In Haparanda
Sitting by a computer in Haparanda today. We're here to buy a bed for my sister since she didn't sleep well on the one we bought yesterday, so it's the second trip in two days. It really isn't very close but it's the one and only IKEA in the northern norths of Sweden so what choice to we have? :D
Haparanda is a really nice place, old wooden buildings with pretty unique designs. A lot of really old metal shop signs and some mosaic windows decorating the main street. The streets are really wide as well, overall it's a very open and abstract environment. It looks pretty rundown but it's still a fun town. If you try to imagine how a town looked fifty years ago (and you didn't live fifty years ago) then this is a living picture of it. Since IKEA came to this little click of nostalgia on the Finnish border they say it's grown a lot, which can be seen by the new shops opening up in the city outskirts, but in the real city center it's still pretty dead. I can't imagine how it looked before IKEA arrived here.
IKEA is a great place, and the fact that they serve free coffee to members and give away free ice cream to children (I consider myself one) makes it even better. :P Later.
