Die zweite Wohnung (the second apartment)

On the 1st of November we moved from the Haidhausen quarter, which is east of downtown but still very urban, to a larger apartment in the University district, which is really central Munich.  Our new building is the Internationales Begegnungszentrum München (IBZ),  which is effectively "on campus" (more on that later) and also only 15 minutes on foot from Marienplatz, the true heart of old downtown.

Nov. 1st was a holiday (Allerheiligen, or All Saints Day... from which Halloween came) so a friend was available to help with his car, meaning we didn't have to take our big suitcases on the subway, thankfully.  We managed it in two trips of his small car (luckily we have no furniture, and just a few school supplies more than we came with...) and then we all took our bikes for the 20 minute ride to our new place -- Thomas with the last duffel bag over his shoulder...

Here we are leaving the old place. (See my "vintage" used bike in the foreground -- cool eh?  I do have to be careful with the back-pedal breaking though.)

We had not seen our new apartment until that day (although we'd seen a similar one) and on first impression it's pretty great -- here's the living room.

I like the red leather furniture here, and the the colored curtains, but away from the living room it's kind of white and grey... but still pretty roomy.

The kitchen is not nearly as well equipped as out last place, so I may have to do a bit of shopping for baking dishes, serving utensils, etc.  (And I already bought a bread knife.  You can't be in Germany without a decent way to cut your bread... what were they thinking?)

Can you believe two sinks in the bathroom?  Although too many mirrors for my taste... I can't get away from myself.  We also have a smaller bathroom, with a shower stall.  Such luxury after sharing one bathroom for the last 3 months.

The kids love the pass-through from the kitchen to the dining table.  (Not sure why they chose non-washabele chairs for an eating area... a couple are fairly stained upon close inspection.  Oh well.)

And the kids are delighted to each have their own room!

See the stuffed leopard on Benjamin's bed?  That belonged to Thomas as a child, and we just brought it back from Oma's house...  Benjamin is fine with its name still being "Leo" after 40 years.  He loves it.

Julia chose the room with the bunk beds -- which also has a small balcony!
                                   

Each bedroom has a desk, which is great.  And lots of cupboards and shelves.  The walls are pretty white, however, outside of a few hotel-type pictures, and we're not allowed to hang anything up.  

Julia bought some poster adhesive-putty though, so we will start doing the dorm room thing and put up a few prints or kid artwork etc...  

I just bought a houseplant and some colorful placemats, which makes the place feel a little less institutional already ;-)

There are many good things about this place, but I also find myself comparing to the previous apartment, which was much more "homey".  Just for the record, I'll list my pro and con highlights...

PRO:  More space, less rent!  I think we've got 50% more space, and the rent is less by nearly a quarter.

CON:  No washing machine in the apartment.  There are two washing machines in the basement here for 18 apartments (at 2 Euros each load), so at least we don't have to leave the building.  We just bought a drying rack -- the other apartment had one.

PRO:  The heat comes through the floors -- nice on the feet in the morning!

CON:  When the heat is on, any crumbs of cheese or chocolate (what, here?) melt into the somewhat porous kitchen floor tiles -- but we know what the solution to that is... less on floor, more in mouth.

PRO:  There is a microwave here (although it was filthy inside before I cleaned it out... ugh.).

CON:  No clocks, not even on the microwave (which is a cheap turn-dial type) or the stove.  There is one clock radio in the bedroom.  I tried to use a suction cup hook in the bathroom to hang a funny old wall-clock that  I bought at a flea market, but the suction cup fell off after a couple days...  And we're not allowed to use nails or hooks anywhere!

PRO:  Location, location... we are an easy walk to downtown, the Pinakotheks (art museums), lots of restaurants, bakeries, cafes, etc.

CON:  The streets are full of students ;-)  Actually, the biggest con for me about being downtown is grocery shopping.  The closest grocery stores are small, full of students, and without much selection.  I find myself taking the subway to my old neighborhood (where my gym is) and getting groceries at "my" metzgeri (butchery) and favorite bäckerei (bakery) and larger grocery store there when I need more than basics.

As for location -- we might as well be a dorm building (except that there is no such thing here for the students). We are three minute walk from the Ludwig Maximillian University theoretical physics building on one side, and the same to the experimental physics building on the other side.  Thomas feels right at home, since as a student here he used to literally walk right past this building on his way to and from classes.  Ironically, the Max Planck institute where he works is outside of town (he's not working with the university) so he needs to take the subway north for nearly half an hour.

But we are truly "on campus."  Here is the view out our bedroom window:  the library stacks.

And just in case I start to miss teaching too much, I can peer down into the classrooms on the bottom floor... *sigh*