The Blue and Yellow store

Yesterday I had to make an emergency trip to the blue and yellow store - also known as Ikea. There is an Ikea situated about 20 minutes' walk from where I stay. Yesterday I took the bus there which was the wrong move!! The Friday afternoon traffic is the pits. It took more time to get there by bus than it would have taken to walk there...

Entrance to the Blue and Yellow store

As you approach the Ikea store you can't help but notice the blue and yellow of the building in front of you. An attractive welcoming glow! Many latino guys hang around the entrances soliciting their services to customers who have just bought big items that need transporting to homes - because not many everybody has cars here. Carrying big things on the metro is not fun...Or they offer to help assemble the items customers have just bought. All for a fee of course.

These guys are waiting to help customers!!

Once inside the shop there is a "Hotdogeria" and a standing eating area. They sell hotdogs at 50 cents each, ice creams at 50 cents each and a bottomless cup (coke, fanta, coffee, sprite, lingonberry - whichever you choose) at 50 cents each. The place is popular. I tend to go there just for dinner sometimes. My menu - 2 hotdogs, an ice cream, and a bottomless drink. Total = 2 euros. Not bad. Not healthy though....

Hotdogeria in the store

The bottomless drink station

Stand and eat your hotdog here...

You then proceed to the upper level where the shopping begins. Before shopping you have to grab a pencil and an order card to record the serial numbers of the items you want to buy. And that is where the fun starts. There are so many nice things - and some outrageously cheap prices too. I cannot buy much as I have no space to keep things nor will I know what I will do with them once I have them. But the temptation to buy is certainly there...

The rooms on display in the store

So what did I buy ? Two boxes of AA batteries. Each box has 10 batteries in it. Price : 2 Euros per box.  Priceless...