Coaching for Pizza: Lunch, a Museum, a Parade and a Hammarby IF Fotboll Game

Wednesday, 17 May, 2017:

The countdown continues, only . . .

. . . more days until . . .

. . . famed celebrity stalker

Laurie Contreras comes to Stockholm!

The day started with a

delicious lunch

Janne and I took a bus, a train and another bus into Stockholm to meet Aiki for lunch at the restaurant located on the ground floor of her work place.

It was one of those buffets where you pay based on the weight of the plate after you load it up with all sorts of good looking dining options.

Good times indeed!

Aiki's building includes a myriad of art work to brighten things up.

Johan Banér

1596-1641

He was a highly decorated Field Marshal in the Swedish Army during the Thirty Year's War.

Good use of a lion's head

as a hat

Another use for your

lion's head as a stole

Look but . . .

DO NOT TOUCH!

The Water Sister

by Hertha Hillfon 1998

The chestnut trees are

still not blooming

After our lunch, I was off on foot for an easy stroll an overcast day.

I didn't get too far.

What is that building?

It was only a couple of blocks from our lunch restaurant and the red signs proclaimed "Free Admission".

The price was right so I investigated further.

You just have to keep

your tree warm and

comfortable in this weather

Our mystery spot was the

Swedish History Museum

There were lots of displays about all things Viking regardless of country.

Nice entry door

Colorful Rune Stone

While I like helmets . . .

. . . Laurie would have loved

these gold trinkets

Nazis and Vikings UNITE!

During WWII, the Nazis occupied Norway. This poster is an effort by the Nazi SS troops to recruit Norwegian men.

They built their propaganda on the myth of powerful Vikings being led by an SS officer dressed in chain mail and a modern German army helmet.

Unfortunately, some Norwegians fell for this effort.

How do you wield

this crazy sword

Another awesome

Viking door

Sleeping Bishop

I love heraldry

GREAT shield!

This Viking helmet was used

in Richard Wagner operas

It was a good museum, glad I stumbled upon it!

Tulips in Husky colors

Near Nybroplan, I heard music playing.

STRIKE UP THE BAND!

Nice outfits

Another band

More costumed people

As it turns out, today was Norway's National Day.

The kind hearted Swedes were more than happy to support their Scandinavian neighbors on their big day.

Getting ready for a

National Day Parade

This day in Norway commemorates the signing of Norway's constitution at the city of Eidsvold on 17 May, 1814.

They were going to march to Skansen, a cultural theme park in Djurgården.

I boarded the #7 tram to get to Djurgården ahead of the parade in order to see . . .

Sight # 11 The Biology Museum

Experiencing nature in a different way

The exterior of the building was amazing. I peeked inside but what I saw was quite similar to the displays at the excellent Natural History Museum that Aiki and I visited last weekend.

I passed on going through this museum in depth so that I could get back to . . .

. . . The Parade!

Colorful

As tradition demands, there

were lots of kids in the parade

It looked like everyone both marching and watching the parade were having lots of fun.

Hail Norway!

The view on the

Djurgården to Slussen Ferry

I should mention the great Access transportation card that the Wäsby Warriors have provided me for easy travel throughout the area.

Today I used all five modes of transportation several times that the Access card provides: three busses, two trains, a tram, two subways and a ferry boat.

Great card!

Drawn once again by the

allure of Gamla Stan

Just made me want to go

in and browse a bit

That has to be bad

for your spine

In the evening, I headed south to . . .

. . . TELE2 Arena

Why you ask?

For the 7:00 p.m.

Hammarby IF - Malmö FF

Allsvenskan fotboll game!

Jimmy sold me my new

Hammarby IF scarf

Jimmy is Swedish but played soccer/fotboll at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.

Jimmy's Grandfather owned a Volvo dealership in Oxnard, California for over 40 years.

Small world!

As for the game, I needed to buy a ticket and found one priced especially for Seniors.

It only cost only 200 Swedish Krona or about $23 USD.

Throw in the stadium hot dog and large Coke Zero for 55 Swedish Krona ($6.30 USD) and I had the makings of a rather inexpensive sporting event!

By the way, the TELE2 Arena's concessions stands do not take cash, it is credit or debit cards only.

The UEFA Europa League Cup

Finals are next Wednesday

at Friends Arena in Solna

The cheapest ticket for the championship game between Britain's Manchester United and Holland's Ajax clubs that I can find on-line goes for a whopping 7,080 Swedish Krona, about $810 USD.

I'll watch it on TV, tack så mycket.

Now a look at tonight's Allsvenskan, Sweden's top league, game. The Allsvenkan circuit is made up of Sweden's 16 best clubs.

Our home club

Hammarby IF founded in 1897

3 wins - 3 ties - 2 losses

7th place with 12 team points

12 goals scored - 8 goals allowed

The STRONG visitors

Malmö FF founded in 1910

6 wins - 2 ties - 0 losses

1st place with 20 team points

15 goals scored - 6 goals allowed

I'm in the House!

Every seat in our end zone had a

white, green or yellow piece of

paper on it when we came into

the arena

The last song sung by the packed house before the game's start was, I assume, the Hammarby IF team song.

I joined my fellow end zone tenants as they stood up holding the appropriate colored paper high above our heads through each and every stanza on the home club's battle anthem.

When we finished singing, tradition demanded that we crumple up the papers and throw them down from our cozy top deck seats to the crazy Hammarby Ultras in the standing room only spots below us.

My guess is that they provide fuel for flare induced fires if needed due to referee incompetence, a grievous foul by a Malmö player or both perhaps.

GAME ON!

It would be 0-0 at halftime

in a hard fought

opening 45 minutes

As usual, you will need Google Chrome or the like to view my three videos from the game.

FIRED UP CROWD!

A packed house

sort of

From my end zone seat and up both sides of the TELE2 Arena it was a jam packed, raucous, passionate Hammarby crowd.

If you look at this picture closely though, you will notice that on both sides of the arena, where it curves to form the far end zone, there are nothing but empty seats except for one section in the lower deck just to the left where the Malmö fans are located.

Don't let the different colors in the far top deck fool you, those are not people just multi-hued seats.

I am sure that this is done to ensure the Malmö FF fans' safety but it also means a huge loss in revenue by not opening up those sections for ticket sales.

Safety first.

More fan chanting

That green flare means only

one thing . . .

HAMMARBY GOOOOOOAL!

HIF's Arnór Smárason scored on an exciting breakaway right in front of us in the 51st minute of play.

The Hammarby IF Fans

were ecstatic!

But not for long as Malmö FF's Anton Tinnerholm would respond for the boys in blue with a goal of his own that ricocheted off of the diving HIF goalie's hands to tie the score at 1-1 in the 68th minute go the game.

That would be all the scoring for the night.

The tie continues my rather good streak of supporting home teams in European football games in Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, France and Spain. In the countless games I've gone to over the past decade, only one home team has failed to come away with either a win or a tie.