Teachers, a fruit market, flea market & a couch

The furniture saga has finally come to a temporary close. After hunting high and low all over Hamburg, we broke down and went to Ikea. Twice. I know, I know. I really and truly hate that place; but we were in dire straits. All David could think about was a couch. He just really wanted somewhere to sit and I was tired of coming up short at places that were once so promising. We spent all of Wednesday evening, Thursday evening and Friday evening on the prowl for a suitable couch. Wednesday, we went to Sofort Mobel - a great and inexpensive clearance joint that we had visited over the weekend. The one couch we had our eye on was gone and the only couches that remained were either 9 feet long with a giant chaise lounge attached to the end or what they call an "ultra couch" - a huge velvet number that when you sit on it, your feet are about a foot off the ground. The damn thing looked straight out of a deviant porn movie.

Dejected, we resigned ourselves to an Ikea trip. Thursday after work, we hopped on the train and gave Stella a quick walk before we got back on the train to head to Ikea. These details are important because everything in Germany closes early - like 7 o'clock early. Ikea is the real freak show and they close at 8pm. So, by the time we made it there, we had about an hour and a half to furnish the front of our apartment. You can see where this is going right? Especially if you've been there. The place is collosal. We managed to pick out (sort of) a hodge podge of suitable furniture. BUT, we couldn't decide on a couch and the dining room table we settled on was out of stock. This with about 20 minutes to go. David threw in the towel and I followed. We abandoned the pathetic cart filled with a book shelf, a shoe rack and other odds and ends. We proceeded to get on the wrong bus out of Ikea and got completely lost in Hamburg. Thank goodness there aren't really bad neighborhoods. This story has a happy ending, I promise.

The very next day (sounds like a fairy tale, right?), we got back on the train (or the horse, or the dog that bit us) and made yet another trek to Ikea land. We totally scored a couch that was priced at 550 euro, marked down to 125. It's purple. But the green area rug we got to go along looks pretty sweet. We also got a dining table and chairs and two "reading chairs," which absolutely don't match the rest of the decor. We are trying to hide them in the bedroom until further notice. Ugh! But anyway, I am happily tapping away at the keyboard from my new purple couch while David reads at the other end and Stella snoozes on the green rug. Ahhhh...

Ok, briefly, we met some really cool teachers and kindly befriended us during an unexpected and torrential rain storm at our new favorite neighborhood pub. It turns out that one of the teachers has played violin for the Hamburg U. symphony for over 40 years and he invited us to a concert. Nice, huh? It's nice to know someone in the neighborhood - they've already divulged a heap of info about markets, cool places to hang out and stuff in general. We've also been invited to the violinists klein garten kolony. They are these tiny little cabins - about a hundred to a colony - surrounded by breathtaking gardens right in the city. They are just for spare time use. You can't live in them. David already asked. But the klein gartens are great - a wonderful little oasis in the city. I can't wait.

Let's see, we also discovered a great little Saturday farmer's market (thanks to the teachers). You can get veggies, fruits, a million different kinds of cheese, meats, fresh pasta, olives, spices - you name it. Then today, there was a "flohmarkt" - a flea market! Just a block from the house. No one really does yard/garage sales. There are just these periodic flea markets in public spaces around town. It was great. I learned how to say "how much is that?" And numbers in German are pretty easy, so I can nearly understand when someone replies.

Last night, we also went to a fun district in town with a co-worker - it was great and we would never have found these fun little bars on our own. We'll have quite the entertainment line-up when friends and family arrive!

I guess that's about it. I am about to unload the washer, which apparently runs for about 2 hours. I honestly can't figure out what's going on and the clothes aren't any cleaner. The damn washer is supposed to be a high efficiency machine. I don't know about that.