Monday 4th August
Awelina of Sweden
James Collier
Mon 4 Aug 2014 21:24
We decided that today would be devoted to sightseeing and an early night for Peter at least, so we didn’t get up that early. We immediately tackled the water pump, installing the new one and removing then stripping down the old. Water had clearly managed to leak past the seal and had corroded a ball-bearing but fortunately hadn’t got into the electric motor. So we cleaned and dried the innards and sprayed oil into the bearing. Then re-assembled it with generous dollops of Silicon grease to the seals in the hope that it will do as a spare. They do fail fairly often as this is the third we’ve had in 10 years. After that we walked into town to do various tourist sights. Opposite the harbour from Awelina there is a very impressive looking opera house and theatre. It’s constructed of reflective glass of different colours and shapes, similar to the library of Aberdeen University. Inside the architecture was still bold with no right-angles but odd diagonals or gently curving stairs where each step had a balcony and table and chairs for the restaurant. The average tourist isn't as intrigued by passage ways as we are and we ended up walking up a back way and though a door that once we’d passed through we found said STAFF ONLY. After that we took a brisk walk to the tallest land mark for miles around; a cathedral constructed of concrete which even in the dusk still dominates the horizon. Rather uncharacteristically we thought the Lutheran church seems to like to making an impression.  Lutheran cathedral seen through the rigging of a research ship Once inside all looked a bit disappointing with minimal to no decorations other than the pews and pull pit with concrete grey everywhere else, but the organ is a huge affair of stainless steel pipes larger and in greater number than any either of us had previously seen. After leaving a place of worship a beer was in order, so we set off in a probable direction. Walking through a more residential part of the city the construction of the houses are all broadly the same, stone to below the ground floor windows then above that wooden with cladding of corrugated iron, the surface of which was painted giving the effect of a slightly american version of Tobermory. We arrived at a street on which was one French café, one strip club, an English pub and a corner shop with a drunk clinging to its steps. The French café was decided on and we each had a pint of local beer each and a salad. On the way back to Awelina we stumbled upon yet another concrete place of worship, this time the Roman Catholic church. We peered inside and this one did look more like a church with stained glass and a conventional layout.  Having seen a small boy have success with a rod on the wall of the harbour we decided to get the fishing tackle out too. No sooner had the mackerel feathers touched the bottom a medium sized cod attacked and tomorrow’s dinner now has a good base. Tonight’s however is a lamb and chick pea curry with another glass of beer - the Icelandic 2.25% variety. Note to Fe: that’s the last of it thank goodness! This piece of lamb started off as a roast leg about a week ago, and has been used in various guises including smörsgabord, savoury rice and curries various. The wind has abated as forecast, and tomorrow is supposed to be fairly good weather and a gentle wind so we plan to set off reasonably early. At the moment the electric fan-heater is going and we are quite snug aboard. |