Day 5: Exploring Gothenburg

Last night, Cindy informed me that today would be my last chance to visit the famed fish auction of Gothenburg. Having gone to bed at 1 am, and knowing that the fish auction starts at 6:30, I wasn't quite sure if I was up for it. But as luck would have it, Nuri woke up screaming at 6:15. Since so many people had come over for Liam's farewell LAN party, there were 3 people sleeping on the living room floor this morning. I decided it wasn't a great idea to rock a screaming Nuri to sleep in the living room, so instead I packed up a quick diaper bag and took him to the fish auction, still in pajamas. Anders drove us over and apparently he hadn't been there in 30 years, so he was interested to go and see what it was like these days. He used to work in the fish industry in Iceland, so he has some feel for the business. Gothenburg used to be a big fishing town, but now it is just a small industry.

Rain was pouring down as we entered a giant warehouse with crates and crates of diverse fish. Apparently we hit the tail end of the auction, so much of the fish had already been bought and crated off. But a few "fish brokers" were there, bidding on today's fresh catches to resell to restaurants and at fish markets. The warehouse next door had an even bigger crowd of buyers and was full of shrimp and sea crayfish. The buyers would stand around, examining the crates of fish, and even tasting the shrimp to decide if they wanted to buy it. Then it would be auctioned off to the highest bidder. We got some good pictures and some video. Nuri fell asleep in the car ride home and joined daddy, still in bed, while I ate some breakfast.

We all got up eventually and got ready for another late start exploring Gothenburg. Cindy took us on a tram ride into an old part of Gothenburg. We took a nice walk up to the "fish church," a building that looks just like a church but is actually an indoor fish market. Much of the seafood that I saw sell for wholesale price in the morning was selling there for a marked-up retail price. Sal and I ordered crab and herring at a restaurant in the fish church and had a nice leisurely lunch.

We then met Anders at the Museum of Gothenburg, built in an old warehouse and auctionhouse of the Swedish branch of the East India Company. We saw some interesting artifacts there. The highlight of the museum was a set of planks from an old Viking ship that had been unburried from clay.

Anders walked with us to the Crown House, a collection of local artisan shops. We went into a glass blowing shop, a silver smith's shop, and a chocolatier's shop. We continued on our journey to Saluhallen, an indoor market where merchants were selling meats, cheese, olives, tea, and other goods.

Then we all ate phenomenal falafel sandwhiches from a local street vendor. We stopped in a local mall briefly, which in addition to clothing stores and the usual American mall fare also had a grocery store and a pub. Exhausted, we made our way over to the tram and came home.

Sal and I are finally beginning to realize what a big deal the mid-summer celebration is here. It's basically tied with Christmas for the biggest holiday of the year in Sweden, so all stores and museums are closed for mid-summer and mid-summer's eve (tomorrow and Friday). It should be quite an interesting celebration tomorrow. On the other hand, we have had to plan very carefully around these two days since a lot of the sites we want to see will be closed for two days. It may be nice to have a couple of days without packed itineraries though, so we're thankful for that.