Friday, October 5, 2007

The Hunt: Day One


The view
Originally uploaded by mrphrtq
After a week of looking at places online, yesterday we finally went out with our relocation person and looked at four very different apartments. Mr K took a ton of pictures so we could remember what we did and didn't like about each place and posted them on Flickr to share with family and friends - feel free to comment away. Pictures are posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrphrtq/

Quick run down: place one was nice and a great location, but needs flooring and paint and won't be ready for another 2 weeks, so that makes it a maybe, as we're pretty much hotel-ed out for quite some time. Number 2 was a huge duplex (bigger than our place in the US) but on the first floor and we would definitely like a little height between us and the ground. Number 3 was pretty much perfect. Nice place, decent sized - great location and great view, as you can see from the picture. Number 4 was just completely amazing - an old barn converted into lofts. The kitchen was easily the nicest one I've ever been in and the bath room with its TWO tubs was even more fun. Ultimately, though, the open floor plan wouldn't work for us - we need to be able to stow toys, hobbies and guests and thats more difficult with only one room. Also, despite the place being more square footage than any of the first 3 we looked at, it just didn't feel that way because the space wasn't really used to its fullest. It was odd that the biggest place felt like the smallest. Still, though, its sad to know it isn't the place for us - it was by far the most interesting. Number 3 is just a nice well-rounded place with everything we want BUT a washer and dryer, but I suppose I can learn to live with the shared washing area just like everyone else does, right?

Anyway, we're going back out for Day Two in a few hours, so watch for more updates!

3 comments:

Kasia said...

Keep my fingers crossed for you! I am sure that your perfect appartment is somewhere out there waiting impatiently for you ;) Oh, by the way, did you find Mr K last night?

Anonymous said...

Yeah I like #3, but those double tubs are neat-o

Deb said...

So glad you made it safely to Fribourg! Lots of luck in finding the perfect place to live. It's difficult, I know. Been there, done that. The strangest thing for me was that there are no bathroom vanities or built-in bedroom closets. Apparently this allows more work for carpenters. Who would have 'thunked it'. I had wall to wall mirrored closets in my bedroom at home and a long vanity in my bathroom, but when I tell this to locals, they cannot fathom what I'm talking about. It just makes me laugh.

I wish you & your hubby all the luck in the world in finding a great living space. I also wish you lots of luck in understand Swiss culture. It's a strange one. ;o)