Ikea

Our trip to Ikea was so much fun! And what a trip. It takes about an hour and a half to get there. So we made a day out of it! And so glad we did. Here are some pics I took on the way there. Unfortunately, I only had the camera on Gus' phone so the pics aren't the greatest. And most of them are through the window of our car so you can kind of see the glass. But it's a really pretty drive, so I wanted to capture how pretty it was. Hopefully you can see all of that...

Almost the entire drive...actually make that the entire drive...it is on a 2 lane, divided, highway. And they are very, very strict about which lane you drive in. As you can see from below, we are driving in the right lane. You do not enter into the left lane unless you are going to pass the person on your right. If you do enter into the left lane, it is simply to pass the car in the right and you get back over into the right lane immediately after you're done passing. I learned the hard way the first time I went to Ikea and had many unhappy people who didn't understand why I was clogging up the left lane. This has been a cultural lesson for me, since the US isn't too strict on this.

There are many tunnels to drive through. Probably close to 6-7. Each way. Some of them are under 100 meters but several of them are hundreds of meters long. Yes, I am already thinking in meters, since I am surrounded by that over here. It's taken some getting used to but it's already making sense to me. My point is that several of the tunnels are miles long. So long that you don't see the light right when you enter into it, but only after driving for several minutes. Kind of creepy!

Here's my best attempt at taking a pic inside the tunnel. They're well lit and the ceilings are rounded at the top. So extremely well built. Just very long!

One of the highlights is driving past a few large lake or river. We are not sure what it's called but it's very large and very pretty...

And driving through this bridge. It is soo cool. And a feat of architect and engineering...

Some of the time, I felt like I was either driving through Southern California or through the movie set the Lord of the Rings. It's kind of dessert y with large, grey rocks.

And so green!

Another tunnel...

I wish I had taken a picture of the city Ikea is located in. It's very industrial and kind of central to many cities in Spain. I think people come from all over to go to this Ikea, since there are only a few in the country and the closest one that I know of is in Madrid, which is 4 hours south of us. Thankfully it is a very large Ikea with the usual 2 stories. This trip was exhausting! We had to make a few trips to the car, since we were buying larger items like rugs and furniture. Making so many decisions was exhausting. Yet I was thankful we have an Ikea close enough to visit and that it is still reasonably priced. With some things like linens and furniture being more expensive over here, Ikea has been a tremendous blessing!!!

In between one of our trips to the car, we ate lunch in the cafeteria. They still offer Swedish meatballs for super cheap that are yummy! We all enjoyed a very yummy lunch for just a few Euros. Here is Coen and I...he was eating and we couldn't get one where he looked at the camera...

Cael was much more cooperative; here he is with Gus...

After a very long day at Ikea we drove home. The drive home always seems quicker, for some reason. It was very exciting to put everything away. And it is amazing what a rug and some lamps can do to a room. It feels much more like home now. Once our container comes, hopefully in mid-August, then it will really feel like home. I didn't buy any decorative items or anything for the walls. That sort of stuff, I did ship and so I am waiting to see what comes in the container before I buy anything else. This seems like such a shallow prayer request, but would you pray that our container arrives in one piece and on time? We are hoping for August. Hospitality will be a huge part of our ministry over here. Hosting people from dinner guests to overnight stays, so it is important that our home be welcoming and inviting to people. Between Ikea and the items in our container, I am thankful the Lord has given me the tools I can use to hopefully attain this. I want people to feel warmed and loved in our home. Thanks for your prayers for me in this! And yes, I will post pics of what our rooms look like before the container comes. This week, hopefully! Thanks for reading!