Friday, July 10, 2015

Stockholm, Sweden: Gustav Adolfs Torg

You must be a pretty good leader to get your own square, let alone a statue. Therefore, let's salute King Gustav II Adolf, the subject of the big statue.

The King led Sweden from 1611 (when he was 16, for crying out loud) to 1632, and is considered a military genius. Gustav led Sweden to some great victories, and helped the country become a major European power. He was killed in action.

By the way, Sweden's Opera House is behind the statue. The building has been around since 1773 - America was still part of Great Britain then - and you can still tour the place or hear a performance. It looks pretty fancy.

And it has an odd place in pop music history. The King was getting married in Sweden, and ABBA debuted a song for the happy couple here - it was written just for them. You might recognize it as the band played the song wearing throwback uniforms from the 1700s.

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