A visit to the first Ikea store, in Almhult Sweden.

Picture intensive, as this was my first trip to the rural countryside:

This was the largest stack of timber that we passed - however, it was in no way the only one! Small plots, large plots, plots with trees dead from storms, plots with clearcutting, plots with selective cutting, and once a plot in the process of being cut.

The countryside that we passed was all farm fields or timber fields:

Click here for a larger view of that one to see the house and barn way in the back.













More of the sky, swedish housing styles, and the very outside of Almhult, before reaching the store.




Upon entering the store through a turnstile that includes advertising as part of the door, you walk up some stairs and enter Ikea proper.

I insisted on taking a picture of Maria in this lovely chair - it was *really* comfortable!!!






Finally, there was shopping, oohing, and ahing and much admiration of lighting (by me). I was disappointed to learn, however, that prices were not at all comparable to what they were in American stores or available from the website - a few of the items on my list were quite offensively more expensive than the American product of the same name.