Day 19, 1 July 2014, Gothenburg/Goteborg - Sweden - I had a gentle start today - a list of nice to sees, but no rush to see any of them. Started with a jaunt to the Haga area - essentially Gothenburg's old town. Just rolling out the pavements when I arrived around 10 am. From there I followed my nose to Feskekorka - the Fish Church (today's picture is a sunflower display just outside - would have sent Van Gogh crazy!) It's an indoor fish market that opened in 1874 - never actually been a church, but looks a bit like one - thus "The Fish Church". It was actually a shame I'd just eaten breakfast because some of the prepared seafood packs and meals looks de-lish - but didn't plan on traipsing about with fishies for the rest of the day. Getting quite adventurous by this point, it was on to a tram that seemed to be heading in the right direction and ended up in the Kronhuset area - Gothenburg's old city hall and now full of arts and crafts boutiques (prices like phone numbers...) With that ticked off the list, it was down to the harbour and look at the ships of the Maritime museum (no need to go in, quite happy from outside) and past the super modern Gothenburg Opera House. Eventually wending back to the Gothenburg Museum for a crash course in all things Viking. For instance, it could come from Old Icelandic 'vik' or person anchoring in bays. Alternatively - from the verb 'vika' to diverge or travel (and we know they did a lot of that). Or and this also seems convincing, there was an area called Viken - from Oslo in the north to the Gota River in the south - now Sweden. All good. They have the remains of a Viking cargo ship in the museum from 900 AD - truly seems to be just the outline of a hull - a bit like a wreck dive that's been wrecked by bad weather - but incredible to look at anyway - almost as good as the stashes of silver coins that have been discovered from the Viking era. They had a section on Viking Gods which was particularly interesting having seen the last Thor movie (there - you knew I was a culture vulture!) Aside from Thor and his hammer there were some other excellent gods on offer. For instance, the fertility god Freyr, also the god of summer, had a pretty good lark. He owned a ship called Skidbladnir which could fly, carry all the gods and could also be folded up and put in a pocket. Now if only IKEA could come up with something like that! Now I didn't get a city card in Gothenburg - after being sick I simply couldn't be bothered and realistically have given all the attractions a pretty good nudge so far. However it turns out that the 40Kronor I paid for the museum entry (about A$7) also gets me into the Art Gallery, the Decorative Arts museum, the Aquarium and the Natural History Museum - cool! So off I went, strolling the shopping streets - took advantage of a Dagens Lunch offer and had a coffee and roll in a cafe for only 55kr. Dagens lunch is how the Swedish (and tourists) can eat. Each day every food venue comes up with a well-priced special - lasts until it runs out and is usually quite good. Fortunately I had a good lunch, because the next stop was the Saluhallen - or Market Hall - the biggest indoor market in town full of delis/bakeries/fish shops and butchers... and taste tests... yummo. If they're going to put it out, I'm certainly going to taste it - would be rude not to. It started out in the 1850s as just a row of market stalls in a square, but by 1889 a beautiful new hall had been designed and built and it was certainly still bustling along today. Back out and onto a tram (that seemed to be going in the right direction), I was headed for the Konstmuseum (that's Art Gallery). Then the tram turned a corner and I jumped off - right in front of the Rohsska Museum (thats the Design & Decorative Arts Museum that I now have a ticket too). So in I went... really no choice in the matter when your tram takes you to the front door. Incredibly well designed actually - a stunning silver display, but their main exhibit is laid out in a series of rooms dedicated to periods from 1851 onwards (the year of the first big exhibition in London). The museum is like a thumb-nail of the V&A in London. Instead of shelves of stuff, they set up rooms and living areas as they would have looked, with commentary - saw some stunning pieces by Lalique, Galle and even a dress from the early nineties by Moschino - clothes as art. Right. Safely out of there, and I decided to walk the rest of the way up Avenyn - the major shopping street / High Street of Gothenburg. It finishes at Gotaplatsen which features a massive fountain of Poseidon by Carl Milles - considered a symbol of the city which is so deeply a part of the ocean, fishing etc. Into the Art Gallery (finally) and saw some stunning Swedish art alongside old favourites such as Picasso and Monet. Though of course not their Van Gogh (pictured on their brochure) because they heard I was coming and have hidden it away - some lame excuse about re-hanging for a forthcoming exhibit. Yeah right. It was an appropriate time to spend a hour or more inside as it had just finished raining when I emerged - definitely home time. Funny story to finish the day. I was on a bus and about to get off to change to the bus that would take me to my digs. A young (very young... 15?) guy said something in Swedish. Could have been "thanks for the seat" or "have a nice day" or any random thing really - wasn't even sure it was directed at me. So I continued to head towards the bus door and he started following me - definitely talking to me now. I finally said "What do you want?" - as it turns out the iPhone he was holding was actually a ticket checker... so "No Worries Mate - now that I know what you're on about!" Obviously blending in a bit much - and he must have thought I was fare-dodging when I headed for the door. Anyway... time to plan tomorrow (and perhaps even upload some photos from today).