Sweden 52

At one time the country's biggest export after Volvo cars, ABBA finally went their parate ways and on to new projects (the stage show Chess the most obvious cre), but their old records continued to sell well and artists as diverse as Elvis steUo md Erasure have covered their songs to great effect The most sincere however, emerged in AustraUa (where sales of ABBA's Greatest kSTa"® reached statistical saturation point) with the launch of ABBA imitators, ' sLw K' currently packing in audiences across Europe to see a stage the H к singing ABBA hits in ABBA costumes. The music is so popular in : British I 'BA Greatest Hits album stormed to the top of the : soon r f ® rumours that the old team themsekes may reiorm to give the impersonators a run for their money. History. Groundfloor highlights include the ideal Stone Age household flaxen haired youth, stripped pine benches and rows of neatly labelled herbs and a mass of Viking weapons, coins and boats. Upstairs there's a worthy collection of medieval church art and architecture, with odds and ends turned up from all over the country, evocatively housed in massive vaulted rooms. If you're heading to Gotland, be sure to take in the reassembled bits of stave churches uncovered on the Baltic island some of the few examples that survive in Sweden. Djurgarden When you tire of the streets, it's time to utilise Stockholm's parkland mass, just to the east of the centre. Originally a royal hunting park throughout the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, Djurgarden is actually two distinct park areas separated bv the water of Djurgardsbrunnsviken, which freezes over in winter to provide some central skating. You could walk to the park from Central Station, but it's quite a hike: take the bus instead (#44 from Karlaplan or #47 from Nybroplan); or the ferry from Nybroplan (summer only) or Skeppsbron (all year). The TV Tower The bus or ferry will take you to the most famous of Stockholm's museums, in the southern patch of parkland, but roaming northwards m the park is equally rewarding, principally for the excellent views from the 160metrehigh Kaknas TV tower OanMarch & OctDec daily 9am6pm; April & Sept daily 9am10pm; MayAug daily 9ammidnight; 18kr) over at the eastern end. Not that it means much, but it's the highest building in Scandinavia: you can see over the city and archipelago and there's a restaurant about 120m up if you want an airborne cup of coffee. Bus #69 goes all the way there from Sergels Torg, passing a gaggle of sundry museums Dance, Maritime, Technical and Ethnographical each listed on p.377; and beyond LadugSrdsgardet, north of the tower, where windmills used to pierce the skyline, lies Vartahamnen and the Silja Line ferry terminal. Nordiska Museet, Skansen and Grona Lund Tivoli A full day isn't enough to see everything to the south, over Djurg4rdsbron.