Guten Morgen

This morning we are enjoying coffee and feeding Savannah little pieces of the grapes we are eating. She also had a little banana and a tiny bite of my oatmeal. Today we are going to Biebrich Palace Park located on the beautiful Rhine River (about 15 minutes away). You can read more about this Park on the Stars and Stripes website.




Thursday we decided to rent the house with a gorgeous view of the Taunus Mountains in Kelkheim!! The landlord is very nice, he is originally from Canada so he speaks perfect English. Our household goods are still on their way to Germany and are expected to arrive on March 11th. We will probably move in our home the weekend of March 18th also known as my 30th BIRTHDAY! :) We had planned on going to Paris this weekend but now that trip is postponed a few weekends until we are settled.

Now let me tell you about our house! It's a detached double house with about 2,000 square feet and three levels. There are 2.5 baths, one located on each level (one full bath upstairs and the other in the basement, perfect for when all of you visit)! There are three good sized bedrooms upstairs and each has an unbelievable view of the town. The air is so fresh and clean it's amazing! The house doesn't even have an AC unit because it doesn't get hot enough in the summer. Our landlord lives in the other half of the double house and he said he keeps the windows open all the time, incredible! There is an abundance of natural light that flows in all the windows from every direction. The kitchen is bigger than we had originally thought with lots of storage cabinets and a good sized fridge. Most refrigerators in Germany are very small so to find a home with a good sized fridge is like a diamond in the ruff. The living room and dinning room open to each other as you'll see in the pictures. The basement has three rooms. One room is very large with another small room attached. This will be the play area/man cave/guest room. The other two rooms down there are for storage. The stairs are enclosed which is great because every house we saw the back of the steps were open, total baby hazard! The house has a deck with an enclosed backyard. The deck is being replaced this month so that will be brand new.

When we move in we need to supply light fixtures, a washer/dryer and closets. This is very normal in Germany. You are actually supposed to bring your own kitchen but this house comes with a kitchen. Yesterday we went to Ikea (pronounced "eye-k-a" here in Germany) and looked at closets and light fixtures.

The town is the perfect size. Most of the streets are cobblestone like many of the streets and the buildings are very old with lots of character. There is a beautiful park with a play ground within walking distance with a soccer field and I think a big farm...still investigating. There is also a bakery at the bottom of the hill of our house. Frank (landlord) said they deliver and he always gets fresh buns delivered on Saturday morning! Not many bakeries still deliver, but lucky for us we live right next to one that does! hahaha I made a rule...this delivery bun service will be a once and a while special treat type of thing for us! Without this rule, we'd be in trouble. :) About 3 miles up the road from our town there is another small town with lots of really cute shops and restaurants.

Enjoy your Sunday, aka "day of rest" here. Nearly everything but gas stations shut down, so it is truly a day of rest!

Xo
Elizabeth

P.s. Friday I passed my drivers test! Officially legal to drive, very exciting!!!