We arrived in Luxembourg

We arrived before our stuff — “on holiday” for official purposes. We drove into Luxembourg with several large suitcases in the back of our Skoda estate (i.e. station-wagon). The contents of the suitcases were an inexplicable combination of stuff that I thought might be useful, stuff I forgot to send with the movers, and stuff that Anita purchased or used in the US. A security official would be sorely confused by our traveling habits.

On the way, we passed an IKEA near the border with Belgium. IKEA would come to dominate the remainder of our weekend. Belgium: for us, land of blue skies and IKEA Almost as soon as we arrived at our new apartment, we dropped our airborne burden and drove to Belgium (15 minutes away) to seek a bed for our unfurnished apartment. If we failed, we would need to spend the night in a hotel and try again the next day.

We found a big, comfortable bed and mattress. A very big mattress, for a relatively small car. Unlike everything else at IKEA, the mattresses don’t come in flat-packs. Our Skoda did a great job — except when we exceeded 50 kph, when our new mattress threatened to take wing and make its own way home. We took the back roads, which were gorgeous on that warm and sunny day. Made it!

We got some wise but discouraging advice from a neighbor, in French, about the likelihood of getting our mattress up the spiral staircase to our 3rd floor apartment (4th floor, the way Americans count). We pushed and shoved and by the time Will exhausted every curse he knew in French, we made it all the way up.

By that night, we had a partially-assembled bed and a mattress in the middle of our bare, unlit living room. We had two days before the movers arrived — but that’s a story for the next post.
1movingvan

6 Comments to “We arrived in Luxembourg”

  1. Will said...
    19 June 2009

    One little detail I omitted: We won’t have reliable internet access until after the 26th. We’ll do what we can to keep y’all up to date.

  2. Dave said...
    19 June 2009

    Great to hear you got in well! And good working getting up to speed on French curse words, which will no doubt serve you well.

  3. Keely said...
    19 June 2009

    I am curious as to what your neighbor thought you should sleep on, twin beds or cots?

    Good luck with the unpacking!!

  4. Sharon said...
    19 June 2009

    I am glad that the mattress as seen on the car is actually camoflauged by the cool looking place in the background. Is that your new place behind the car/matress? YEAH IKEA!! Glad Anita made it back…I am sure you were both exhausted but excited by the new explorations to come.

  5. Jaime said...
    22 June 2009

    May I compliment the B^3 staff on the timely and country-appropriate masthead of the blog? Yes? Great! So good job then!

  6. Rachel Hester said...
    24 June 2009

    Best of luck to you both. Can not wait to see new pictures and read of your new adventures!