Moved In and (Really) Tired Out

I am happy to report that we are all moved into our new apartment. There are still a few loose ends, such as missing overhead lights in several important spots, missing ventilation in the windowless bathrooms, and no WIFI yet. (I bought a WIFI hotspot on Sunday so at least we have some connectivity.) We spent the first two days after getting the keys with no power and no water, so things are greatly improved from that. The building is still so newly renovated and there are not many of us living here yet. That means that there are a few little things to iron out. But we are so happy to be here.

Our actual move weekend was May 22-23. We hired a terrific British guy with a business called A Man With A Van. In addition to moving our stuff from the old apartment, they went to Ikea to pick up the order of the century and proceeded to spend Saturday afternoon and almost all day Monday assembling. They were amazingly helpful and weirdly cheerful.

Several people have asked about our previous apartment. It was "garden" level or semi- basement. There was plenty of light and it had a small garden that made it convenient for Chili. However, the layout was strange and moisture and mold was an ongoing problem. In the garden, all we could see was a sliver of sky, so while it was private, we felt very closed in. The other pictures below are from the living area. The tiny, tiny, poorly equipped kitchen is on the left. The other two doors are to two separate bathrooms. That's the strange layout part. Bathrooms right in the living area? The third bedroom was in our master bedroom but we really couldn't use it too much due to moisture/drainage problems. That apartment suited our purpose and allowed us to find our way around but we were not sorry to close the door behind us. We just could not imagine hosting guests there.

Although we are still getting situated, here are some pictures of our new place. The first one on the left shows the dining and living areas. The sliders to the veranda are behind the table. The other two show the living area. Sofa bed and two cheap recliners from which to watch the new TV.

Next: kitchen, office area, and veranda. Ikea tip: the bar stools were 11 euros ($13) a piece.

Chili makes a cameo in the photo of the master bedroom. The photo with the lamps on is the guest suite. All we need are guests. The last one is the view from the veranda shared by the two bedrooms. Curtains are in the process of being shortened.

In the picture of the view, what looks like a playground (green circle) is actually a very cool outdoor workout gym that even has a stationary bike and elliptical along with all kids of other implements of torture.

No we have not used the outdoor gym. Will is still having a really bad time with his back, which has been diagnosed as spinal stenosis. He is in the middle of a two-week cycle of physical therapy and he feels that he is making some progress. Even though we did very little of the actual moving ourselves, we are both still pretty tired out. So, for now we're hanging out and enjoying our new digs.