The First Pictures

I went out to the new house on Tuesday to measure the kitchen and also managed to take a few photos (despite dropping and smashing my camera). Click on the photos to see a larger version.


Nice, ey?

This is the living room with big french doors leading to the garden.

Here's the dining room, the kitchen is to the left. It looks a bit dark because I hadn't opened the blinds in the living room yet.


The stair case (and my shoe) from the top. I really like those round windows.

The bathroom, with separate shower and bath. You can't see in this picture but the ceiling at least 4 meters high on one side!


The door to the roof terrace (ok, so you can't see very much, but it is there, honest). Got a lovely view up there, ideal for sunbathing, if you like that sort of thing.


And finally, the outside. V. modern

Sunshine & Ice Cream

Bank holiday, 22C, spring is in the air, the sun is out, and so are the Regensburgers: all the shops are closed but the ice cafes (with real Italian ice cream) more than make up for that. There are at least 20 odd in Regensburg, and every single one of them was busy. It felt more like Rome than Regensburg.

Now there's something to look forward to.

And of course, I couldn't resist. Yum yum!

Kitchens

Did you know that in Germany most flats, houses etc come sans kitchen? Indeed, when people move from one place to the next, they often consider the kitchen as part of the furniture, and take everything, including the sink. All you (the next person renting the place) are left with are the tiles on the walls and the dust balls in the corner. But then, you're bringing with you your old kitchen, or not, as the case may be.

Which is why we will be off to that well-known Swedish furniture place, to spend a nice bit of money on a lovely new kitchen.

So, are we going to go for the wooden option (expensive):


Or the impressively red option (even more expensive):


Well, we'd better decide soon, or all we will have when we move in is a bare room, and maybe a camping stove.

Layout

Here's the layout of our new place. You can't really make out very much, plus it's the wrong way round (it's a mirror image of what it actually is), but it is better than nothing. The numbers behing the room names indicate the size of the room in square metres.

Brief architectural German lesson:

Bad: Bath
Dachterrasse: roof terrace
Ebene: level
Eltern: parents
Essen: eating (dining room)
Grundriss: layout
Heizung: heating (gas boiler)
HWR: utility room
Keller: cellar / basement
Kind: child
Kueche: kitchen
Windfang: porch / entrance area (literally: wind break)
Wohnen: living (room)

We've Got Somewhere To Move To

Last weekend we went house hunting in and around Regensburg. There were a couple of places we liked and one especially. It's about 7 miles from the centre of Regensburg, in a small town called Neutraubling. There were a number of people interested in this place, and yesterday we got news that they picked us to be their new tenants. Yes!

I haven't got any photos or anything yet, but here's at least a map to show you where you can find us from this summer.


View Larger Map

We're Going

I'll warn you right away, this isn't going to be the most exciting of blogs. For one thing, I'm writing it, or at least I will attempt to, because seeing my previous efforts this is going to fizzle out in no time. But, hey, at least I'm willing to give it a try.

OK, to recap, we - Max, his two mums and our five cats - are currently living in the UK, somewhere in Surrey, not too far away from the great shiny busy city of London, within easy reach of Heathrow and therefore the world. And very soon now we'll be packing our bags and everything else, to move to 'the Continent' - into deepest Bavaria, to a small town on the outskirts of Regensburg, miles and miles from the nearest airport.

What, you haven't heard of Regensburg? Well, admittedly, it's a bit out in the sticks, but to compensate for that it is a world heritage site (really beautiful city centre with medieval buildings, a big cathedral, one of the world's oldest stone bridges across the river Danube), lies in the middle of gorgeous countryside, lake or river swimming in summer, skiing in winter, etc etc.

This blog will (hopefully) give an insight into how we're getting on with the move and the locals once we're there, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and where possible the funny as well. It's for friends and family, or whoever might find it mildly interesting.

Feel free to comment (but please not anonymously), link to or completely ignore, as you see fit.