The Flat

We rented a temporary furnished flat in Berlin for our first 3 months or so.  Temporary in part because our stuff from the boat won't get here for some time yet, temporary because we'll have to prove 3 months of income in order to rent a more permanent place, and temporary because we don't know exactly where in this gigantic city we might want to end up.


We found a few English language (able) sites online and someone from Jason's new company also helped us to find a place.  Some were in areas we weren't super excited about, many had only sofa beds for the kids, some wouldn't even take our kids. 


After awhile, we found the one we're in.  The price went up because we have children and it's most definitely not a place we can afford long term but it's in a great, trendy area (from what I understand) called Prenzlauer Berg and it's certainly making for a softer "landing" as we jump into this new environment. 


As so many have asked, here are pictures of the place.  Most are from the "Coming Home" website we used to find this place as we rented it site unseen. 

To the right covered by the foliage on the ground floor is a little cafe. The doorway in the middle is where we go in. Last night, after we came home from dinner, Autumn sat down on the floor as soon as we got in the building to remove her shoes . . . she's used to doing that when we get "home" from somewhere and forgot we still needed to go upstairs before we were ready to take off our shoes. :)

Our front door is the one on the left. We are on the 4th floor of the building.



This is just after you walk in the front door:
The "powder room" is that tiled area you see to the left and to the right would be the living room. So, this is the living room.


Through that hallway on the right is the front door. That table with the Lucite chairs is oriented differently now that we're here in person and there is a second orange couch along the windows on the left as you can sort of see here:

What you can't see in that pic is the leak in the ceiling and the Tupperware J had to put on the floor:



Another view of the living room:



Yet another view of the living room:



Again, that doorway leads into the main hall. The front door is what you see through the doorway. To the right, where you can't see in this picture but you can in a top one (where you seen an orange couch) is the kids' room. It is a huge room. With quite a lot of storage, actually. Instead of the orange couch in the picture, you have this:



That is our own travel cot Autumn is on down there on the floor.

Right away those littles made it look like home:


This is what the kids room looked like on the ad:


The desk *is* actually in the room (and is where I'm sitting at this very moment):


So those double doors that are opened will lead back into the living room, the closed on one the other side of the dresser leads into the hallway and is directly across from the kitchen.

Speaking of . . .








That glass door is to the teeny balcony:

The stove is nifty. Seems all futuristic:



To get to the "knob" you push it in and the dial pops out:



That was fun to discover this morning when I went to boil a pot of water for my coffee.

The light switches are also kind of different and are usually outside the room:


And here is from over by the stove:


But the table isn't there in reality, that is where the fridge and freezer are as well as some open shelving we're having to use as a pantry. The table is in the room, it's just presently on the other side of the doorway on that wall instead.

More across from the living room and between the kitchen and front door is the half bath:


The flush is that rectangle thing above the toilet. Autumn had to be instructed in it. :) And there has been a toilet paper holder installed since this picture was taken as well.

This is back at the end of the hall looking towards the front door:


That little IKEA table you see there is actually further down the hall closer to the front door. We have taken to putting our shoes under it.

There is a dresser at the end of the hall and if you go to the right, first you'll hit the bathroom:


It has a combo washer/dryer in it as well that we have yet to figure out:


That open shelving is now full of all our crap which is the reason I hate open shelving. Like I'm going to just have decorative towels and nothing else. :)

It doesn't have that shower curtain anymore. Now it has this, like, 1/3 length glass partition thingie:


And next to that bathroom at the very end of the hall is our bedroom.  The green bedding is on the kids beds now, actually, ours is different:






It is two twin beds pushed together and then, from what I've learned before we got here, people here don't use a flat sheet. Just a fitted sheet over the mattress and then the duvet. And even in a shared bed, each person will have their own duvet. Which we do.

And, just for fun, a casual tour from this morning with all our stuff everywhere and suitcases unpacked and all that.