Moving into Bonn

I'm about 3 weeks late to post about our my recent move to Bonn, but I think its time I share some photos of our new place.  It's almost double the size of our old apartment, which means we had a lot of empty space when we first moved in, but after finding a new couch and a bigger dining table, the space is starting to fill up. I have no doubts that we will manage to fill it up with more side tables, comfy chairs, and lamps in the upcoming months.

When you move into a new apartment in Germany, its pretty typical not to have anything in your kitchen. No refrigerator, no oven, no sink.

Here is our sink sitting on a lawn chair in our living room. I now understand why Ikea is so damn popular in Europe: because that is the only cheap store around where you can buy your sink. 

You even have to buy countertops. From Ikea, and they only come in dimensions of 2.4m x .6m.  For reference 2.4m is almost 8 feet long. Way too long to put in a common elevator, which means carrying it awkwardly up 7 flights of stairs to your apartment.

This is after I installed the light fixture, because normally there is just a little box you have to wire your lights to. 

But at least the apartment has nice big windows facing south-westish. All that beautiful sunlight is shining on our new couch we picked up for free from down the street.  Getting it home was a bigger challenge than expected, but that story is better when I tell it in person. 

And the view from the window is pretty nice. There are some nice jogging paths up the hill by that mansion-apartment building. I went there a few days ago and it was still in its gross, muddy spring phase, but it could be nicer in the summer.

And the view from the top of the hill has a nice view over south Bonn and our neighborhood, Kessenich. All these buildings are pretty close to the Rhein river, on the far left is a UN headquarters, the tall dark one is the DHL headquarters, and the white, industrial tower is the Haribo gummy factory. Sometimes when I bike down to the river I can smell the licorice.

When the weather improves I will take some more pictures of our neighborhood. It's really nice and convenient with grocery stores, banks, pharmacies, cafes, tram lines, and a gelato shop within a couple minutes walk.  It's a real cute little neighborhood.