September 2 - I found the suburbs...

It was a productive day of Spanish and cooking, and I decided to take a long walk this afternoon.  Sometimes I like to just wander, but today I decided I would try to make it to the IKEA.  I didn't want or need anything from IKEA. And, since it is miles from here, I couldn't get anything home even if I wanted to.  But, it is sometimes nice to have a destination where I can take a quick air conditioned break in the middle of a long walk and I had never been out of town in that direction.  Luckily the big stores are open today even though it is Sunday because it is a special "Back to School" shopping day.

So, I walked about a half mile to the metro station, took the metro to the other side of the river (in the opposite direction of downtown), and then walked a couple of miles to IKEA.

The destination metro stop is actually in a relatively industrial location, the first part of my walk involved crossing a large road.  From the bridge, you can see Sevilla in the smoggy distance.

But before long, I was in a small community - complete with fairgrounds, miniature golf, a quiet main street, and a really nice fountain/splash pad.  Like many suburbs at home, there were a lot of cars and not many pedestrians.

The mall next to IKEA was open for back to school day also, but there were not many shoppers.  

After walking the IKEA and the mall, it was time to head out of the suburbs, back to the Metro station and then home.  It was a nice excursion, but it is nice to be back in the city.