The Bird Store

When I was 28, I moved to Bordeaux, France. I didn’t speak French and could only say un, deux, trois (one, two, three) . That was about it and that isn’t much. I had so many things that I needed to buy and Ikea was the place to go. Ikea is marvellous when relocating because everything seems so familiar. I didn’t have a GPS in my car and this was way before everyone had cell phones and smartphones so I found Ikea on a map and with my Mom and my 3 year old daughter, Carli, we headed out on an adventure. We thought we would be there in 10 minutes…. Wrong! It took us an hour to make it to the store. We could see it but we didn’t understand the roundabouts, the signs and we just kept turning around and around, a little bit like Chevy Chase on the roundabout in the European Vacation.

There was a huge store with a bird on it’s logo. It was called Auchan. I remembered saying to my Mom I wish we needed birds because they seem popular here. Look at the size of that store!

We found Ikea, shopped and went home to look for a grocery store. About a week later we were back at Ikea for another trip (this time we made it in 10 minutes). We had time to kill and it was raining so we decided to go and see why the bird store was so popular. Well, I felt stupid!  It wasn’t an animal store but a huge grocery store and shopping center. I discovered Auchan that day and it forever became an inside joke and the bird store for our family. I love Auchan and rather than be frustrated with my first weeks in France I think back and laugh and am happy that I flew my Mom in and that we shared this fun adventure. Where was my husband? On a business trip to Japan of course!