{apt history}

the nicest feature of this apartment is unseen. it's a feeling. it's memories. here's a little history detailing how we acquired our new second home in germany. when thorsten's grandmother ilse lost her husband, she decided after some time to downsize and simplify her life. she was so in love with thorsten's grandfather that, although she was only around 60 when he passed, she vowed to never remarry. she wore her wedding band until the day she died, which was this past september 2007. a very, very sad month for my husband and i because we were extremely close to her. when we were dating, this is the apartment we visited frequently for dates -- grandmother cooked wonderfully so she cooked for us a lot. i first met her in this very apartment, i stood in the doorway of her kitchen (now our kitchen) shaking because she was due to enter the room at any moment and i would be meeting her for the first time. this was in october of 1999. i wanted so badly for her to like me because she helped raise my husband so of course, her opinion was very important to me. when we decided to take grandma's apartment after she passed away, the property manager, because they have known our family for years, told us that they would update it for us and keep the rental price at the same rate that she paid. she did not own it. rent was so low she didn't need to own it. and she never updated it because she decorated things so pretty and well, she liked it old-fashioned i guess. modern wasn't important to her at all. she was simple women and needed very little in terms of 'things'. the building owner was so nice, and yes they agreed to renovate the apartment but i thought it would be minor stuff. painting maybe. oh no! they did everything and bonus -- according to our specifications for the most part. they relocated the water heater, removed all the wallpaper and carpeting in the apartment and added pergo (wood was my first choice but they said only pergo or this strange indoor/outdoor flat carpeting), gut renovated the bathroom (everything is brand new in there), new heaters throughout the unit, new doors for each of the rooms, and freshly painted ceilings. oh and they removed the appliances -- we need modern ones so we'll purchase those. how sweet of a deal is this? renovations just wrapped up in april and they gave us 1/2 off of the first month since we agreed to do the clean up work ourselves (mop the floors, clean the dust from the renovation, etc.). family will clean it before we arrive and a friend is going to wash all of the windows for us in july. i can't even tell you how wonderful of a set up this is for my husband and i. of course paying expenses for living in two countries each month isn't fun, at least we are paying a decent rate for this place and it's brand new and ours for as many years as we want to keep it so for now, it will work out just great. no more staying at hotels and sublets! yay! and we're close to grandma. her spirit, her love, her heart, all of it will live with us. we were hoping to move to germany before she passed to spend her final years with her but things don't always work out as intended. but we will still be taking care of her in spirit. she'll be there when i'm cooking, cleaning, and whenever we sit down for a meal we'll both remember how we sat there eating with her in the very same spot when she was alive and this is comforting.