We left Gothenburg very early this morning via train and headed over to Stockholm. The journey took us about three hours and I spent most of it updating the blog - I was behind a day or so. I also managed to slip in a quick nap as well. The scenery was similar to Denmark, rolling hills, a few lakes, and farms as well as a few cities that we passed through. It was very pretty but nothing exotic. There was a notable absence of wind turbines though, perhaps that area we travelled through didn't get the same wind as Denmark did.
We arrived in Stockholm at about 10am and lugged our bags up to the hotel Scandic Norra which was very nice. It had the most spacious room out of the three we stayed in and a partitioned off shower, which was something we didn't have in Gothenburg or Copenhagen. Forturnately they had a room available when we checked in so we didn't have to store our bags anywhere. So we dropped them off, freshened up, and sallied forth on our way to the last of the amusement parks on the itinerary, Grona Lund.
Grona Lund is located in Djursgarden, sort of Stockholm's version of Central Park. We decided to walk over to the tram that would take us there rather than do the maze of transfers that the trip would require with the metro. It was a bit of a hike though and we stopped along the way at a hot dog cart to have a French hot dog. Which is sort of like a bagel dog where they slip the weiner into a roll that has a hole at one end which the vendor has lubed up with various condiments of your choosing. Totally how the French would eat a hot dog. We also were amused by the posters that we encountered here of a man named Steve Aoki and another man named Afrojack who were promoting something called Big Slap.
The tram took us along a canal and over a very decorative bridge and into the garden and along to Grona Lund. Along with hundreds of other people. This would be the most crowded park on the trip and after Dad and I rode Twister, which was so twisted he could do no mas, I had to switch over to professional amusement park patron Kyle.
I then rode Broom, a witch themed suspended coaster that, while short, had some great near-misses with surrounding brooms, a random fire explosion and a tunnel through the upper floors of the witch's house. Then I rode their Wild Mouse, which was the most free form, custom wild mouse I had ever been on. It was so convoluted that I had no idea which way I was going.
Grona Lund occupies a very small amount of real estate right on Stockholm Harbor and so their rides tend to be stacked up on top of other rides and intertwined with other rides. Four of their five coasters are built on pretty much the same little corner of the park going in and out and around and over each other while maintaining space below for park walkways, midway games, restaurants and a huge spookhouse.
After Wild Mouse I noticed that Jetline was down - probably because it was a hot day and it was overshooting its brakes. So I had to suck it up and tackle Insane next. Insane is the only coaster there that stands off on it's own and as a ride it's sort of difficult to explain. The track travels only in a two dimensional vertical plane. The lift takes you straight to the top level and you twist and turn your way down from there. The cars are mounted on the side of the track and hold four riders on a side, two facing each direction if the car is level. Which it isn't. As it travels through the track the car spins randomly like a tilt a whirl according to its momentum flipping riders end over end in sometimes as many as three somersaults in a row. It is incredibly dizzying and you can't see where you are going and as the ride drops suddenly down to each level it is completely unnerving. It was a crazy terrific ride but a little bit gimmicky. And I only had the fortitude to do it once, despite only having a ten minute line.
After Insane I noticed that Jetline had reopened so I hopped on that. This was another thoroughly enjoyable and twisted ride and as the older coaster in the park, it formed the basis for which all the other coasters were designed.
I met up with Dad having conquered the coasters and we decided to do their massive fun house. It probably took us twenty minutes to get through it and featured shifting stairs - three flights just to get in, moving walkways, spinning barrels, a mirror maze, and an enormous wooden slide that you go down on a rug. We both came out of there with big smiles and I was proud to get through the spinning barrel without losing any skin (see my Australian trip report on Sydney's Luna Park).
Dad then went to go hang out in one of the park's beer gardens while I finished up. I took a ride on their two dark rides. One themed to fairies forming a civilization. At least that's what I think was going on until the last scene where the fairy queen leaned out of her royal carriage and vomited. Then I got a bit confused. The other dark ride was the Ghost Train spook house which was pretty awesome. It had some great gags and even made me jump a few times.
I then rode their Star Flyer, a four hundred foot tall beast that was erected on the roof of the park arcade. I didn't get hassled by any Scotsmen this time and was a paired up with a fellow wearing an OKC Thunder shirt. I asked him if he was from the US and he said no, he had studied abroad at Florida State and took a cross country road trip and stopped for an NBA game in Oklahoma City. We continued talking and he pointed out a lot of sights and sites from our vantage point. Or tried to, as we got up to top speed it became a little hard to get a fix on distant objects.
I took one more spin on Jetline and called it good, happy to end my coaster riding for the trip at the hands of my favorite designer, Anton Schwarzkopf. Then Dad and I walked up to the Vasa Museum which I wasn't too keen on because my guidebook, while saying it was good, wasn't terribly convincing. But it ended up being a very cool facility and exhibit.
The Vasa was a huge ship - a Titanic of it's time that sank in mild winds twenty minutes after its maiden launch in Stockholm harbor several hundred years ago. They found it in the middle of last century and were able to raise it up more or less in one piece and spent the next twenty some years preserving it and constructing a huge climate controlled exhibit hall to house it. The ship itself was amazing but what made the visit worth it was all the cultural stuff they discovered as they uncovered it and were able to piece together a very thorough account of what life was like back then as a sailor. The story about how much effort was spent in preserving it was also pretty humbling as well as it has taken decades of work since its location was first discovered. It's worth a visit.
After that we took the tram back into the central city and hopped the metro over to Sodermalm - a large island to the south where we first made our way through the streets up the hills to a lovely park overlooking the harbor and the city on the other side. It was a terrific view and seemed to be enjoyed only by the locals. From there we walked back down the hill and almost to the south end of Sodermalm and settled on a dinner at Hosteria Tre Conti, an Italian place in a slightly run down neighborhood. The food was good although Dad won with his cheese stuffed, prosciutto-wrapped, chicken breasts over my seafood pasta that required some final preparation on my part. There were a few dead eyes that stared forlornly up at me from my plate.
From there we walked back north up Gotgatan, Sodermalm's main drag up to Gamla Stan - the old town on it's own island in the middle of the city. We were looking for a metro station back to our hotel but got distracted by a tasty smelling bakery. So we parked ourselves there and had a chocolate mousse pie, a chocolate canoli, and a lime tartlet. The lime tartlet was something else, I think it was a sponge cake with a large amount of whipped cream on top of it all wrapped up in a thick layer of lime flavored marscapone. I would very much like to have this again so I will now be on the lookout for Swedish bakeries wherever I go.
After that we caught the metro back up to our hotel and I had a beer and watched soccer in the lobby while Dad did some emailing next to me. Then up to our room where we somehow found the energy to skype with our family before going to bed. Crazy long day but loads of fun. Tomorrow is our last day and there's still so much to see!
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