Thursday, June 6, 2013

IKEA, Cercanías, and Cows

On a solo train trip down from Sevilla a short while back, San Geraldo noticed IKEA was on the outskirts of the city of Málaga on the way to Fuengirola. He said, "It's directly next to one of the train stations." Given our taxi (taxing?) experiences with IKEA in Sevilla (15€ cab fare each way, delivery charges, 3 trips just to get all required parts of the beds — click here for a bit of our IKEA history), we thought it would be nice to pop over on Cercanías, the commuter train, and shop. We needed two large pots, one for the terrace and one for the living room. We figured we could manage to carry two plastic pots the short distances we'd have to walk. We love Cercanías. Reliable, immaculate, safe, scenic. So, we took the train to Plaza Mayor named (and created) for the modern, outdoor shopping mall it abuts.

OUR TRAIN STATION. LOS BOLICHES IN FUENGIROLA.
A VIEW ALONG THE WAY. ON THE OTHER SIDE, THE VIEW WAS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA.

Items from Train Are Further Than They Appear
Plaza Mayor is a beautifully designed modern shopping mall. But, with its collection of chain stores and a food court filled with the likes of McDonald's and Taco Bell, we could have been just about anywhere in the world. Well, anywhere with a Southern Mediterranean climate and a collection of fiberglass cows. When we arrived at the Plaza Mayor train stop, we saw that the shopping mall was on one side of the tracks and IKEA was on the other but quite some distance away. We took a quick peak at the mall (which is large, although not on the scale of Minnesota's Mall of America) before heading, indirectly, across the train tracks to IKEA. We had our choice of two overpasses at opposite ends of the mall, neither a direct route. Going, we chose incorrectly the one that took us even further out of the way. It was about a 25-minute walk. We had a successful shop. The only thing we didn't find were the pots, the original reason for the trip. But, given the walk from IKEA to Cercanías, that was a very good thing.

PLAZA MAYOR'S BACK ENTRANCE, FROM THE TRAIN STATION. THE FIRST COW SIGHTING.
INSIDE PLAZA MAYOR. I LOVED THIS TREE/PLANTER/FOUNTAIN.
ANOTHER FIBERGLASS COW.
MÁLAGA AIRPORT, THE NEXT TRAIN STOP, FROM THE OVERPASS.
WE WERE EVEN CLOSER BY THE TIME WE REACHED IKEA.
WATCHING FOR THE TRAIN THAT WOULD TAKE US HOME.

Good Things
In addition to the successful shopping, two other very good things happened during our little outing. San Geraldo walked more than a mile in the heat of the day and shopped for two hours without a complaint — well, with hardly a complaint. He did require a [Swedish] chocolate bar for the ride home. The other good thing? I found the solution to my ongoing mosquito problem.

THE SOLUTION TO MY MOSQUITO PROBLEM.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?

16 comments:

  1. I love a good netting!
    Also, what a plus to have [relatively] few complaints!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bob:
      We're always comparing Carlos and San Geraldo. Is Carlos gruñon at times?

      Delete
  2. Nah, I don't think you'll fit in that crib.

    saludos,
    raulito

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Raulito:
      I should have placed San Geraldo next to the crib for comparison. It was 12 feet long...

      Not really. But, if it had been, I would hate to have to climb over the rail to go to the bathroom during the night.

      Delete
  3. The mosquito net looks great but however will you persuade the mosquitos to get under it in the nursery when you want to sleep?

    You can probably persuade some of the mosquitos some of the time, etc etc. ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ian:
      I can assure you that, if I were on the other side of that netting, every mosquito in Fuengirola would find a way in.

      So, I guess it's not really the solution.

      Delete
  4. Erm, holy cow, when you talk about your crib you really mean Your Crib!

    Good on getting San G to walk with (nearly) no complaints!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jacquelineand....
      I'm clearly not as cool as you. I hadn't thought of that use of the word crib. I'm so grateful for "nearly."

      Delete
  5. Ha! :) Great story :)
    I've got Benadryl lotion slathered on three big mosquitoe-bite-welts I found this morning... no netting at my crib ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Judeet:
      I've got dollops of my magic Chinese stuff spread around. So sorry for your suffering. I will definitely have to look for the Spanish version of Benadryl cream.

      Delete
  6. Are the cows part of some city art project like the Chicago cows some years ago? I wonder if you're going start finding them all over the city.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ms. Sparrow:
      The cows are simply a theme at that shopping center. (I don't know why.) They're nothing as fancy as the art project. Just a bunch of white & black cows, but still fun.

      Delete
  7. LOL!~ That netting should do it! Now for a crib?
    That fountain WAS really interesting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jim:
      I really, really loved that fountain/plant holder.

      Delete
  8. Have you seen a cloud recently?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Raybeard:
      Of course, I've seen a cloud recently. There's one in the southwest right now as a matter of fact. I think it may be off the coast of Morocco. Sheesh!

      Delete

Please visit www.movingwithmitchell.com if you would like to comment or stay up to date. I stopped posting here and reproduced all previous posts, as well, 25 September 2018. Thanks!!!