Travel & Ikea

One other observation on our journey was the amount of ABC rest stops, which include a supermarket, a Hesburger and a large selection of hot or cold food. There were also some shops, like a tourist trash one, a book store and an Arabia factory shop. There are about two or three of these an hour as you travel throughout Finland, it seems a little ridiculous to me.


Now, I should have included more about Ikea. Yes, Ikea products feature heavily in Finnish homes. Alone I could count about 5 or 6 things in my room, like the rug and the curtains. At home, we rarely visit this home furnishing superstore because my parents detest the idea of a visit as much as one to Argos, and our nearest one is rather far away. But in Finland it could be a like a morning or afternoon visit, since we arrived at the right time for the kids to have lunch in the restaurant before we commenced shopping. There was a delightful array of cheap cakes and interesting meals, like meatballs with mashed potato, lingonberry sauce and some other beige sauce that might have been like a gravy. My personal favourite is the bright orange orange drink. 
I love the way you have to follow a trail through a labyrinth of 'rooms' set out like your dream home with some of the products dotted here and there, but then a mass of them all in another maze in the basement of this huge raised building. I was continually but gently mocked for my excitement over children's things, like a castle style window set in the wall that opens to be a mirror. 
I did in true Sophie style manage to make an utter fool of myself at least twice though, once by knocking over six glasses in a box and then by not realising how to print a ticket in the self-service fabric cutting section. I like how the Finns are big on self-service (and also being a very cashless society) but if you can't read the signs, how can you possibly cope? Like the other day I went to buy some pick n mix sweets - these are EVERYWHERE - and because the machine didn't work printing a price sticker I had to shamefacedly abandon them. Whilst it's fun to weigh and sticker up your loose produce here, I much prefer supermarkets at home where they weigh them on the till for you. You're wasting a lot of paper in stickers here!