IKEA opens at 9:30, we arrived at 9:45. I told Patrick that we should go early and he would for sure get a good parking spot. This proved to be false. There are 1,200 parking spots at IKEA according to Patrick and we were prob in #1,000 (no joke) 15 minutes after the store opened! A few people had even checked out already. Who gets in and out of IKEA in the first 15 minutes the store is open!?!...Freaks, that's who. Bad parking spot aside, it was about to be a good day at IKEA. Keeping in mind that all IKEAs follow the same floor plan, showroom on top, warehouse and little things at ground level and you instantly go upstairs on entering, we decided to enter the exit as Patrick wanted to check out scratch and dent. I had a list of things to buy and normally feel like the scratch and dent room is a waste of time. However, we were in our neighbor's apartment the other day and they informed us that all of their IKEA furniture was scratch and dent so I was inspired. On my list was a wardrobe (German apartments do not have closets) and as we walked out of the room I noticed one much cooler than the one I planned to buy for half the price. I was going to buy the 35 Euro model and this one was regularly 80 down to 16. I needed it and we bought it then disassembled it in the lobby and loaded the car. It is a good thing Patrick does not drive a Smart car as this had a bit of trouble fitting into his station wagon as it was. The car was loaded and the hatch was open so we could not do the rest of our shopping (my list was abandoned for now) until we took it home and unloaded. That is what we did. We went back for IKEA take II...the first thing on my list was this cream colored table I had seen twice before. It is the kind that expands in size and since I am planning on bringing Thanksgiving to Germany, this seemed like the right thing. Besides it was marked down from 200 to 50 (not scratch and dent). I couldn't quite convince Patrick it was necessary on the previous two trips but today it was one of the main reasons we went to the store...there were none left. The floor model sat lonely under the sign. I was attached and deflated. But wait, scratch and dent to the rescue, the floor model was moved over, I stood by it and waited as they priced it and then Patrick fought off a woman as I found a cart to move it on. This time we were able to fit it in the car w/o a hitch, lock it up and complete our shopping. The table is still in the car as it is awkward and heavy to move but we won't have to build it and we will have it for Thanksgiving. Now all we need are a dozen chairs. After spending the better part of the day at IKEA we officially live in our apartment now. The old tenant came and singed the paperwork and dropped off the keys. Furniture, a kitchen, even some curtains and our apartment is on its way to becoming our home.
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