asked the woman at the ticket counter how I could get a subway ticket, and she answered so quickly, I didn´t understand a single word. But she did point to a machine. So I went to it, and tried to make sense of the Swedish instructions there, but when I looked back at the woman in the window, she gave me a look of such bitter disappointment, it was as if I had pooed on her floor (and maybe I should have, then and there, just out of spite). She nodded towards the next machine beside it, so I inserted my 30 kronor (= 4 dollars Canadian) for a subway ticket. (As a sidebar, I am getting tired of dividing all the prices by 7 to get a rough idea of the cost in Canadian dollars! The table of 7 is not an easy one to work with!) So I get my ticket, and then I am wondering what to do with it. I watch as the people entering the subway swipe cards in a machine, but I only have a paper coupon. I try to swipe it where the cards are being read, and the woman behind the window looks at me with the sheerest contempt. She waves me through a side passage that she opens for me. I tell her, apologetically, "Det är min första gång" ("It´s my first time"). As if she cared...

Anyway, I got off the subway at Central Station, north of Gamla Stan, in Norrmalm. With my trusty guide in hand, I was able to keep following in the footsteps of ABBA. My first stop got me to the Stadshuset (the City House), where each year the Nobel prize winners are announced. It was also here that Benny Andersson first played on stage in 1955: when he was 8, he played the accordion at Stadshuset. And a year ago this week, the reclusive Agnetha attending a party here for the Countess Bernadotte, who turned 85.

Almost exactly across the street is the Sheraton Hotel. Unlike what the film would have you believe, the hotel scenes in "ABBA The Movie", which are presumed to be filmed on tour in Perth, Australia in 1977, were actually shot here. Thanks to my trusty guide book, I was able to locate the corner of the building where that hotel room is located. (I am NOT a stalker...)

My next stop was Sankt Jakobs Kyrka (St. Jacob´s Church). It was here that ABBA´s manager, Stig Andersson, had his funeral in 1997, with Benny, Björn and Frida in attendance. Since the church was open, I ventured inside to have a look. As you all know, Stockholm is celebrating the royal wedding this year in a big way, so there was a wedding display at the back of the church. There was a wedding dress and a groom´s tuxedo, and in front of this, three portraits. The middle portrait was a happy bride and groom smiling for their portrait. The photo on the left to this one was two brides getting married to each other. The photo on the right of these two was of two men getting married. The church is celebrating marriage (bröllop) in all of its forms. And in the church programme, it stated that a queer mass was going to be said on June 2. I guess this is one example of Sweden being miles ahead of other countries when it comes to progressiveness.
I lit a candle in the church for all of the people I know who have passed on, and I had a special thought for my maternal grandmother, who might have had something to do with the 6/49 ticket...

Behind the church is a restaurant called Hamburger Börs. Despite the misleading name, hamburgers are not served here and it is a pretty posh place. It was here in January 1969 where Benny and Frida met for the first time, and where Benny proposed to her six months later. It is a pretty cool spot.

As I was walking around, like yesterday, it just so happened that it was time for the changing of the guards at the palace, and I saw them parading from Norrmalm on their way to Kungligaslottet. I think the pictures I got today are better than yesterday´s because there were no crowds where I was.

Near there, I saw the old location of the offices of Polar Music Studios, on Hamngatan, from 1981 onwards. ABBA last performed together in public here when they celebrated Stig´s birthday in 1986.

After getting lost (again), I found the China Theater, where the exceedingly sad empty auditorium scene in "The Day Before You Came" was filmed. I didn´t expect to feel such disappointment in learning that I couldn´t enter the theatre because it is closed until the fall. I guess for me, the China Theatre was going to be a highlight...

As I was in the shopping neighbourhood, I interrupted my walking tour to do a bit of shopping, sweetie darling. I went into NK, the high-end shopping mall that the Royal family is known to shop at. I got the distinct impression that the cashiers here do not like catering to tourists, despite my best effort to communicate in Swedish. I felt like stealing the line from "Ab Fab": "You can drop the attitude you know, you only work in a shop..." But to date, these are the only two times on my trip (the subway station and NK) when the Stockholmers I have met have been less than kind. Speaking of the series "Absolutely Fabulous", I saw it for sale here under the title "Helt Hysterisk" ("Entirely Hysterical").

It was at NK that I got gifts for my nieces and nephew. I also bought several CDs for myself, all at discount prices. The CDs here were generally priced at about 12 dollars Canadian each, whereas I would have had to pay about 30 dollars each through importing them to Canada. So, I got all three of Benny Andersson´s CDs I didn´t have (including his legendary 1990s CD of Swedish bird songs -- Troy, many romantic evenings ahead...), all of the BAO! CDs I didn´t have, a Stig Andersson tribute album, "Chess" in Swedish, the Swedish-language production of the Mamma Mia! musical, Gemini´s Greatest Hits, and a box set of the complete albums of Ted Gärdestad. I also got the Verdi opera "Un balo en maschera". (Although the opera is sung in Italian, it tells the true story of the murder of Swedish King Gustav in the 1600s at a masked ball, hence the title.) I am very happy (don´t worry, Jocelyne: the kids´gifts are Swedish, but not ABBA-related. ) While in NK I took a picture of the woman´s department, because that is where Frida shops in the video "Head Over Heels".

A quick lunch at McDonald´s, because I wanted to save some money for a more expensive dinner. (That was the original plan anyway). I ordered the Bigmacplusmeny med Coca Cola Light. Then, I headed off to my next destination. I got pictures of the stairs that Frida runs up and down in "Head Over Heels" (I admit I ran up and down them), and took a picture of the store step she trips on in the video.

I then made my way to, I believe, Alfred Frederiks Kyrkogård, where Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme is buried. He was assassinated by an unknown killer in 1986 (and I remember this well).

Immediately afterwards, I made my way to the building that used to house the Alexandra disco. This was the place that was used for the shooting of the cover of the "Voulez-Vous" album, and where the video for "Dancing Queen" was shot. It is now an abandoned building under renovation, and the dumpster in front of the entrance does not add to its charm.

I then walked down Dröttninggatan (the Queen´s street) on my way to Gamla Stan, but I stopped at a cafe for a glass of wine on the balcony while I wrote my postcards. I needed to find shelter from the rain that had started falling. I also needed to pee, and the waitress directed me to a tiny, confined space hidden at the back of the building, behing a tapestry. When I got in, there were no windows and little light: in fact, the only lighting was a candle burning near the sink. Believe me, peeing by candle light is not nearly as glamourous as you might think...

It was noticeably chilly then, near 5:00 p.m., and I thought I wouldn´t be able to got to the outdoor concert tonight without a jacket. So I resolved to head back to my hotel. Still traumatized by my subway experience, I walked all the way from Gamla Stan to the south of Södermalm, more than 40 minutes´walk. I passed a thermometer on my way back to the hotel and discovered it was 12 degrees Celcius. Not the kind of weather for a sleeveless shirt! I got to the hotel around 6ish, and tried to use the computer but the connection was lousy. I figured I would head out for a bite to eat and then make my way to the concert site.

Stockholm has decided to celebrate the Royal Wedding of Crown Princess Victoria, by throwing a two-week celebration known as "Love 2010" (not sure why it´s an English title, but anyway...) So every night this week, there are something like 5 or 6 stages where various performers give free concerts. I really wanted to see this evening´s show by Nanne Grönvall. So, I had a quick bite to eat at Subway (I´ll have a much better meal tomorrow), and made my way again on foot to the north east of Gamla Stan, Kungligaträdgård (the Royal Garden). I found a spot at a picnic table and sat down, waiting for the show to begin. About five minutes after I got there, I noticed a young man who walked right in front of me and who bore a striking resemblance to Benny Andersson. I didn´t think much of it until I saw him appear on stage moments later and take his place at the piano. When Nanne Grönvall came out on stage, I asked the lady sitting next to me "Förlåt, är det Peter Grönvall?" (Excuse me, is that Peter Grönvall?) and she said yes.

In the mid-60s, Benny Andersson found fame as a teenager in the Swedish rock ´n roll band The Hep Stars. He was living with a woman named Kristina Grönvall, and although the both of them were in their teens, they were the parents of two children. Benny left Kristina when he was 19, and one of these two children, Peter Grönvall, became an accomplished musician and the husband of Nanne. So for the second time in a year, I was in the presence of authentic ABBA DNA...

Nanne´s set was almost completely in Swedish. I didn´t understand a word of the instructions she was shouting to the crowd, having them repeating lyrics I couldn´t understand much less remember. Most of the set was music I didn´t know but I enjoyed it nonetheless. She then sang the first verse to Janis Joplin´s "Mercedes Benz", and I immediatley thought of Ma tante Louise and my friend Darren. Then, she launched into a rendition of "Whole Lot of Shaking Going On". I thought this was cool: Peter was playing the piano on a cover song his own father was covering with the Hep Stars more than 40 years earlier. Nanne ended her show with one of only three songs I know of hers, and my absolute favourite, "Håll om mig" ("Hold Me"). I was able to sing along (somewhat).

The concert having ended at 10:00, I walked all the way back to my hotel in the waning sunlight. I am thinking that tomorrow, I may attend a very different concert at Love 2010: the Stockholm Concert Orchestra is performing Carl Orff´s "Carmina Burana".

I am thrilled to see that the adapter works and that I have been able to recharge my iPod. Tonight, I recharge the camera. All is good with the world.

Troy, I was listening to Lady Antebellum on my way home tonight. Jag tänker på dig. (I´m thinking of you).

M.