On buying fish.

Yesterday, I bought some fish, Seelachs to be exact. I know, pretty amazing. But it gets better. In what will follow you will not only learn that life is far more bizarre than anything I could make up, but also that I have a special talent for spoiling any story that I'm about to tell by trying to build it up. Anyway, truth is stranger than fiction, but not all that strange I guess. I got the fish at the local Karstadt, which has a supermarket in the basement, with all kinds of fresh seafood. First I went in there, and picked up some lemons, as lemons are prerequisite for making fish. Well, we did have lemon juice, but for the sauce Christina makes, fresh lemon juice makes all the difference. If you don't believe it, try it yourself. We got the recipe off the internet, but I'm not gonna dig it up now. Suckers! Had I known then what I know now, I would have gotten the fish first, then the lemons.

Because when I was getting ready to go over to the fish counter, this group of tourists shows up. At least 20 people, who were being talked to in English by their German hosts or tour guides or whatever. Did I say tourists? Yes I did. They were taking a tour of the dang supermarket, marvelling at this Wunderwerk of capitalism. And it wasn't an official Karstadt tour or anything. No, these "guides" were just showing them the city, and thought it would be interesting to check out this supermarket. On your left you see the Rathaus and the Roland, they have been awarded the status of world cultural heritage by the Unesco. But nevermind them, here's a real gem: A supermarket in a basement. And it sells fish! Mind-boggling. The fish was clearly what they were there for, as they flocked to that counter and made it impossible for me to order anything anymore. Nope, I had to walk around the store for a bit and wait until their excitement had calmed down a little.

Now I'm not that ignorant to not understand why this might be interesting for someone to see, especially since I assume they were from an Asian country (I'm also going to assume it wasn't Japan, cause that would just be too funny, you know, cause as far as I know, fish is very popular in Japan due to it being surrounded by water). So it might actually have been something they had not seen before in that form, but still, couldn't they see I was getting ready to buy fish? They were happily taking pictures of the wares presented behind the counter, and of each other in front of the fridges with food in them. I wish I could be there when they show those pictures at home.

And that's basically my story. A whole big group of people crowded the fish counter, and I had to wait until they left before I could buy anything. For some reason, I don't think those guys asked their guides if they could see one of the famous German fish counters in a supermarket. It's one of those things that the clever guides pick out to provide real experience of German culture. So that they can tell their people at home how crazy those Krauts are. Maybe it's just me, but I found it really funny. And this is not just any old person saying it. I took pictures of dead rabbits for sale in a little French town, and of chickens in the window of a shop in S.F. Chinatown. The difference: I look cool doing it.