They had a crime lab where there were little stations to see if you could identify a person's voice or see if a passport was forged. They had a space exhibit that talked a lot about life on the ISS. I knew a lot of the stuff, but it's fun to read stuff that goes into less detail than you know. That way, in your head, you go, "Oh yeah, that's because the pressure is so low that..." and you feel smarter than 10 year old kids who are in a little rocket chair. The best thing about that exhibit was their infrared camera set up. I was amazed how accurate those images can be. Of course, the camera is tuned to pick up the smallest changes in temperature, but it was fascinating to see my glowing fingerprints on my hat after only holding it for a few seconds. I could even make out the ridges in my fingerprints, it wasn't just a long blob where my finger had been.
They had an actually great aquarium there. They had a massive saw tooth shark that kept swimming the same pattern over and over again. It would take this same path up along this rock by my seat. There were two Asian girls speaking English to a guide at the aquarium. They were asking her a bunch of questions and it's always funny to see two different races speak in their mutual second language to one another. Makes me feel super smart for being fluent in English. #racism The Swedish girl told us the saw tooth shark uses its huge... snout? to spear fish and smack then against rocks or dig them out of the sand. They also had a great little zebra shark. I haven't seen many of those.
She also showed us the Swedish coast exhibit. It was funny to see how the cods were WAY bigger than the little pike nosed dog shark (or some name like that). It was funny to hear her get more excited than I thought she would about the taste of the fish in her tank. The Asian girl asked if we can eat those fish. And the Swedish girl said, "Oh yes... Yes... They are... very good!" and laughed. She also told us that ppl from Gothenburg have an accent that makes them sound like fishermen. They are rumoured to be a little more cheery than those from Stockholm. She told us about the fish market which literally translates to Fish Church. With a name like that I had to go. (I waited until Sunday, after all, it's a church!)
They also had a robotic dinosaur exhibit. It was kinda cool to see these huge things that had feathers. It's hard to believe they walked the same ground that we did. Sorry, that's kinda cheesy, but they are amazingly different than anything we see today. Is this dinosaur cool?
Scary. They said it was the biggest carnivore and had a "sail" on its back.
After that, I went to the botanical gardens. As you all know, I am such a huge plant nut that I couldn't pass it up. It was beautiful and I took many pictures of dahlias. I wondered where the black dahlias were...
The greenhouse had "closed" an hour before I got to it, but nonetheless, the doors were still open and people were inside, so I ventured in. I walked by a high up mist sprayer and put my hand under it as I looked at the little pond at the center of this section. A big husky old guy with piercing blue gray eyes and a big thick gray mustache stared straight through me, held out his hand, and said a fair amount of stuff in Swedish. I was scared. Did I need to pay this man for being in the greenhouse after hours? It said 20 SEK to get into the greenhouse, but I was unsure where to pay and had no cash anyway. I said, "I'm sorry, I only speak English." He carried on for a few words in Swedish and ended with a word that sounded like "dreesell", and I thought, uh oh. Then I said, "I'm sorry, I don't understand." And he said, "A leetle rain, a dreesell." I finally got it. "A drizzle!" I said, realizing he was referring to me touching the mist casually. He laughed and said "dreesell!" and clapped me on the shoulder and I never saw him again. It was super funny.
I learned hotels were so expensive that night because Eva Dahlgren, a very popular Swedish singer was playing the main stage. I had to go as it sounded like the best show that night. The stage was at the end of the main street and was HUGE. I believe it was in front of city hall. It was in the midst of a statue of Poseidon who was totally nude and holding a fish and maybe a clam shell. The whole time I was watching this very well done outdoor concert, I had to look around this little statue penis. It was funny. Let's see if this picture captures it.
The show was very good. The crowd was definitely a little older, and so was the artist, maybe in her late late 40s. I was very impressed with the atmosphere and mood and tone the songs conveyed. I understood nothing the entire night save for a few English phrases and a "too-send tak" (thousand thanks). She told quite a few stories and one involved her licking her middle fingers and sticking them up. She licked one quite a few times and the crowd loved it. I was confused. A few of the songs were a little happy go lucky, but I am definitely going to listen to her studio stuff.
I left before the bows were done to avoid the crowds and went back to the dance fight tent. A German reggae/rock band had JUST started and their first song was very long. I was very confused by the gender of the vocalist. I am pretty sure it was a girl, but definitely looked like a young man. It was funny because she was black and her entire band was white. The crowd loved it.
I left to go back to the hotel, I was beat. But as luck would have it, I found a street performer who was asking for a light for her torches. She finally got one and spun them all around her body. I wondered if the torches had a small extension at the base because they seemed to really get far from her body in some swings. She was very good and very entertaining. Some splits, some back bends. Then came the fire eating. That was great. I was pretty close and could see the technique. It looked like a couple of preparation breaths or mouth configuration movements, and then in the torch went! She kinda opened and closed her mouth around it while blowing out and up (she held her head back). She did it quite a few times with some impressively big flames. Then after some applause, she said in English, "I liek fiyer!" and I liked that. Next, she turned down her music and talked for quite a while through her crappy guitar amp. She had to introduce herself because she had no MC and told us to clap when she came out. She put the mic down and shouted with her hands by her mouth something to the effect of "Here's Lena, the amazing hoola hoop girl!" and made big motions for us to clap. So we clapped and cheered and she came bounding out with a huge smile and huge bows. She played the Glitch Mob (we can make the world stop) and turned on the lights in one hoola hoop and went to town. She did some hand stands, some splits, some back bends all while spinning the hoop on her body, arms, or legs. One or coolest things she did was spin it in front of her body at a normal speed and then quickly dash it out to her side so it looked like it was a yo-yo or on a track. It would have been stupid if it was not dark outside and the hoop had not been lit. But as it was, it was wonderful. Your eyes kinda fill in the blanks and it really really looks cool. She got to two, then three hoops. She spun them like she had wings and she was great. Her attitude made the little show. She was bubbly and cute and stocky and kinda curvey. When she messed up (small mistakes like having to walk a little too far on a body catch of a thrown hoop), she would correct it and still smile hella big and put her arms up in a gymnast's success pose. Her show was short, but easily the best street show I've seen in Scandinavia. Most are people in statue costumes or lame musicians. Man, there's this one guy that plays the freaking recorder like a pan flute. It's so annoying and he only plays these little trills for like 5 seconds, stops for 5 seconds, then goes again. And the same freaking trills. Man, I'd pay him to stop. Anyway, here are some pictures of the hoola hoop act. The pictures do a good job of capturing what I saw. The lights blur together and really look great.
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