We have been to the promised land...

and it's name is Wal-Mart Super Center. Today, after stopping by a few dealerships to find a second car, we stopped at the Wal-Mart in Karlruhe, a city about 40 kilometers South of our temporary apartment in Bad Schönborn. I was hoping that Wal-Mart was like McDonalds: whether you're in Atlanta or Addis Ababa it's more or less the same thing. This proved not to be the case.

A few differences:

- There are a bunch of little shops co-located with Wal-Mart that sell jewelry etc.
- The place looked like a slightly remodeled bomb shelter. The floors were torn up and there was a general dinginess about the place.
- There's a McDonalds, but 3 Happy Meals and a couple of regular meals ran about 23 Euros! (that's almost $30 for those of you scoring at home)
- This Wal-Mart had two stories connected by a sort of flat escalator that allows you to go up and down with your shopping cart (think airport moving sidewalk at an angle).

We stocked up on school stuff for the kids and a bit of food. We plan to go back and (over)load the van with good stuff once we're in our new apartment. The prices I saw were noticeably lower than in these parts.

Finally, I think I've found a car. It's a '05 Mitsubishi Colt. Should get me to work and back and I guess that's all I expect. I spoke to an insurance agent today and discovered I'll need to sell an organ to pay car insurance here. I'm thinking right kidney.