Munich | Trip #2
Here we are in Munich! We did it. We moved permanently in August 2016. How can it already have been 6 months?!
Seems like yesterday but also like 6 years.
Our amazing apartment is on the 5th floor with no elevator. It's been an adjustment but honestly it's mostly great. We are on the top floor, so it's pretty peaceful. And it's a built in butt workout! Just make sure you have everything you need before you leave. Nothing is important enough to hike back up to retrieve. That's a fact.
Things are a bit different in Germany than in the US. For instance, most apartments come without overhead lighting or closets or KITCHENS. Yes. You are required to provide your own kitchen. That's ours, on the right, the week that we moved in. A nice backsplash and a designated plumbing spot are all that were provided. The blue tape in the middle pic is where we measured out for the free-standing wardrobe (closet) that we ordered. And the wires hanging from the ceiling is what every spot that we assumed would have a light hanging from it looked like when we arrived. That one was a shock. But now we know!
In between the bazillion trips to IKEA (what would we have done without IKEA!?!?!) we explored our new neighborhood. We tried to keep perspective; living without a kitchen for a month in a foreign country is hard but we had an apartment and the kitchen was on it's way. We realized that we are fortunate and privileged and so we sucked it up the best that we could.
We also had 3 separate friend visits in that first month! Who cares that you have no kitchen when you get to hang out with cool people all around the city.
After a few more IKEA trips, our kitchen and wardrobe closets were finally delivered. And you know how that goes, we had to assemble it all. I'm very proud to say that I assembled 100% of the kitchen. Of course, the day that our kitchen installer comes to do his thing our huge shipment from the US was also delivered. It was a bonkers day.
I included a little photo reminder of the stairs. The 5 flights of stairs. With no elevator. Not a lot of smiles from the delivery people.
The (mostly) finished kitchen. Jason and I designed it together. // ©2016 Jason S Thompson
After 4 1/2 weeks, our kitchen was complete (mostly). And soon after that we had all of the boxes completely unpacked which means I could think about organizing the art studio!
Goose // Home Studio mascot // ©2016 Kelli Thompson