My Trip to IKEA

I have always had a great disdain for IKEA, even as a child. Recently, I was informed that this was not acceptable, as I had never been there. The excursion taken to IKEA did not change my opinion, though I was impressed that it did not hurt my head. Target makes my head hurt. IKEA reminds me of a hospital, and is vaguely soothing. I still don't understand what makes IKEA so exciting and why its opening in Emeryville, CA caused the huge ruckus that ensued.

There seem to be two camps people that go to IKEA. One of these groups consists of people who really like to shop for furniture/housewares and are excited by IKEA's "low prices." These people just like to have stuff and like buying stuff. They are epitomized by a conversation that was overheard at the trip to IKEA between a mother and her 12 year old child that went like approximately this:

"Now, Christmas is coming up soon, so take note of what you want, and we will buy it for you."
"Yay!"

The other camp of people at IKEA are those who are embarrassed that they like IKEA and claim to only go there because of these "low prices" and say they need whatever they buy from IKEA. These people are simply in denial.

At any rate, it is all one. Below are photographs I took while at IKEA. I figured I would feel better about it if I treated the IKEA trip as a sociological experiment. The excursion to IKEA happened on September 4, 2001 in the evening. Many thanks to Roy for being patient in the face of utter absurdity.

how about more space?
A gigantic billboard on the side of IKEA. One of the things I found really
striking about IKEA was that everything was excessively large.



orbs.
The first products I saw at IKEA were these paper lanterns.
I was not impressed.



lovely.
Doesn't this boy look just so happy in this wonderful IKEA
setting? Right. I thought not.



what are they?
I wish I knew what the appeal of these strange animals was.
They are kind of like a prototype animal, or rather ungulate.



compute!
The image on the computer screen is upside down.



moo.
I almost find this photograph endearing. The chair is fuzzy.



bok.
There were books in Swedish, but they lacked price tags.



lack?
Apparently "lack" means "varnish, enamel, or lacquer" in Swedish.



robots!
This was a demonstration of a machine used to test chairs.



oh, do tell.
This poster reads: "How to watch TV." It made me laugh.



light.
This was an explanation of something deeply important.



sleep...
Lots and lots of beds.



small people
Small children roaming around IKEA. They look pleased.



stern.
This wasn't my idea. I was laughing a lot, but Roy managed to get a spooky shot anyway.



random.
Other people were taking pictures of themselves in IKEA.



ketchup, mustard
We stopped by the cafe in IKEA. Condiments are not evil.



ah...
The stunning view of the 580W/80E from the Ikea Cafe.



teppich
The carpet was named "Indo Caucasian", which makes very little sense.
There was another one that was named "Indo Gabbeh". "Gabbeh" means
"carpet" in Farsi, which is an Indo-Iranian language.



bahn.
There's a stamp for Deutsch Bahn up there. After this picture was taken,
I was informed that I was not allowed to take photographs.



yum.
A large bag of frozen Swedish Meatballs for $10.99.

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