Our Little Apartment

January 29, 2012

I thought I would post pictures of our darling little apartment and tell you all about it.  I realized that in prior posts I complained about the 52 steps to get up to it.  Now that I am rested and fed, I think I can be a bit more positive J

The best thing about it is that it is on the top floor and we get loads of sunshine and great views.  It has high ceilings which make it feel bigger than it actually is.  We also have a little balcony that connects the two bedrooms, a perfect place for kids to play pranks on their parents (and visa versa –hee hee hee).

View from the kids side window

View from the living room at sunset

Danika and Jason on the balcony

Let’s start with the kitchen/dining.  This is what you see when you first walk into our little place.  We have a giant refrigerator/freezer by European standards, and have yet to put anything into the freezer.  I plan on stocking it with Gelato, oh yeah.   Surprisingly, we also have a dishwasher!  No microwave because all of our meals are made fresh.  We seriously shop every day… Not sure how that would work if we had full-time jobs.  Nice four-burner gas stove along with an electric oven.  Finally, our little dining table complete with four chairs.  For those of you coming to visit, you will have to sit on the tile floor.

The living room boasts a sofa and entertainment center complete with TV.  Hidden behind the closed doors and in the drawers are the kids clothes!  There is no dresser in their room as you will see later.

The Master bedroom boasts two large closet areas, so our clothes from two suitcases fit very nicely.  The bed leaves MUCH to be desired, though.  The first night we slept in it, it sagged so much in the middle that it felt like we were in a netted hammock.  The springs are SUPER noisy, so any movement wakes the entire neighborhood too.  We found a narrow piece of wood to put underneath the mattress, which has helped, but we need to get more wood to make it really usable.  My back is not doing too well with it.

Thank you to Julie Firth for letting us borrow the bedspread

The kids room is great with two beds and two bedside tables.  Danika quickly snagged the tiny desk for all of her “girly” things.  She says it’s because she writes a lot of journals… which is also true.  Jason didn’t seem to mind.  They are getting along surprisingly well for such small quarters.

The bathroom… what can I say?  It is comical.  There is enough room in the shower for me to stand there and turn in place, but no bending is allowed.  I am really glad I lost that weight before I came, but what am I going to do in 4 months when I have gained it all back?  

My favorite thing is the heater in the bathroom.  It is a heated towel rack… great getting out of the shower to a nice warm towel.  Oh, that’s right, we bought towels!  Gotta love the colors!  They are small, but at least they are a bit thicker than the first ones we saw!

We have a washing machine in here, but no dryer.  This has changed my laundry habits because I can no longer do all of the washing in one day.  I pretty much do one very small load at a time, and then hang everything to dry.  Right now it is hanging inside as it is very cold out, and the man next door (one story below) has his chimney going full tilt.  I’m just not into the smokey musk scent for my clothes.  The second picture is out of the bathroom window of his chimney when he doesn’t have it going.

The toilet is great.  The only problem is that they installed the washing machine directly opposite.  As you know, I am tall. Most of my height is in my legs.  Even when the washing machine door is closed, my legs don’t fit.  Maybe I will be a gymnast by the time we leave here.

So there you have it.  Hope you enjoyed the tour of our little place.

~Mary