ScABBAnavia!

We are in Stockholm!  The city of beauty!  The city of dreams!  The city of music!

And so, what's the first thing we HAD to go see in this Swedish paradise?

The ABBA Museum, of course!

We took a beautiful walk through the city to get to the ABBA mecca.  

And once we arrived, the excitement was overwhelming!

OK, the excitement was ABBAwhelming for 3 out of the 4 of us.

Keith was unsure of the ABBArilliance at first...but he quickly got into the spirit of things:

Once inside, we were overwhelmed by room after room of ABBA delight.

We even got the ABBA audio tour featuring behind-the-scenes stories from the ABBA members themselves.

Their ABBA-ish accents were just too much to take and filled with so many minute details that even I (an ABBAerican) couldn't deal with it any more.  

But it didn't matter, because there was plenty to ABBA-see:

ABBA costumes!

ABBA costume sewing rooms!

ABBA Shoes!



ABBA records!

ABBA gold records!

Creepy ABBA dolls!





ABBA monsters created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop!





There were also an ABBA-lot of interactive exhibits that you could do ABBA carte:

Try to recreate the final audio mix of "Volez-Vous"!

Sing an ABBA song in an ABBA recording booth!

Put your face on a crudely constructed computer generated version of every ABBA member!

Wait and listen to the piano that starts to play when Benny from ABBA plays in his studio in a secret location!

Benny didn't play.

Pick up the phone and it will be ABBA calling!

ABBA didn't call.

Audition to be the 5th (and 6th) member of ABBA!

Dance in a disco that only plays ABBA!

Pretend to fly all over the world in the ABBA-copter!

Fall into the waters of MAMMA MIA!

Share a romantic moonlight moment with the young couple from MAMMA MIA!

The results of all of this interABBAtivity were available to download after our experience...for free!  They didn't make us pay any "Money Money Money."

And the results...well...they speak for themselves:

Take a chance on us!  

We'll be winners that will take it all!

We'll protect your from that man after midnight.

We'll be your Super Trouper.

Or maybe...just maybe...you can lay all of your love on us...and then we'll voulez-vous all over your face.

And since I am such a fan of Swedish pop music in general...after the ABBA museum, I forced everyone to go to the Swedish Music Hall of Fame -- which is conveniently located in the same building as the ABBA museum.  Only it's about an eighth of the size.

Sadly, the rest of the Swedish music experience pales in comparison to the ABBA-seum.

It was no joyride.

And as much as I was ready to SHOW it LOVE.

It just didn't live up to my great ABBA-tations.

But would I recommend the ABBA museum to one and all?



ABBAsalutely.