March 2, 2012

• Want to see our apartment?

  On Thursday, March 1, we took a train from Vienna to Linz. We had to hire two minivan taxi things to get all of our luggage and all the people from the hotel to the train station. Once there, we bought our tickets and went up the escalator and to the platform and up the train steps with all the luggage. I am very glad Rachel is just as useful when it comes to carrying things and dragging heavy suitcases as the rest of them are!

  We played cards and ate snacks and slept (Libby) on the 1.5 or so hour train ride. Then, we repeated the dragging suitcases and two taxis to get to our home for the next two months:

  

   

  By the way, if anyone wants to write to us, write to

  (Whichever one it is) Sellers

  c/o Walter Hauser

  Lessingstrasse 11

  Linz 4020

  Austria

   

  The reason you write in care of that man is that we are in sort of a hotel-like apartment place, and he is the landlord. So the mail goes to him. I suppose if it just showed up without his name, it would find its way to us.  Anyhow, back to my tale. 

  We unloaded all the luggage and rang the doorbell to let Herr Hauser know we had arrived. A whole lot of ringing and no landlord. I was very grateful it was warm and sunny as we had to wait outside with no overhang.

    

  James finally had to pull out his American cell phone and make an expensive call to find out if the landlord knew to meet us. He said he’d be there in two minutes, and he was. Herr Hauser turned out to be incredibly pleasant and seemed proud of his apartments. He had a good right to be. WOW! “Why did we say we only wanted to stay two months?” said the kids. 

  I shall give you a tour, and you can decide for yourself!

  This is the entry way. There were maps, shopping bags, a mirror to check how you look one last time, and even two baskets of slippers!

       

  To the left in the picture, right after my coat, is this door (which always swings shut even if we don’t want it to, but it does it slowly).

  

   

  It opens into the living room/dining room.

       

   

   

      

   

  If you go straight through this opening (which has a sliding door to close it off)

   

  

   

  you enter the kitchen. Michael was in the kitchen pouring himself a bowl of not-American-colored Fruit Loops.

       

   

  You may wonder how I was able to take this picture. Did I hover outside the window? Nope. We have a small balcony off the kitchen which Michael has claimed as his own.

  

   

  Here are some views from the balcony.

         

   

  Yes, we are up, top floor, seven story building. I have decided that I will always take the stairs (unless I am solo with a lot of bags of groceries or have a sprained ankle or something).  There are 18 steps per floor, nine then a landing, and nine more. My legs are burning by the end of the hike, so I will be able to gauge my fitness progress in two months by the lack of burn or the speed at which I take the steps.

  Enough about my little fitness challenges! Back to the apartment. We have a microwave, dishwasher, stove and stove top, fridge and freezer, and all the dishes and pots and pans and everything one could want. It does not leave much room for food storage, those abundantly-stocked cabinets. This cabinet is all we have.

  

  But, it will keep me from stockpiling food! We are only here for two months. I shall try to be European and not a gluttonous American!

  Back to the entry way now. Imagine you didn’t turn at the white door but had your back to the front door. You’d see where I have my environmentally friendly clothes dryer! (I like it a lot. Really and for true.)

  

  It will only sit there when it is full of laundry, so only a few days a week maybe? I could also let it sit in the tub as long as no one wants to have a bath!

  We have two “bathrooms,” which is pretty typical for Europe. One is the WC (water closet) which has a toilet and small sink.

  

  (Aren’t you glad you got to see the toilet? HA!)

   

  The other contains the shower, sink, washing machine, bathtub, and water heater.

     

  This has been a long tour, and there are still three rooms to go!  The first is James’ and my bedroom.

          

   

  I was concerned we would not have enough storage space for all our stuff and all these empty suitcases. No worries at all. There are tons of storage space!

  

   

  That is  my closet with all of my clothes. There are three closets like that just in my bedroom alone!

   

  Across the hall from our bedroom is the exercise room. They have everything! Balance ball, massage table, sauna, elliptical machine, sit up thingie, stretchy bands, some sort of balance slider, bow-flex type thing…and more! There are also two huge mirrors in the room so that you can see how jiggly you are when you work out.

    

  In the corner of this room is another bed. Michael doesn’t have to sleep on the couch in the living room, but he seems to want to.

  

   

  Yes, I realize this bed doesn’t look very inviting right now. That is because he took all his bedding from the couch and threw it on the bed in this room. Off of the exercise room is a tiny sun porch with a chaise lounge. No one has really claimed this area yet, but we’ve only been here two days.

   

  

   

  Finally, through the exercise room is where Libby and Rachel sleep.

  

   

  Everything seems in great condition and newer. Also, someone took the time to decorate to make it look pretty. Just see some of the nifty things scattered around the apartment!

   

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  And now, you’ve seen where we live. Come and visit if you can!

  • 2:22 pm
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