IKEA Insanity
After we left the castle, we drove to IKEA. This is the only IKEA in the Torino area, and as anyone who has shopped at IKEA before knows, an IKEA store on the weekend can be a madhouse. Now imagine that it’s Italy, and people are parking on the grass medians and generally driving like insane people, and the excitement gets taken up a notch. Add to this mix the fact that the bus driver decided it wasn’t possible for him to drop us off in the parking lot and instead pulled over to the side of a busy, three lane road to drop us off. I had visions of Frogger dancing in my head as we sprinted for the relative safety of the median and then to the sidewalk beyond.
After making it to the entrance safe and sound, we proceeded directly to the Swedish Meatball section (AKA the cafeteria), as nobody had eaten for a while. Sadly, the hot food section was closed down (no meatballs for us), so we were stuck with expresso and sandwiches. Thus sated, we embarked on an epic journey through the halls of IKEA.
The only rule that seemed to be in effect was the general flow of traffic through IKEA, which surprised me. In IKEA, there is a definite path one follows that winds its way through the various sections and delivers you, eventually, to the check-out stands. Strangely, the Italians obeyed this traffic rule. Other than that, all bets were off. Let’s just say that asking people to move can be accomplished in one of two ways:
a) saying “mi scusi.”
b) taking whatever bag or heavy item you have in your possession and leveraging it against any vulnerable or exposed soft-tissue exposed by the party or parties blocking your way.
I caught on rather quickly, and equipped with my messenger bag, a yellow IKEA bag filled with various items, and a comforter wedged under my arm, I became a formidable obstacle, a foe to be reckoned with. People were apologizing to me for getting in my way. It was wonderful.
The original plan was to meet the driver at the same place he dropped us off. None of us had paused to consider the implications of this arrangement at the time, but after we checked out it became obvious that this trip was far from over. Hauling bags of IKEA items across three lanes of traffic in either direction was…an interesting experience.
After we arrived back at Talponia, one unfortunate bag fell out as the driver opened the storage compartment. Inevitably, it was the one full of drinking glasses. I had a lot of fun assembling my lamps and washing the various kitchen implements I’d purchased (a cutting board! a knife! a frying pan!). Aside from the lamp that inexplicably required a wrench, everything was pretty easy to assemble.
At this point, I’ve got just the right amount of stuff: just enough to make things pleasant and comfortable, but not so much that my room becomes cluttered and annoying. Now I just need to have some people over for dinner.