"It has been written and it has always been thus: on the day of mass the people make their way to the temple to indulge their spirituality and show their devotion to their beliefs."
So this Sunday me and another Swede took the Taxi Ferry from pier 11 to Brooklyn and the Swedish Cultural Export Centre, the Temple of all things, the Enigmatic blue cubicle that is IKEA. Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd, the big Swedish export. Well it was just a question of time before I went. And I have said before that I have had some longing for home. So this rainy Sunday the time had come.
From the water this Ikea looked big, but having lived really close to Kungens Kurva it did not compare well. 2 floors, of the maze like Ikea layout. You could recognize most of the products but they where put together in an American fashion... or lack their of. Questions that arises is who actually needs 4 pillows in bed? and would Ernst approve of the example rooms?
In the restaurant we had meatballs and shunned all the local variants such as deepfried chicken, ribs and chocolate cake, half a kilo there of, more or less.
The meatballs was served with a petit ball of mash as well as a small spoon of lingonberry jam. We where not impressed. The salad table had more to choose from than the Swedish equivalent. But they use the same freeze dried carrots. I can't really understand why anyone use them. The Lingon drink was water with a hint of red. One of the worst meals I have had in New York. Even so we where really thankful to get meatballs with lingonberries. Easily fooled.
Afterwards we really went haywire in the food section: cinnamon rolls, sill, caviare, ballerina... anything Swedish. And please note I was far from as big a hamster as miss Sweden her self. But all in all a pretty good day. We got what we came for: both things and experiences.
Inga kommentarer:
Skicka en kommentar