Herzlich Willkommen- Our German Apartment!

Charm. Character. Classic.

Before we first stepped foot off the plane at Ramstein AFB in July, I spent hours looking on the AHRN website (where we go to find "government approved" off-post/base housing) getting an idea of what our future home/town home/condo/apartment/palace/castle may look like. I think it's a "girl thing" to be able to plan and picture what could be or at least what is realistic when moving anywhere new, especially a different country. I knew that even if I fell in love with a home virtually while sitting on my couch back in Virginia, the odds of it being available when we would be here were slim to none, but still it gave me a sense of accomplishment and preparation.

Looking back, we were extremely fortunate to have our ETP (exception to policy) form signed, sealed and delivered within 12 hours of submission. Translation to my fellow civilian friends: we had to submit a form in order to be approved to live off-post and have it signed by higher-powers-that-be. Once we had the form back we were able to start officially house hunting!

I don't know if it was the hours upon hours I spend on AHRN or perhaps my overly-romanticized idea of what a European apartment should look like, but I definitely had three qualities on my "must have" list: charm, character and classic. My rationale was..."Who cares if it has heat? It was built in 1880 and has gorgeous hardwood floors! Oh, 6th floor with no elevator, no problem! It's across the street from a historic cathedral!" You get the idea. Three more words: my poor husband.

In all reality though, our number one goal was to be in walking distance to Richard's office and to downtown. Meet the first time I laid eyes on our future home...

Surprisingly enough it was the second place we looked at out of four. I was in love from the moment we stepped inside, but it took a little more convincing for the hubs. Apparently his list was a tad bit different than mine. Weird. :)

Fast forward six months and we are pretty much settled into our cute & charming abode. Oh and bonus-it really was built in the 1880s and is across the street from a historic church (not so much cathedral), but we do have heat (most of the time at least... another story for another day)!

 Let the tour begin! Allow me to give you a warm welcome or 'herzlich willkommen' beginning with this strange little mat that was left here and we decided to keep...

It looks Veggie Tales-ish to me...

Living Room

We call this "The Nook." It's one of my favorite spots in the apartment.

From this angle, if you go directly right, you'll enter the dining area/office:

The Kitchen... In the US this would hardly be considered a kitchen. Perhaps cubby plus miniature oven/sink/fridge would be more accurate.

Thank you, Ikea, for providing storage and counter space!

You wish you had blue cabinets, I just know it.

Germans are very particular about how you sort your trash. I use black trash bags just in case anyone tries to peek inside.

Close-up of our Ikea table which has seriously been a life savor!

4 usable cabinets, 1 drawer, mini fridge/freezer/oven/microwave & a dish washer (PTL!)

This sink is the death of me. Seriously. Most plates do not fit in here and cutting boards- yea right! It makes me crazy...er

You thought I was being dramatic about the fridge size. Nope!

Master Bedroom

This room is huge and deserves a King bed, until then here's my college bed.

You may be wondering what's that closet/curtain thing back there...

The 'awkward space award' goes to...the strange, random shower! We use it as storage.

Zero closets means govt. issued wardrobes. Minus the Narnia inside :(

Guest Room

You never know how many clothes you have until you don't have closets.

Bathroom 

(Yes, sadly there's only one if you don't count the weirdo shower in our room which we def do not.)

Hall

Every German home shouldn't be without a cuckoo clock!

I hope you enjoyed touring our little charming, character-filled & classic European apartment!

Tschüss!

 

Happy 2014!

With 2013 drawing to a close and 2014 on the horizon, I decided it was time to start a blog for my New Year's Resolution with the purpose of documenting our time abroad if nothing less than for my own sake- I have a terrible memory! Also, I wanted to be able to share our experiences with family and friends back in the States in greater depth than Facebook & Instagram allow. I resisted jumping on the 'blog bandwagon' despite encouragement from friends to start one because it seemed like EVERYONE and their mom has a blog these days and who has time to read all these random blogs? But speaking of moms, I figured even if my mom is literally the only one who read this, then it's worth it... Hi Mom! :)

As of last week, we haveofficially lived in Germany for six months! Like they say... time flies when you're having fun.  Don't get me wrong. Living in a foreign country, especially one that speaks a different language, comes with its challenges. However, I fully believe that with right perspective, choosing to seek out the positives and taking it for what it is, life in a foreign country can be a blast!

To celebrate six months of living in Germany, I'd like to share my six favorite places we visited in 2013:

Month One (July): Wiesbaden

Our first day in downtown Wiesbaden I immediately fell in love with our  new, charming hometown!

Wiesbaden is home to the world's largest cuckoo clock!

Month Two (August): Rudesheim

 Only a 30-minute train ride away is the adorable and quintessential German town of Rudesheim. Located on the Rhine and lined with half-timbered houses, Rudesheim is world-famous for their Riesling. Lucky for me, my favorite wine is literally made down the road at any of the number of Rheinhessen vineyards. Bonus: Wine Fest occurs two weeks in August where you can sample the local vineyards' wine selections. I'll "Prost" to that!
 

Our lovely view of the Rhine & vineyards.

Enjoying a little river cruise with our new friends Sam & Michelle.

Month Three (September): Brussels, Belgium

Highlights of Brussels include in no particular order: chocolate, waffles, beer, chocolate, Grand Place (central square), chocolate, spontaneous parades and last but not least- chocolate. Seriously though, Belgians know how to make chocolate!

Brussels Town Hall located in the Grand Place.

Why try one when you can try a flight of six?

My first legit Belgian waffle with Nutella & bananas. YUM!

 House Palace shopping. This one will do!

Spontaneous parade in the Grand Place.

Month Four (October): Garmish/ Neuschwanstein Castle

In October we had our first visitors- YAY! My brother and sister-in-law spent 10 days with us exploring new German cities and castles. My favorite stop on our journey was Garmish and in particular visiting the Neuschwanstein Castle.

Hello, Alps!

Doug & Jennifer

Our first German castle!

Month Five (November): Dusseldorf

  Dusseldorf is an extra special place to us after spending a few sweet days there together mid-way through Richard's first deployment last year. We choose Dusseldorf because the hotel company I worked at had a location there and who doesn't love a good employee discount?! Richard surprised me by taking me back there for our anniversary which happened to fall at the start of their Christmas markets- hooray!

The place where we fell in love with crepes!

Fun fact: Each Christmas market has their own unique mug with the city name & year. Fun collectible!

A life-size German Christmas pyramid and all the gluhwein you could drink.

Christmas markets mean tons of shopping and food!

Month Six (December): Prague, Czech Republic

My in-laws made the trip across the pond to spend Christmas with us, yet before they had a chance to recover from the jet lag we made our way to Prague for a long weekend. I had no idea what to expect other than hearing that it is a 'must see' European destination. What an understatement! If you have the opportunity to visit- do it! Trust me, you won't regret it!

Excited to see Old Town and the Christmas markets.

We weren't going to let the cold keep us from seeing Prague.

The famous Astronomical Clock.

On the Charles Bridge overlooking St. Vitus Cathedral.

The Charles Bridge- supposedly the 'most romantic bridge in the world.'

Tschüss!