Dancing On My Own

Final breakfast at the hotel and I learned while watching YouTube last night that I was eating like a Swede! I saw the Kalles Kaviar next to the boiled eggs and rightly assumed I was supposed to eat them together at my first two breakfasts.

Kalles Kavier is a type of roe spread and is salty - it’s funny how Americans and westerners pair salt with their eggs and as Koreans, we sprinkle soy sauce. All around the world, folks need a bit of saltiness with their eggs. Alexander Skarsgård explained how to eat Kalles Kavier on the Colbert show and I happened to stumble upon it on last night’s YouTube rabbit hole as I was going to bed.

To be honest though, I have not been sleeping great on this trip. Usually I kick jet lag pretty quick and although I’m not napping during the day, I can’t seem to fall asleep. So I slept in more than I would have liked this morning and rushed as I packed and checked out before my last day in Stockholm.

I walked over to the tram / bus stop and headed to Djurgården, an island that has lots of museums and sights. Here’s a photo of the water as I crossed the bridge:



One of the most popular museums in the Stockholm area is the Vasa Museum. On display is a 17th-century ship that had been salvaged in the 1950s after 333 years when it sank in 1628. It’s 4 stories tall and apparently too narrow, and therefore didn’t get very far as it sank in Stockholm harbor on its maiden voyage.

But it took all these years to raise it out of the water and if it hadn’t been a failure, it probably would have been destroyed and would not have become the largest conservation project in the world. It continues to be maintained as bolts get replaced and the wood preserved in an ongoing restoration project.

I viewed it at all angles as you can see it from below and and at different.platforms. As you walk in, you see the impressive bow:





Here’s the stern:





The sides… the ropes have been re-rigged and the ship is ~98% original:







This is a model of what the insides would look like:





Here’s a model of the ship:





I then walked over to the ABBA Museum dedicated to the most popular pop group to come from Sweden. The museum was fun as music played everywhere and I got to sing and dance along:





They won the Eurovision Award with “Waterloo” which was their breakout hit:



In the Stockholm Archipelago, they rented a house and wrote many of their songs there which were bright and fun:



You could sing in a booth and pretend you were in a recording studio. It was fun listening to the other museum goers get really into it. They also had this avatar on-stage experience to become the 5th member and I was goated into “Dancing Queen” by the security guard:



I also very much enjoyed the Silent Disco experience and there were several people in the room - you knew you were listening to the same song and channel by the color of the headphones:



Here are the chairs for Pierce and Meryl from the movie musical “Mama Mia”:



While I was in the museum, it apparently rained even though it wasn’t in the forecast. It was super sunny when I hopped on the tram and headed to Östermalms Saluhall, a food hall recommended by a colleague for lunch.

It was high-end and busy with tourists and people taking their lunch breaks. As I wandered, I was offered free samples of bear and reindeer jerky. I politely turned it down as my Noma experience in Copenhagen gave me my fill of both for a lifetime…



I decided to eat at the counter at Lisa Elmqvist and I ordered a ginger ale and warm fish soup that was delicious. The aioli with the bread was also fantastic and I enjoyed a roobois tea afterwards:



As I left the food hall for my hotel, it began to really downpour. The hotel seemed concerned I was heading out again without one of their umbrellas, but I pulled out my raincoat and own umbrella from my suitcase and headed to the tram / bus stop. I had read taxis in the city were shady and not reliable and even overhead the concierge explain it to another guest. Pretty surprising for a Scandinavian city which seemed pretty safe otherwise. I didn’t wait long for the 7 tram that brought me to Stockholm Central Station where the Arlanda Express leaves 3-4 times an hour. In less than 20 minutes, I was back at the airport.

At the airport, I got to scan my own baggage in (which was fun and different) and bought a few candy souvenirs (Swedish Fish!) and waited for my SAS flight to Billund.

Although the weather was a little colder than expected (this was even validated through eavesdropping of other conversations), Stockholm was lovely. In the future, I would love to explore the archipelago and outer areas, but really felt like I got to take a lot of Stockholm in.

Right next to my hotel, the theater was playing Joyride the Musical in honor of Roxette, famous for ‘80s hits, “Listen to Your Heart”, “Fading Like a Flower”, and “It Must Have Been Love”. When I watched the music video for “Fading Like a Flower”, I realized it was mostly filmed in Old Town!

Indeed Sweden has given a lot to the world - fish, pop music, IKEA, and you can tell it’s a very proud culture. I indeed enjoyed discovering on my late night YouTube rabbit hole of Swedish singer Robyn performing my favorite “Dancing On My Own” at the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize concert - it felt like my trip experiences were colliding.

My flight to Billund was just 90 minutes and when I landed, I had a Danish hot dog for dinner. Then I boarded a local bus which took about 10 minutes and dropped me off in front of Legoland. My hotel, the Lodge Billund was just another block down the road.

Looking forward to my second time in Denmark where I’ll link up with Rachie and the family and getting to explore more of the country!