ABBA Overload!

Over the holidays, we watched the DVD of "Mamma Mia!" The boys thought bits of it were funny and such, but of course Debbie and I rather enjoy the ABBA songs. With Jacob and myself at home alone this  (Monday) evening, we were walking around La Cambre park in the late afternoon when both of us started getting "Waterloo" stuck in our heads, probably due to the actual original Waterloo town being so close by. Next thing you know, we spent the evening in full ABBA overload mode, listening to the entire ABBA "Gold" greatest hits album and rewatching "Mamma Mia!" I'll put it down to retroactive Swedish music appreciation lessons!

The Big Finland-Sweden Rivalry!

On the 9th and 10th we went to the big Finland vs Sweden track meet (mentioned in the Paavo Nurmi post) at the Helsinki Olympic stadium. On the first day the Finns got off to a really good lead. but in the second day the Swedes got back and won for the women but not quite the men because the Finnish men had a good end and won 3 things. On the first day they were handing out thunder sticks and tattoos so we used the thunder sticks and saved the tattoos. There was lots of cheering and the Finnish competitors even had the tattoos! Thanks to our friend Heikki for getting us tickets undercover to save us from the traditional "sunny yet raining" Finnish weather! In three out of four relay races, the Finns dropped their batons - must be because of their slippery "Finns!"


Jacob's take:

This weekend Heikki got us some tickets to the Finland vs Sweden track meet, because he had some friends that he had worked with on the Finland track team. it sounds easy but I don't think it was - kiitos! Both on Friday and Saturday we had VERY good seats. In the stands it was about 70% blue and 30%yellow. Talking about yellow sometimes at the track meet where the louder you shout the farther the virtual Javelin goes our record was 95m, there were also one were you do the wave, and another were it was just like a chant. For the Hammer throw and the javelin there were little remote control retriever machines they were in other words just a labor saving device. That would be a fun job!

Finland Finland Finland, that's the track team album for me!

Here we are in front of the Olympic stadium and we aren't exactly sure why we are wearing our Norwegian shirts we even got some crazy looks from other people. the Norwegians did great they got 0 points!

These are amazing sunsets don't you think with the sun disappearing and on the right the wet track shining?

Don't you all think that race walking is the silliest sport? the funny part is that They
are going faster than dad when he is running. the men did 10km in about 39min 52sec and the women did it in about 44 minutes

Here is a Finnish pole vaulter about to jump 5.35 metres

Here Jacob is having a bit of a meltdown. No it's not because the Norwegians were getting creamed, but because he wasn't grasping the concept of why the runners start from staggered positions in the 200m, and thought it was unfair that the inside lane runner had to run the farthest!

Here on the right I think is the best droid (or from veggie tales as mr. Lunt would say "it's not a toy, its a labour saving device!"). It is for getting the hammers, javelins (you can just see this flying around with the end of the javelin sticking out at you), and the discus back to the competitors.

On the left is the teams mascots at the end of the meet the Finns pushed their mascot (the dog with the blue jersey) into the water-pit along with 2 teammates. we don't know who the white one is for but the cat is for the Swedes.

The Stockholm Stadion Sneak...

Friday afternoon while walking towards KTH to revisit my ISU past, we walked by Stockholm Stadion, site of the 1912 Olympics. While wandering around the perimeter trying to get a view of the track inside, the groundskeeper who was leaf blowing nearby must have left a gate opened. Well, when faced with something like that, there's only one thing that you can do, and that's to walk through that gate and apologize later if needed!

Next thing you know, we're inside the stadium wandering around, completely alone except for one runner training with her coach. Pretty soon, we were completely alone, a rather surreal feeling. Well, the only thing you can logically do in THAT situation is to run a lap with the theme from "Chariots of Fire" playing in your head. OK, that was the 1924 Games, but it's the thought that counts! So that's what we did!

Along the way, the boys checked out the steeplechase hurdle. Man that thing is HIGH and the pit is DEEP!

Stockholm Shots!

Vasa Museum

On the way home we saw a guy with a gigantic Toblerone it was 2 kilograms of Toblerone. It's a bit far away but you still can see how huge it is! Remember how Daddy was making fun of Swedish supermarkets yesterday? Well, today we went to the same market and he ended up buying chips!

Lots of Pictures from our Stockholm Adventures!


Today we got the 24 hour Metro pass we also had to pay for cards but they are reloadable so if we come to Sweden Again we can put more on them we also learned that kids are free on the weekends! we went 2 stations and then noticed that we should have only gone 1 stop so we went across and got on the Train that was there but we learned that it was the wrong train to late daddy and Jacob got off but me and mommy didn't. So we had to wait 8 minutes for the next one that went back. Because of that we missed the bus by about 20 seconds. when we did get on the bus we went to the Vasa Museum. After the Vasa we went to the city hall and got a guided tour one room was called the golden room you know why? because it was made of 23 carrot goldthere was a thin leaf of gold sandwiched between 2 pieces of glass in a mosaic.

The story of the Vasa: The Vasa was built by King Gustav Adolfus the second. Because he was in a war with is cousin Sigismund Who was king of Poland about family, religion and conquest. the Vasa was contracted with 3 other ships which only 1 other being finished. Thee king had just lost 10 ships and really needed new ships The Vasa Was the First Ship that was made with 2 gun decks (you would think that if he was in a hurry for ships he would just get normal 1 deck ships). The ship was supposed to go on a 1 day sail to get soldiers to man the 64 cannons and then it was supposed to go on to Poland and stop ships from going in and out. On the first part there were about 200 passengers with the 150 crew members. The Vasa went into the harbor but after about 20 minutes the wind started to blow the Vasa tipped but righted itself once or twice but the guns were used for a royal salute so the holes were open and one time water started pouring in through the holes and the ballast went to the left side.

After about 20 minute more it hit the bottom and instead of blocking the polish harbour it blocked the swedish harbour (the other ship was finished 1 year later so they learned from the Vasa and this ship (called the Apple) was in the royal navy for about 30 years). some things that were wrong with the Vasa were that it was too top heavy with not enough ballast and it was too tall and thin in the other ship they used cannon balls for ballast since they are heavier than the stones that are used in the Vasa. Archaeologists think that about 30-50 people died most of the people survived because they were waving from the top desk 10 of the skeletons were in the museum. In 1961 they started to restore the Vasa. The Vasa was very well preserved because the baltic sea is not salty so there aren,t any ship worms to eat the woodthey brought it partly out of the water and then got out as much of the water and dirt as they could so they could take it to dry dock. they took all the loose pieces out, cleaned, and numbered them then they put them in a water bath untill they could restore them and soak them in polyethylene glycol they also soaked the ship in polyethylene glycol! for 19 years they sprayed it at first every 20 minutes day and night and slowly got longer and then for another 7 years they had to let it dry then they took it to the museum.

Here's a free .mp3 album you can download all about the Vasa!

In the Gold Room of Stockholm City Hall, the mosaic maker wanted seven years to make the room but was only given two years because the opening day was already planned. This led to a big mistake. There is a headless horseman at the very roof when they ran out of room to finish the mosaic because they started from the bottom, so they just left it like that. The horseman turns out to be King Erik from the 1300s. It actually worked out well because Erik was beheaded in battle with the Danes!

On the left we are outside City Hall doing a handstand. On the right we are in the Blue Hall inside City Hall. The architect planned it to be blue but ended up keeping it this way, but the room name was already announced so it stayed that way. He planned the stairs by making eight different wooden models and having his wife test them with big gowns and high heels to decide which is the most comfortable. They are wide and the steps are not very tall so people wouldn't fall or trip at special events like the Nobel Prize banquet.

 On the left is the Ericsson Globe arena, the largest spherical building in the world. If you look closely on the right there is a glass elevator that is also spherical that you can take. On the right we are at the Royal Palace.

On the left is a Viking helmet, and on the right we are doing more handstands in front of St. Jacob's church!

Swedish Supermarket Silliness

We made it by train from Oslo to Stockholm today. The boys have spent the day flaunting their Norway shirts all around town during an exploratory walk, and the highlight for me was returning to the Kungsliga Techniska Hogskolan (Royal Institute of Technology) where I spent the summer of 1995 as a teaching assistant for the International Space University. Another trip down memory lane!

On the way home at the "Sabis" supermarket, we were quite literally stunned speechless at the store layout as you're funnelled towards the checkout...