Wir haben eine helle schöne Wohnungen gefunden (We have found a light, beautiful apartment).
This weekend Dave and I traveled to Berlin to look for an apartment. While the Humboldt Stiftung is very generous with our stipends, they leave us to our own devices to find housing in our respective cities. Dave has been searching listings online for about two weeks, and put his best German to work in calling/emailing places to see. While he contacted about 15-20 places, we heard back from only 4-5, and ended up seeing three places.
While all three places were technically in the same neighborhood (Kreuzberg), the buildings were of varying quality and in really different locations. The first place was built in the early 1990's, and on a side street just off Friedrichstrasse. It had tons of windows, two balconies, and a huge, new kitchen. The second place was right on Gneisenaustrasse, a busy street with lots of bars and restaurants. This flat was a fifth-story walkup, and there was graffiti all over the front door and stairwell walls. The place itself was kind of a dump, with a tiny, dark, dirty kitchen that came with a sink and nothing else. The third place faced a busy intersection on one side of the building, and on the other an S-Bahn station. The place was huge and more recently remodeled, but a little too large and with no fixings (again, the kitchen came with a sink and an old, junky stove).
Thus, our decision was actually quite easy to go with the first place. We're both very happy with the location, because it's on the extreme northern edge of Kreuzberg, and one can walk 5 minutes up Friedrichstrasse and be at Checkpoint Charlie and the line where the wall used to be (Kreuzberg is on the old west side). We're glad to be so close to Mitte and all the modern stores, shopping, and cultural sights, but we can also walk 10 minutes south and be in Kreuzberg for cool restaurants and cafes. We're also very close to U-Bahn (Kochstrasse) and S-Bahn (Hallesches Tor) stops.
The apartment itself is on the third floor. It faces south and there is not a building directly adjacent to the windows, so the apartment has the full sun all day. It has a nicely sized foyer and a large closet, and a long living room. There are two small rooms that open off of the main room, one we will use for a second bedroom and a sunroom which opens out onto a small, vine-covered balcony with built-in windowboxes. The kitchen, as I mentioned earlier, has expansive counters, a nice stove and oven, and a big sink. The refrigerator is BYO, but we hear that we can find a nice used one for a good price. Then there is another bedroom on the other side of the apartment that opens onto an even bigger balcony. One whole side of the apartment is covered with windows. While our view is basically of the back of another building, there is a small kids' park below the building that is filled with trees and grassy areas. Finally, the bathroom is about three times the size of the one we have now, and even has a bathtub.
The whole place will require several trips to Ikea to get curtains, light fixtures, and other things to make it feel more like home, but our wonderful friends Stefan and Angela have already promised us a kitchen table from their home. There are also fleamarkets in Berlin every weekend, so Dave and I imagine we will accumulate an eclectic assortment of furnishings to make the place seem like a home-away-from-all-our-stuff.
This weekend Dave and I traveled to Berlin to look for an apartment. While the Humboldt Stiftung is very generous with our stipends, they leave us to our own devices to find housing in our respective cities. Dave has been searching listings online for about two weeks, and put his best German to work in calling/emailing places to see. While he contacted about 15-20 places, we heard back from only 4-5, and ended up seeing three places.
While all three places were technically in the same neighborhood (Kreuzberg), the buildings were of varying quality and in really different locations. The first place was built in the early 1990's, and on a side street just off Friedrichstrasse. It had tons of windows, two balconies, and a huge, new kitchen. The second place was right on Gneisenaustrasse, a busy street with lots of bars and restaurants. This flat was a fifth-story walkup, and there was graffiti all over the front door and stairwell walls. The place itself was kind of a dump, with a tiny, dark, dirty kitchen that came with a sink and nothing else. The third place faced a busy intersection on one side of the building, and on the other an S-Bahn station. The place was huge and more recently remodeled, but a little too large and with no fixings (again, the kitchen came with a sink and an old, junky stove).
Thus, our decision was actually quite easy to go with the first place. We're both very happy with the location, because it's on the extreme northern edge of Kreuzberg, and one can walk 5 minutes up Friedrichstrasse and be at Checkpoint Charlie and the line where the wall used to be (Kreuzberg is on the old west side). We're glad to be so close to Mitte and all the modern stores, shopping, and cultural sights, but we can also walk 10 minutes south and be in Kreuzberg for cool restaurants and cafes. We're also very close to U-Bahn (Kochstrasse) and S-Bahn (Hallesches Tor) stops.
The apartment itself is on the third floor. It faces south and there is not a building directly adjacent to the windows, so the apartment has the full sun all day. It has a nicely sized foyer and a large closet, and a long living room. There are two small rooms that open off of the main room, one we will use for a second bedroom and a sunroom which opens out onto a small, vine-covered balcony with built-in windowboxes. The kitchen, as I mentioned earlier, has expansive counters, a nice stove and oven, and a big sink. The refrigerator is BYO, but we hear that we can find a nice used one for a good price. Then there is another bedroom on the other side of the apartment that opens onto an even bigger balcony. One whole side of the apartment is covered with windows. While our view is basically of the back of another building, there is a small kids' park below the building that is filled with trees and grassy areas. Finally, the bathroom is about three times the size of the one we have now, and even has a bathtub.
The whole place will require several trips to Ikea to get curtains, light fixtures, and other things to make it feel more like home, but our wonderful friends Stefan and Angela have already promised us a kitchen table from their home. There are also fleamarkets in Berlin every weekend, so Dave and I imagine we will accumulate an eclectic assortment of furnishings to make the place seem like a home-away-from-all-our-stuff.
posted by Erin at 1:50 PM
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