So with our recent move into the Sparkle Flat, ash and I decided we needed to add the finishing touches with a trip to IKEA. Sounds easy enough right? Tricked you…
So we look up online where the IKEA is in Prague. There are two options. Neither of them are close to downtown (that would just be too easy it would be silly) so they are each located on the last stop on either side of the yellow metro line. So since we are in downtown it was equidistant, so we just picked one.
We get off the metro and since it’s the end of the line, the two platforms for coming and going are separated by the metro tracks, so to get to the other side you have to walk around the building. OR, there is a convenient little bridge you can cross that of course ash and I didn’t see. So, we assume that IKEA must be on the other side of the tracks because there is just what appears to be the Sahara desert behind us. (if you didn’t know that the Sahara desert is in Prague, it’s okay. I didn’t at first either, but after this trip I learned well enough.)
So we TRY and walk around the metro station to get to the other side (insert dumb chicken crossing the road joke here) and get cut off. On one side the metro tube goes back into the ground, so you can't pass there. On the other side? Highway. Guess how we decided to try and cross.
If you guessed we WALKED across the highway then you are right!! (I wish I could say this is the first time that we have walked across a highway, but id be lying. In our old icky apt the taxicab drivers use to drop us on the other side of the highway ((because it was too hard to drive around??)) and we would hop over the median and scurry across the highway to get home. How safe.) So, after venturing across the traffic filled lanes, we see some shopping centers. Perfect. But no IKEA? So we search, and cant find it. As we are about to head back to the metro station and we see an ad pointing us in the correct direction. On the OTHER side of the metro station. We acted like little baby chickens for nothing. So we use the bridge to get back this time (how boring) and cut through the metro station. Since the Sahara Desert is on the other side we decide to ask directions. The lady in the metro station tells us to take Bus A, then hop on tram B, then get a taxi and go the rest of the way. Are you kidding? “Can we just walk there?” I ask as I make the walking symbol with my two fingers across her desk. She answered that we could. Great! “How far?” I ask. “about an hour walk” she nonchalantly answers. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
So as Ash and I stare out into the desert we contemplate our options. We see a couple walking up that look like they speak English (you get good at this guessing game while living here) and they did! We ask them for directions and they told us it was a 15 minute walk through the desert and then we would see it. Hallelujah! So we start cutting across the desert and finally see a hypermarket! We enter assuming IKEA is one of the stores and were sadly mistaken. We ask a purse kiosk vendor and she tells us its in the next mall over, another fifteen minute walk.
SO we continue on our way, to the next mall (which really turned out to be a four minute walk) and make our way in there. I think you know how this goes by now: no IKEA, we ask someone they tell us it’s the NEXT mall over, and we trek on.
Finally this time they were correct. We found the promise land. After winding through their unorganized floor displays (if you have ever spent much time in IKEA, you can sympathize). We got some necessities and fun things for the Sparkle Flat. Between the two of us we probably had forty pounds of stuff. Imagine us trekking on our backs in these huge IKEA bags (which we had to buy, mind you) on the twenty minute walk back through the Sahara Desert. Quite a hilarious sight to see.
So it wasn’t really eighteen hours, but it was an all day adventure! It was well worth it to decorate the Sparkle Flat! She is more beautiful than ever now, pictures to come asap!!
Love love love from Prague!!
No comments:
Post a Comment