Our Berlin Digs

Lietzensee and some surrounding buildings, though not ours.
The living room. I haven't decided if this floor or the wide plank is creakier.
The slow and willful washer/dryer. Though I must concede that it is the first European dryer that I've had, and it still has my favorite 'cookwash' setting that nearly boils our whites.
The balcony, view, and a glimpse of the great double windows and doors.

We are staying in an apartment building overlooking Lietzensee, a small green pond shaped like the number eight, in Charlottenburg, which is a part of the city by Charlottenburg palace. Rob served in Charlottenburg while here on his mission, and he used to come through the parks around the lake almost daily. He said he always loved this part of Berlin and would never have believed it if you'd told him then that he would come back and live overlooking the lake. One of the men that he taught was contacted in this park and was most recently in the Bishopbric here. So it has lots of memories. Yesterday, we picked up the kids from school and let them play in one of the playgrounds. Rob took a nap in one of the hammocks and when he woke up I asked him how it was to live his dream. Not bad, we think.
The apartment has three rooms, and we've rearranged the furniture so that the kids don't have to sleep in the dining room. It actually has a powder room, which is an incredible luxury around here, but we are really glad to have 1 1/2 bathrooms. It is owned by a German film producer/stunt coordinator and he's had it decorated with paintings, sculpture, and lots of knickknacks which we've had to put away. There isn't really a place for the kids to play, so Rob put a bunch of cushions down in the laundry room and it is now the clubhouse (which stays nice and warm -- I think it will be very in demand once it turns colder). It is in a gorgeous old building and has high ceilings (maybe 12 feet?) with coved ceilings and flowers and designs in relief. The hardwood floors are wide plank and very creaky. But my favorite part by far are the huge double windows in all the rooms. When they did double windows, they were actually double, with three inches between them and lots of great brass hardware on all of them. There is even a bit of waverly glass!

The kitchen is nice with tile and a full-sized dishwasher (no more of these mini things called 'familie') but it is made for someone on a liquid diet: there are more glasses and mugs and coffee makers and tea makers and coffee pots and tea pots than I know what to do with, but nothing to bake with, and barely any plates. I have had an ongoing argument with my combination washer dryer ever since we moved in. I put in two towels and some washcloths, and when I said I wanted it to wash AND dry them, it said'great. that will be 257 minutes.' WHAT?! More than four hours for two towels?! I have since found the 'time saving' setting, which means that it only takes three hours and a bit, but mostly I make sure that I start one load every morning.

We really enjoy the place, though we enjoy it more now that we've made it ours by rearranging the rooms and buying some things of our own like kid bedding and ice cube trays.

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