Fürth

Fürth (pronounced Furt) is just a train ride away from me. Well, pretty much everything in Europe is a train ride away from me.... but Fürth is less than half an hour away. I went there yesterday with my friends Andy and Emily. We chose Fürth because Ikea is located in Fürth and I have been wanting to go to Ikea for the past month. When I got paid at the end of September, I made sure to include a trip to Ikea in my budget plan for October!

When we got to Fürth, we saw there was a carnival and a farmer's market open so we temporarily postponed our Ikea trip and walked around for awhile. These types of carnivals are pretty common in Bavaria this time of year (think: Oktoberfest) and I could have spent much longer walking around. Everything smelled so good! No one would ride the rides with me, though, because they are kind of pricy. I begged Andy to ride one with me and he said, ''Are you kidding?? At Oktoberfest last night, I paid 4 euro to ride a giant swing for 60 seconds. No thank you, I've already done my swinging for the month.'' Speaking of expensive....I love the farmer's markets here but you never know what you're going to pay until you're actually paying for it (how am I supposed to know how many blackberries = 1 kilo???).

Although the carnival was fun, Ikea had to be the highlight of the day for me.... No one could believe that we don't have an Ikea in Oklahoma, which explained why I was so awestruck by everything. I could have spent 3 hours there, I think. My main purpose was to buy a trash can (I had no trash cans in my apartment!), bedding (a fitted sheet& and a mattress topper) and candles (my apartment smelled terrible when I moved in!). I bought the trashcan for 1 euro, 3 candles for 6 euro and a mattress topper&fitted sheet for 30 euro. I had so much fun ''fixing up'' my apartment when I got home and now it smells so much better (as the world's most smell-oriented person, this was of absolute importance to me). Also -- before last night, my bed was so, so uncomfortable that I almost couldn't sleep. Now with the mattress topper (and fitted sheet which I somehow did not have until last night?? I had been just using a blanket folded over the mattress...not so aesthetically pleasing), it is so soft and comfortable and I love it.

I want to go back to Fürth with someone who will ride the rides with me....even if they do cost 4 euro per person....