Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Pokemon GO and the American Swedish Historical Museum!


So last Tuesday Beth and I decided to expand our Pokemon GO activities to  FDR Park in south Philadelphia. Quite apart from the opportunity to catch a bunch of Charmanders, the park is also home to the American Swedish Historical Museum. Anyone who knows me will realize that the opportunity to visit a small, specialized museum could not be missed!

FDR Park is in *way* south Philadelphia! In fact it's at the end of the Broad Street Line along with the various sports venues where Philly teams mostly fail to achieve championships. The park itself is pretty nice in a semi run-down sort of way (like a lot of Philly that's not in the tourist center). 

There's a medium size artificial lake with a boat house and a gazebo...
 

You can rent the paddle boats on days when we weren't there...



And a path that runs all the way around where dog owners fail to pick up their puppy's poop... Fishing is allowed and there are tennis courts and playgrounds for the kiddies.

But the real cool place is the museum! How 'bout an actual Viking Sword?



 Iron doesn't hold up too well - you can probably just see the supporting material (sort of light brown) under the blade...

There's some more recent stuff as well, like this:



This is in the John Ericsson room. That's Abe Lincoln signing off on the Monitor and the Naval big-wigs agreeing... He also designed the first "screw" type propeller steamship to cross the Atlantic. Along with a METRIC-FUCK-TON (technically) of other stuff that wasn't recognized - so he wrote an enormous book (displayed at the right under the Monitor) detailing his creations.


Did you know Swedes like to drink? There's a nifty collection of sliver tankards here.

And of course there's plenty of "folk art". These mangle boards were apparently made by young men to impress their girlfriends with the opportunity to iron their shirts...


Beth's Dad was an enthusiastic wood carver, but I'm pretty sure this wouldn't have worked with her Mom.

This on the other hand...




is a carved stool made from a tree stump or log. It's part of an exhibit of carved funriture  by

Karl von Rydingsvärd (though not by him - it's context).

This desk is:


And yes, there's a room dedicated to Jenny Lind, as well as Fredrika Bremer, and of course Pippi Longstocking has a spot in the kiddie's room. 

This was a great day out! Now that I'm retired I have time to research these things and find cool places Beth and I can visit on her days off.

You Minnesota Folk Know What This Is



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