The return of my market

My covered market is obviously more than 100 years old and has clearly been refurbished a number of times. Even when I first moved to the neighborhood, it already had doors that opened automatically, for example. But these old iron buildings get tired and need a complete overhaul every 30 or 40 years.



So anyway, the market was closed two and a half years ago for a two year renovation. All of the merchants were moved to a nearby square in temporary structures.

And then they ripped the market to pieces.



It was all very slow and meticulous. They had to remove the stands, remove the roof, fix all of the flaws in the ironwork, dig up the floor for new plumbing and electric circuits... and that was long before they started putting anything back together.



The roof went back on, new glass was installed... But in the end, they were seriously behind schedule. The market was supposed to reopen for Christmas 2009, but Christmas passed and so did spring, and it still wasn't finished.

The merchants refused a summer opening, because a lot of them were going on vacation. It was out of the question that the market reopen with anybody on vacation...

During the final months, the tempo of work picked up. I often saw the workers still on the job after 9pm.



And finally in September the work was finished and the merchants moved back in. It is freakishly spacious as an admission that such places are no longer the principal place where people buy food. In fact, the merchants miss their temporary market to a certain extent, because apparently they became much better friends by being squeezed together so closely -- and now they are far apart on different islands.



Oh, the stuff they sell is always so appealing...!



Too bad I never buy anything there...