Puplett Family Trip to Sweden (6 Dec - 23 Jan 2022) - 2 - Ängelholm Railway Museum and Gekås (8-Dec-22)

 Before we headed north, we were in need of some new snow gear, which was impossible to get in Australian summer, so we headed out to Gekås , a huge store about 2 hours north of Malmö.  On the way, we were due to pass through Ängelholm, where I remembered we had previously visited the Railway and Flight museums (Link).

Unfortunately the Flight museum was closed, but the Ängelholm Järnvägens Museum (Railway Museum) was open.

The museum had a good display of signals and rail communications as well as a movie about the history of Swedish rail and a railway simulator that simulated travelling on different trains through the ages.  

The boys also had fun trying to exert enough force to move the train:

Cameron checking out the model railway

Tomas checking out the signalling system

It was funny watching the kids try to work the dial phones, but they had fun in the switchboard section where they could hear the switchboard selecting lines when they dialled each other on the three phones. There was lots of "No, you pick up the handset and then start dialling" and "No, you can't receive a call unless you hang up.  Nope, that means to put the handset back down" from Kris and I as the kids tried to call each other.

The kids seeing how an automatic switchboard works

Kids ordering pizzas

The automatic switchboard clicking between lines as Tomas dials Alana:

Tomas learning how to use the dial phone

Controller Tomas

We had a bit of snow outside when we head off to Gekås:

We had visited Gekås Ullared a few times previously on our last expat.  It is a huge superstore that was founded in 1963. The store is over 30,000 m² of floor space, will additional outlet shops outside. The area also houses a campsite and hotel where Swedes will travel to stay and shop. 

The purpose of our visit was to get snow gear for our upcoming trip north, but we also took the opportunity to check the cheap Lego, electronics and other items.  We also stopped to check a Northern Viking's store just outside the main shop:

The amount of baskets in the entrance should give an idea of the size of the shop:

We were quite excited about the "Exiting things ahead" as foretold by this jumper:

After snow gear, our next stop was to buy some decent snow shoes and boots:

At the end of the day we spent around $1000 but managed to get a full set of snow clothes and boots each as well as a Lego set for Cameron and some other bits and pieces.

By the time we got home it was quite late and we stopped for dinner on the way home and all had an early night.