House Hunting Pt 2 of 1,000,000

This bathroom is large by American standards,
it's enormous for a German house! This photo only
shows about 30% of it!

No luck today, but soooo close! The first house we saw was in Erdorf. Funky with personality? Yes! Historical charm? Still has the 1830 stamp! Modern amenities inside (kitchen, bath)? Yes! Near a playground? Yes! Near a train? Yes, though literally near a train, not like "in the same town", though with 3' walls, you barely hear it. Beautiful backyard, it has it all, right? Nope. Dining room. Nada. Unless you want to use the entry way as the dining room. So close and yet so far. Though I did discover the neatest thing here- panelvans! A panelvan is a cart that comes through town (in this town, twice a day; in smaller towns, twice a week) with fresh fruit, breads, bakery treats and sometimes milk! They drive up and honk and you better hustle out if you want something unless you have a previous agreement for a certain time/day and then they'll wait for you a few minutes. How cool is that? Fresh bread to my door? Um, yes! Which is good, because Erdorf doesn't have a bakery. poo.

Entrance to the kitchen-the Germans love color!

Here are some photos of the Erdorf house:

The beautiful Kyll river. About a 5 minute walk or less.

How cool is that front?

 

Gorgeous little back yard!

It does have an eat in kitchen- for 4 though. No company.

Next we hit upscale German suburbia- Bitburg. Now, this house is suh-weet! But also comes with a hefty price tag (not to mention loss of historical awesomeness.)

Can you see the split? That's steeper than it looks!

How could I not take a photo of the bidet? 

This is half of a large living/dining room.

Just a lovely house all around!

This is on a cul-de-sac: good; 5 minutes from the coolest playground I've ever seen (SO wanted to play myself):great; established yard and landscaping including apple and cherry tree, raspberries and strawberries and another mystery berry- cranberry maybe:good; split level backyard: weird. I have images of my toddler rolling down the hill, but not in the good way, more in the ass over tea kettle way. Did I mention a garage? This is a treat in Germany!

Okay- for the playground-it almost deserves it's own post! Wait till you see the swing- I will swing on that.

For real, can you imagine living near this? dude.

coolest. swing.ever.

"Mama! They have sheeps you can get on!"

The writing atop the door frame is the husband's initial, the
wife's initials and the build date.

 Last we hit the heart breaking Niederstedem. What landlords, what a location, what a backyard! What a steep, uneven stepped, one bathroomed old house. I'm in love with the landlords, they could not be better! We had fizzy cherry juice at a little table in the backyard under an apple tree. And she brought it out in a basket! I can't even stand it. But one bathroom? And on the ground floor, while the rooms are a floor up. That's tough. Have people done if for years? Yeah, yeah, but I'm American. I want it all, and I want it all conveniently. I worry about my daughters waking in the night to powder their little noses and crashing down the steps. It's another old one, well, old by US standards, 1800s again and some incredible features. The built in shranks (like cupboards/closets) and grandfather clock are amazing! Solid oak floors! But I have zero idea how our great big American king size bed will get up those stairs and I know for a fact Jim won't fit through all the doorways without ducking. Did I mention they get a kick out of our "giant" furniture? You'll see ads that say, "large stairwell for huge American furniture!" Ha! So, back to the nearly perfect house. Okay, the house isn't nearly perfect for us, it's just in a super cool location and I'm just crazy for the owners (who'd live next door.) Did I mention we can go over and get fresh milk from them? Or fresh eggs 2 houses down? I could live in nearly any house to be connected with them (I swear, Jim brings out the farmer in me!) but I just don't think this house will work. It makes me sad. I would like to swing through the town again sometime and take them out for a beer though- cool, cool people. I love farmers. I love anyone who'll bring me fresh, creamy milk!

 This shrank used to house a fireplace underneath, but now is all storage. Can you see the clock? Love it!

The son is a landscaper hence the awesome backyard. But it's not beautiful in your standard professionally landscaped home, this is more Secret Garden style. 

THE bathtub. As in the only bathub.

 This is the house as part of the farm as seen from the front. The two parts on the sides are barns inside that are currently used for storage. I'm still trying to think how this place could work!

The neighbors cows. I can't express how excited my girls get about cows. It's the same as with horses, except you expect little girls to adore horses. I think there may be some sort of farm gene and the girls got it somewhere down the genetic line.

More of the gorgeous backyard. You can see the little table where we had our Kirsch (cherry) something (I can't remember the word for fizzy.)

I'm still hoping to hear back from the folks about Wolsfeld. In the process of looking at this house I learned all about the bakery, butcher and great schoolsof Wolsfeld. Please let that house not be gone already! The good ones go in a few days of being posted. Ahhhh.....God has a plan, God has a plan, I hope it includes a yard.