Seeing Is Believing.

500ml Relentless Energy drink with self-closing tab = YUM

An hour before we left on Friday, the landlady had uploaded two photos of the apartment onto the website. We were already interested in the description and its' location, so seeing the photos got me more excited.


After checking the traffic situation online we left our place shortly after 3 PM. We then heard on the radio there was a big accident. So using J's trusty navi we drove inland which ended up taking longer but at least we weren't one of the cars stuck in a 15 km bumper-to-bumper traffic jam.

We were tired and anxious to see what we thought could be our new potential home.

Finally after 3 hours and driving throw a mini snow storm we arrived. An hour and a half longer than expected but only half an hour late to our appointment. The landlady was very nice though and told us a shortcut we could take.

A relatively spacious 77 square metre apartment with a very small loggia [which is basically a balcony that is covered] and that was still being renovated. Proposed finished date : 18 December 2010.

The following photos are the before and after shots of the kitchen. 'Before' meaning six years ago and prior to when the previous tenants had moved in and destroyed the place. And 'after' being what we saw on Friday.

Kitchen

I have to admit, it was a bit of shock to see the place in the condition it was. The walls were stripped bare and with mold still yet to be chemically removed, the place had that funky smell.

Trying to visualize a place at its glory was harder than i thought.

Here was the before and after shot of the living room. The walls and window frames were also being treated for mold. And with the ground covered to protect the flooring, we weren't too sure of its conditions either.

Living Room

She then went on to explain that the heaters were electric and were cost effective. But after doing some research when we got home, we found out they can run up the electricity bill very high and are not environmentally very good.

Bathroom + Toilet

The bathroom was the length of the bathtub and the toilet was separated. And even though J and i aren't exactly the tallest or biggest people in the world, i found the bathroom to be quite small. And should there be an added kitty litter box, we felt the bathroom would be quite cramped.

The toilet was also quite small and had no sink. Not exactly for the very tall, wide or anyone who suffers from Claustrophobia. The window was where the loggia was which meant in the dead of winter you'd get the freezing air pounding against the wall. And with no heater in there we'd most likely have a frozen butt by the time we were done.

But not everything was negative.

The bedroom was huge, the neighbors were friendly, train station was a 3-minute walk away and the place was within 10 minutes walking distance to various supermarkets and shops.

However, it took us 48 hours to write down the pros and cons of the place. But it came down to deciding whether it was worth the risk of having the mold returning and actually having it triggering J's asthma.

And so we decided it wasn't worth it and thought it was best to keep looking.

Our second appointment was at 7 PM and we were already running late. But what was actually uploaded online wasn't exactly what we ended up seeing.

In fact, i think it was a completely different apartment.

Not only was the flooring a completely different colour and material but the description didn't match up to what was inside. And after walking up three flights of stairs and up a narrow staircase, we got to the dimly lit floor. The place itself,was spacious and well lit but it smelt of food because the neighbor below was cooking and the window was open.

It didn't take much for J and i to realise that this place wasn't it either. After all, first impressions do last. And so we said our good-byes and headed into the city to have dinner.


But before dinner we found ourselves at a bar/cafe called, Bauturm where the menu was layed out in a 20-plus page book. I ordered a Maisel's Kristallweizen [brewed in Bayern] which ended up being so much yummier than what i would usually drink, a Franziskaner weissbier [brewed in Munich].

So if you get a hold of a Maisel's Kristallweizen, try it! It's much smoother and a lot more tastier.


J was starting to get in a bad mood because his eye was swelling up. He was concerned that he was having an allergic reaction to the mold in the first apartment. Which of course made the rest of the night extremely uncomfortable and quiet. So we drank our drinks fast and headed to the vegetarian restaurant down the road.

Prior to leaving our place in the afternoon, i had googled for vegetarian or vegan restaurants and found an Asian restaurant called, Well Being. The reviews that i had read sounded positive and i was craving for some fake meat anyway.


And this is what we ate: oversize spring rolls, vegetarian sushi which was a bit on the dry side, veggie Gong Bao with fake chicken that actually tasted like duck. And to drink, refreshing lime and orange juices with soda water + ginger.

Overall, i'd say it was OK.

Although i wouldn't recommend the sushi. Perhaps i'm just used to eating salmon and tuna with my sushi and it was definitely missing the Japanese mayo. But i will definitely return to try out the curry and the other dishes.

One of the owners came up to us later speaking German with a very thick Vietnamese accent and asked if we were new there since he had never seen us in the restaurant before. And after chatting for a few minutes and saying that we were looking for an apartment, he disappeared momentarily only to return with a hand-written ad that a regular customer had given him for a 2-room apartment.

But even though we are looking for a 3-room apartment, i thought the gesture was quite nice. We're in a big city and a complete stranger was willing to help out another fellow stranger.


After a nap in the car, we drove home later in -4˚Celsius temperatures. Reason being is that i had forgotten my credit card and after being told by J that all hotels require a credit card as a security, we figured we weren't going to find a place to sleep for the night.

The next day we found twelve more potential apartments online.

One of which sounds too good to be true and J fears it could be a scam and the guy could be out to take our money. But the location is perfect and it comes with a full kitchen. But if that doesn't work out, we do have a confirmed appointment to view another place this Saturday and another one next Tuesday.

And so our hunt for a new home continues...