Sunday 31 August 2014

Housekeys

I have keys in my pocket again! It is so strange to NOT have any keys. No home, no car, etc. But as of Friday we have a home! If you want the address, please email me or PM me on Facebook. Although the neighborhood is not beautiful - think post-war let's throw up some housing fast - the location is great. From the end of our street the Rhine River is one block away and the main pedestrian shopping zone is a block the other way. I am looking forward to experiencing some of the cafe culture!

Move in day was long and exhausting. Wayne went to get the van we rented while Gail and I did final packing. There is no parking at the friend's apartment where we'd been staying, so we took everything down to street level (90 stairs!), then Wayne parked illegally while we loaded the van at lightning speed. We were a little early at this point to get the key, so we went to a big store (Real) to get some household must-haves: cleaning supplies, toilet paper, etc. Then at 11 o'clock  we met the very nice woman who gave us our keys and walked through the lease, etc. with us. Once again, Wayne parked illegally while we unloaded the van as quickly as possible into the entrance area, then he found a legal parking space for the van a couple of blocks away and we carried everything up to our new apartment (only 60 stairs!) I followed Cathy Goodwin's philosophy and made our bed first - and was I glad later that I had. We left the apartment about 1 and got caught in a horrible traffic jam - makes me so glad we don't have a car here. When we got to Ikea, we had lunch and then spent an utterly miserable 5 hours there (this is from people who HATE to shop). We bought Gail's bed and shelves, a dining room table and chairs, duvets, plates and silverware, towels, and lots of small items. According to my pedometer we walked two miles in Ikea. I'd much rather do a half marathon - less exhausting and takes way less time! We then stopped back at our friend's to eat a quick dinner of leftovers we'd left in her fridge and load up the rest of our stuff, then back to our new place. We unloaded the van and Wayne returned it while Gail and I carried everything upstairs. After much-needed showers we had a good night's sleep in our own home.


Saturday was a big day for Gail - she assembled her first Ikea furniture. What a milestone in a young person's life.  I did a lot of cleaning - everyone always thinks they leave their place clean, but there are always some things one misses. Or maybe everyone just cares about different stuff being clean. We did a big shopping trip to load up on some staple food items like chocolate and bread. Stores here mostly aren't open on Sunday, so we couldn't wait on that job. I didn't take time to go to the big market on Saturday, but I'll try to go this week. 

The only real negative is that we are not going to have a home phone or Internet service in our apartment for three more weeks. To get Internet we need to go to a friend's place or find public wireless, so updates to our blog will not be very regular for the next few weeks!


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