Erik & Smisty & TPR do Holland, Poland, and Swedeland

[SharkTums]

I'm glad you ended up tolerating Liseberg. I do think part of your dislike could also be the weather that day. I mean, we had such fabulous, cool weather the whole trip and then to show up to Sweden on their hottest day in like ever years was rough, especially towards the end of the trip.

[cfc]

Yes, it didn't help that Sweden felt more like Virginia that day (I had ice cream for lunch).

[Electerik]

I'm glad you ended up tolerating Liseberg. I do think part of your dislike could also be the weather that day. I mean, we had such fabulous, cool weather the whole trip and then to show up to Sweden on their hottest day in like ever years was rough, especially towards the end of the trip.

 

Yeah, I was really tired by this point, too. The whole "up early in Poland" thing was supposed to result in a mid-day nap in Sweden, but due to the flight snafu, I was just up for A Very Long Time the day before Liseberg. And, another fun side effect of my scoliosis is a complete inability to sleep when not fully and comfortably lying down--or, to put it another way, I can't sleep on planes or buses.

 

We also just encountered a lot of weird stuff in the morning at Liseberg that kind of put me off--but it recovered. Not my favorite park of the trip, but still at least "good."

[robbalvey]

"This is Pontus. I understand that his job at Liseberg is just dealing with coaster enthusiast groups. Which sounds like the kind of job you get assigned in hell to me, but he was awesome."

 

This is right up there with my all-time favorite captions in an Erik & Smisty trip report!

[Nrthwnd]

Just an aside, but I think both their names look so sweet on the front page of the site...

 

Erk & Smisty's...

Edited September 3, 2019 by Nrthwnd

[Electerik]

Part 5: Ships & Meatballs

 

While Holland was probably our favorite of the three countries we visited, Stockholm was our favorite city. After the official end of the TPR trip, we hung out there for three more days, doing Erik & Smisty stuff.

 

This is that.

Stockholm doesn't have a proper zoo or aquarium, but they do have Skansen, an "open air museum" full of old buildings, arts & crafts, animals, and even a couple of small kids rides.

Swedish funicular #2. (Remember where we saw #1? If you think you do, write it down on a piece of paper and then mail it to yourself. When it arrives, have a nice frosty beverage of your choice as a reward! It's nice to do things for yourself!)

Aquarium and herpetarium section.

Meatballs and mash. Note the Swedish flags bracketing the rainbow flag. Pride weekend started in Stockholm the day after the TPR trip officially ended. However, other than lots of rainbow flags, we didn't really see anything prideful while we were there.

I want a car ride in my backyard. Or anywhere, really. Or even just a backyard.

 

I don't really want a backyard. A car ride would be nice, though.

"I have a backyard. But I call it a garden, because we speak English English here."

 

(I would also like a bear, please. But a less mouthy one.)

An ancient Viking truck-bed camper.

The circle of life.

Selfie.

A different Skansen small aquarium thing. They spoil us!

I gathered that this was some sort of forerunner of bowling.

There was more to Skansen than we saw, but it was still hot in Stockholm and we were ready to move on about halfway through the day. Still, worth the time we gave it.

A view of the city from Skansen.

Our hotel. I mean, we don't own it. But we stayed there for three days. If we did own, oh boy! Definitely we'd put a car ride in the backyard. Which it already kind of has, because its backyard is Gröna Lund.

 

This was our hotel.

Did we go to ABBA The Museum?

 

You're kidding, right?

Real musical instruments! (Maybe?)

ABBA did not call.

"We're here because we love ABBA, and we're going to take a photo together in this giant heart because you love me."- "Okay, I get that, but my point is that hearts were never part of ABBA's visual motif."

We weren't brave enough for this, but Smisty's cousins, Becky and Beckia, were.

Harry Potter technology.

I'm not knowledgeable enough about ABBA to know whether or not this makes sense.

This building has masts.

The Vasa Museum is a museum built around exactly one exhibit, the Vasa--which is a giant warship that sank in 1628 about 20 minutes after it launched because it was designed by an early forerunner of Intamin.

A collection of great anchors.

Steering is hard.

The Vasa sat at the bottom of Stockholm harbor for over 300 years.

I really enjoyed the "we have this one thing and everything is related to that" aesthetic of the Vasa Museum, even if you can't actually go onto the ship. (Which is a "duh" but also still kind of sad.)

The striking blue gate of the Royal Djurgården park.

Stockholm doing its best to make us forget all about Amsterdam.

Fountain and circular park in the middle of a roundabout.

The real reason my backpack enthusiast wife wanted to go to Sweden.

We chose Europe over a Japan trip, but this makes me feel like I still got a little bit of Japan.

Skum is Swedish for foam. Doesn't help much.

You can't actually buy anything at this IKEA, it's just for designing Kök.

Old buildings.

 

Well, this isn't going to work.

A statue of King Ikeaskum, also know as the Bareass Warrior, founder of both Sweden and the area once known as Normarkia.

The Royal Palace. (I actually know this one.)

These building are all ice cream parlors, but she's not allowed to have any. It's quite sad, actually. But that's the life of a royal guard.

The famous Five Whorehouses.

The narrowest street in Sweden. (This might actually be true.)

We ferried back to Gröna Lund for some dinner.

I just can't quit you, Gröna Lund.

Random boaty giftshop.

We nearly skipped the Viking Museum, but while trying to choose between this and some other museum, I stumbled across a mention of a ride in one of the reviews....

The Viking Museum is actually really nice. Small, but kept up and "new" feeling.

Smisty looking hard with Viking props.

Am I doing this correctly?

This chick gets to go to work in a sack and not wear shoes and I suddenly feel like a total corporate sell out.

A board game that you could theoretically play except that no one actually knows what the rules were.

 

Wait, is that employee flipping me off?

Ragnfrid's Saga is trackless dark ride that takes up most of the building's lower floor.

Unfortunately, photography is not allowed on Ragnfrid's Saga, so here's a photo of a helmet from elsewhere in the museum. Is this dark ride good? Well, it's a dark ride, so yes. But no, not really. You move from room to room, stopping in each one for (mostly) static figures and some narration. Also, our heroes are slavers, so that's kind of weird. On the other hand, it exists, and it's in a museum, so that automatically makes this place better than every single museum that does not have a dark ride, which might very well be all of them.

Concept art for the dark ride. / Europe is not afraid of stairs. / Mmm, glöd.

Glöd. (In Sweden, all Caesar salads have bacon on them.)

The Royal Fish Hatchery.

This is a good name for a boat.

Senior housing.

 

(That's not.... What?)

Primer Burger is the most American eatery we encountered in Sweden. Certainly, Smisty seems happy.

Off the beaten path in Stockholm. (Or, in other words, lost.)

Our Lady of the Rotary Phone

The largest spherical building in the world, and also an observation...thing.

From here, you can see the end of this trip report.

Thank you for coming on our Euroddventure.

 

We had tons of fun doing it. We hope you at least had a few ounces of fun reading along.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Electerik

[SharkTums]

I'm so sad this is now over!!! =(

[larrygator]

Great stuff, I "learned" plenty of new "facts" from your captions.

Edited September 2, 2019 by larrygator

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Loving the Swedish weirdness. Glad you had a good time!

[Electerik]

I'm so sad this is now over!!! =(

 

Well, that's very nice to hear. But I for one am glad it's over. It took me a month! At least I can console myself that Chuck, Larry, and AJ are still on Holland parks.

[cfc]

I'm so sad this is now over!!! =(

 

Well, that's very nice to hear. But I for one am glad it's over. It took me a month! At least I can console myself that Chuck, Larry, and AJ are still on Holland parks.

 

I applaud your speed and ruthless efficiency.

 

The Vasa Museum is great, as is this entire report.

[cparkes92]

I love that you experienced some Swedish culture (including the ABBA museum and Vasa museum)

[Alice Kane]

Thank you for coming on our Euroddventure.

We had tons of fun doing it. We hope you at least had a few ounces of fun reading along.

 

 

OUNCES? Make that POUNDS! Oh heck, TONS says it best!

 

Please take another adventure soonest!

 

Alice

[robbalvey]

 

This made me laugh probably more than it should have!

[The Great Zo]

...a giant warship that sank in 1628 about 20 minutes after it launched because it was designed by an early forerunner of Intamin.

 

Ouch.

 

Very much enjoyed your, er, alternate history version of Stockholm. It is one of my favorite cities in the world and it was great to see someone else's interpretation of it!

 

Congrats on finishing the the TR, it was a good one.

[Electerik]

Sitting at home listening to my 2-disc Efteling Soundtrack. Just reread my own trip report and don't remember writing half of these captions. But very happy that we went to Europe before the world fell apart.

 

Here's a random, never-before-seen photo from each of the three countries we spent the most time in.

The Netherlands

 

This is what we look like outside without masks on. This was considered normal at the time.

Poland

 

In no way could this ever be considered normal.

Sweden

 

How did this photo not make it into the original report?

[SharkTums]

^Ugh, normal times. So glad we all got to have such a fun trip before we weren't allowed to travel!!!

[cfc]

I, too, am shocked that the ice-cream photo wasn't posted sooner. Ice cream makes everything better!

[A.J.]

Poland

 

In no way could this ever be considered normal.

I was not fond of that looping coaster at all.

[805Andrew]

It was fun reliving the trip through your report although I don't recall raving about the drop on a family coaster at Kolmården.

[cfc]

Poland

 

In no way could this ever be considered normal.

I was not fond of that looping coaster at all.

 

I was pleasantly surprised by it. I was expecting a new experience in pain, but it turned out to be a decent coaster.

[805Andrew]

Poland

 

In no way could this ever be considered normal.

I was not fond of that looping coaster at all.

 

I was pleasantly surprised by it. I was expecting a new experience in pain, but it turned out to be a decent coaster.

 

Same here. And I'm glad I tried it backwards too.

[Electerik]

I don't recall raving about the drop on a family coaster at Kolmården.

 

Well, that caption would not stand up in court, as your alleged statement came to me second-hand via Gearhart.

[Nrthwnd]

^ Noted.