Sunday - Walking the seafront, antiquing, art, design

Today started out cloudy and windy, so the 14 degrees was considerably wind-chilled. I made my intrepid way to the waterfront, past the opera house, the maritime museum and the fish market, which was closed. It is called the 'Fish Church' (Feskekörka) because of the episcopalian nature of its construction.

The Opera House

Maritime museum, along the water front

The fish church

I made my way to Haga, which is the hip part of town (and there have been several classic hipster sightings in both Denmark and Sweden) as the sun was coming out. There I introduced the concept of a 'mocha' and was happy with the barista's efforts. I also made my major souvenir purchase - a light fitting that is sort of on the border of between decorative and functional art deco. The man in the shop said it was a Gothenburg design. Hopefully it will transport OK - I'll have the glass lamps in my hand luggage.

The mocha and sweet treats, overlooking Nygata in Haga

The Gothenburg Art Museum is very good. It has the Hasselblad Photographic Gallery where there was an exhibition on framing the human form. Another special exhibition was by a contemporary Swedish artist, Hannaleena Heiska, who had a neon series based on Bladerunner. However, the main attraction is its collection of Nordic artists together with a nice smattering of big names from elsewhere. I liked the approach the curators have taken in mixing some contemporary pieces that have a similar aesthetic in with the older works. It was a fresh perspective on both the old and new. I liked it so much I bought the book of the collection. It is rather hefty and I hope it doesn't result in an overweight luggage fine.

Statue of Poseidon in the fountain in front of the museum - one of the iconic images of Gothenburg

Gothenburg Art Museum

After that, it was off to the Röhsska design museum. I hadn't realised that the ticket I'd bought at the art museum was good (till the end of the year) for five museums including this one. All for the princely sum of just over $6. That has to be the best value for the whole trip. And even though, again, half the design museum was under redevelopment, the remaining exhibits were excellent.

Leafy street - and gotta love a city with trams