Since January of this year, I have been drooling over a new 32,000 piece puzzle that Ravensburger announced they would release in the US in September.  Of course, come September, some members of the German puzzle forum that I belong to, and one of my Flickr group friends had already gotten their copies.  With a hefty price tag of about $300, I knew it would be quite some time before I was able to justify the cost to Randy…no matter how much I wanted it.

32,000 pc. – New York City Window – Ravensburger

Surprisingly though, the price started coming down only a couple of months after it was released.  I don’t know if it was because it wasn’t selling well at the higher price point, or if Ravensburger retailers just decided that they would cut the price for the holiday season.  But, whatever the reason, I’m happy to report that the price dropped to under $200 by early December, and I was able to use a bunch of saved up gift cards as well as my Christmas gift (money) from my mom to go ahead and purchase the puzzle!  Of course, several days after I ordered it, the price dropped yet again, and I could have gotten it for about $50 less, but who knew.  I was just afraid if I waited any longer, the price would shoot back up again.

On December 4, 2014, I clicked on the “submit order” on Amazon.com, and immediately started watching out the window for the UPS guy!  🙂

It finally arrived late in the afternoon on Monday, the 8th.  The outer box was enormous, and made the box that the 24,000 piece Life puzzle came in look tiny.  I had to have Randy help me open the first box just to be able to get inside to get to the next box.

Not only is this puzzle box heavy, but it comes with its own hand truck!  Now you’ve got to respect a puzzle that comes with its own trolley. Like I said with the Life puzzle when it first arrived on my doorstep – it just somehow seems so much heavier knowing that its full of puzzle pieces.  I believe it officially weighs in at about 42 pounds.  It is a seriously big box.  Of course the kids wasted no time in getting in on the fun of having such a big box in the house…

And here’s Derek looking over the poster the puzzle comes with.  I think he’s studying it with great interest because he knows that he’s going to have to help mommy work on this in the coming years!  LOL

So this is the newest addition to our family – a 40+ plus pound “baby” made of steel and cardboard.  I cannot wait to dive into this concrete jungle.