Semmel and salt

We've arrived! We drove up from Austria Saturday (Jan 2) and unlocked our door somewhere around 1:30am Sunday morning. The drive was hellish, we were supposed to lunch with family friends in Köln (along the way) at around 1:30 (and get to Rotterdam 2.5hrs after saying goodbye to them) but didn't get there until 7:30pm, a full 12 hours after leaving Austria. Saturday is the day ski resorts end their week, the old guests leave and the new ones arrive. Great information to have had before planning our drive. That and we woke up to fresh fallen snow and a bit of ice so leaving our sleepy little alpine village was slow to begin with. It started snowing heavily at midnight, during what was supposed to be the last hour of our drive, slowing us down again. So we ended our day the same way we began it, in pitch black darkness, with fresh fallen snow and our belongings in suitcases.

My parents really helped out by driving us up and getting us started. Our apartment came furnished but we were missing a few items and the fridge and pantry were empty so took advantage of having a car Sunday. After the trip to the grocery store my parents presented us with the plate above: a semmel (German for bread roll) and salt. They explained it was Austrian tradition to present this to the new homeowner/tenant as a token of good luck.

We awoke Monday morning to find them carrying their suitcases out to the car. They were going to spend the rest of the week in Germany on business before heading back home.

They helped a lot but it was nice to have the place to ourselves and get to know the sounds and feel of the place as we went about settling in and going through our daily routines.

We were initially nervous about the place, we had picked it based on online photos. Then the moment of truth: R carried me over the threshold and we took a quick walk-through before my parents were in. It's definitely charming and has a few problem areas (which we hope will get fixed) but we love it. I have my first backyard in 11 years (which is HUGE for me!) and we were also happy to find we had our own basement, with laundry and plenty of storage and room for a root cellar. Walking around our tiny backyard I discovered a door next to the shed leading out to a path behind our row of houses, connecting also the row of houses behind us. I couldn't open it because we have a big heap of cut-down shrubbery blocking the door but our realtor told us this connects to an exit onto the street and is used so residents can take their bikes back onto property and store them in the sheds, preventing the need to carry them in through the house out the front door. She's going to talk to our landlord and see about removing the cuttings.

So far we've unpacked our suitcases and are now waiting for the items we shipped. I'll post pictures of the place soon. Unfortunately I dropped my camera a few weeks before leaving New York so Nikon has my lens for repair. Until then I'm using my crappy little point and shoot.

More soon!