Moving

Well, it's time to move. We've been here since December of 2000, and although it's been nice it is time to say goodbye to the country life. You can't beat the rent (none) or the view from our train station, but for a variety of reasons it's time to move into the city.

We looked at an apartment today and have four more appointments later this week. The apartment we saw today was fantastic, though not without some serious drawbacks, chief among them being the single washing machine and laughable dryer for a building with nine units. Getting into the lift with the stroller is going to require some serious contortionism, too. It is possible to leave the stroller in the bike room or the parking garage, but then I have to open three doors with either the Small Boy in my arms or carrying the Small Boy in the Dreami. For that matter, the Dreami itself takes up most of the floor space of the lift. So when I say the apartment was fantastic, I mean the neighborhood, the floor plan, the total square meters and that terrace! are fantastic, but the apartment as a whole is sub-optimal.

One of the buildings we're looking at tomorrow is in the same neighborhood as today's fantastic-but-with-serious-drawbacks-unit. And it's new construction. As in, not even finished yet. Even so, 20 of the 23 units are already taken. Of the three remaining units one is northern exposure, so possibly not a lot of natural light; one is southern exposure but abutting the busy road with bus stop; and the third is on the third floor and there doesn't appear to be a lift so we're back to the whole Small Boy/stroller/Dreami issue. And none of the remaining units have garden/green space, although they all have a private terrace. Again, sub-optimal but all the units are surprisingly affordable for the size, neighborhood, and newness.

Realizing that every apartment we look at will probably be sub-optimal, it's just a question of how sub we're willing to get.