The best way to go

Having visitors is always fun, and is an opportunity for us to drag out into the open all the possibilities this city has to offer, making it a memorable trip for friends but also a good exercise for us. It rained Saturday, always an adventure since we (walking-folk) have to get creative, but we ended up in a mammoth warehouse of a store just outside of the city, with rows and rows of antiques, rickety old chests and marble-topped tables, brass plates and long, thin Turkish rugs, funky lime-green sofas and crazy sculpture-chairs made out of bottle caps (I'm not kidding). The strangest thing was just overhead, though: as we were milling our way through unique collections of material culture, you couldn't help but, at least once or twice, let your eyes roam upwards to the vaulted ceilings. There, on platforms high above our heads, were large, cushioned containers that looked vaguely like cello cases. One done in white silky material, another made to look like a boat, a third to look like a boxy car, we finally saw the sign: they were coffins. Fantasy coffins from Ghana, to be exact. My heart jumped a little, but how cool, hey?

Later, after taking it all in, we were relaxing on one of their couches, browsing some of their paper catalogs, when an employee came around with piping hot Moroccan-style tea for everyone to enjoy. Ikea, you've been one-upped. I'll definitely be returning when I'm looking for that perfect, Mercedes-Benz-shaped coffin to match my new living room decor.