This weekend I’ve mainly been in Basel, unpacking and sorting out the new flat. Then, today – as those of you who follow my blog on Facebook may have already seen – I came back to Karlsruhe and, instead of sitting outside in the gorgeous sunshine, spent the afternoon cleaning windows. I hadn’t actually done them since we moved in here (5 years ago for the nosey curious – I’m such a terrible housewife!), so I’m sure you can imagine the state they were in…
Anyway, while I was in Switzerland, I managed to grab a few shots of the unpacking process, so I thought I’d share them here. I’m sure you’re all thrilled 😉 All photos were taken using a tablet with a terrible camera, so apologies for quality…
It seems the Swiss like to take their lights with them too, so Jan’s set up a few temporary lighting solutions:
A lonely lantern on the balcony – we don’t have any other furniture to go out there yet.
Almost all the books are unpacked, and we’re probably going to need another book case (three are pictured here and there’s a fourth just around the corner).
The desk is in position, just waiting for the computer to be set up.
Empty boxes (YAY!)
Full boxes (BOO!)
That’s all I took. Maybe I’ll share some proper pictures of the new flat once I’m moved in. Right now it’s time for food and a well-deserved glass of wine!
Cleaning windows sounds like the worst possible way to spend a sunny Monday 😉 but well done on the moving and unpacking! Hope all the chores go quickly 🙂
I hate cleaning windows! 2 out of 4 rooms done though, and the remaining rooms are the ones with the fewest windows.
Love seeing all the books! Glad the moving is done!
Mostly done anyway. We will have to move the stuff that’s still in Karlsruhe when I officially move in 3 weeks.
Wow, I just had a major flash of book-lover envy at the sight of those bookcases! But so good to see that progress is being made… looking forward to hearing about your new digs. 🙂
Lol. I have way too many books! But I need them all 😉 That’s actually after I got rid of about 30!
Books are a necessity.
Definitely!
I gasped aloud at the books…Lovely!! It looks like the Stadtbibliothek in Stuttgart – the entire interior, as I understand it, is all white except for the books. Good luck with the rest of your work of unpacking, organizing, and settling in. The next move I’m planning is to the churchyard…
I will probably end up moving again at some point, but I hope it’s not for a few years!!
Urgh cleaning windows is something I hate doing which is probably why I haven’t for 3 years! I pay someone to do the outside but the inside is slightly grubby! Good luck with the rest of the Unpacking!
They don’t have window cleaners in Germany (well, there are ones that do entire massive office buildings, but none for private households), so all the windows open inwards and everyone cleans both the inside and outside themselves. Urgh! I hate it, but clean windows was one of the things that was specifically mentioned as needing doing for the handover.
You’ve done a great job already. 🙂 What a lot of books!!
Books are my weakness!
To be fair, Jan had already unpacked most of them before I arrived. There were only 2 boxes left for me.
Actually, I used to have a similar collection of books and they were in danger of taking over large sections of the house. I had to have a strong word with myself, and loads of them went to the charity shop. I’m still a bit sad about it.
This is actually my books after I got rid of loads. These are the ones I either couldn’t bring myself to part with or haven’t read yet.
I think its official you have more books than a library haha By the way I never clean my windows either I’m oddly suspicious of people that do, who has time to clean windows ? 🙂
One of my life goals is to have a library in my home 🙂
Like the lantern! I tried to read the titles of the books on your shelf there (yes, I am nosy) and I don’t think I have actually read any of them!!! Very bad!
Lol, be as nosy as you like 😀 I was wondering whether anyone would try to read the titles 😀
This sounds gross (and it should do since I lived alone in my house for 5 years!) but I have NEVER cleaned house windows! I do not envy you the boxes and the house move. I moved into my current house with my husband after living in my childhood home alone for 5 years (and before that for 25) so you can imagine the junk I accumulated. It took me about 7 months to move it all!xx
Hope you get the lights sorted.
By the way, I TOTALLY nosed the book titles too! i love how many you have!x
I didn’t actually clean the windows of my old place when I moved out! But the landlord of this place came round a few weeks ago to discus viewings and mentioned that we would have to clean the windows before we moved out. At least the law now prevents landlords from making you pain before you move out of a place!
Looks like you were pretty darn fleißig so far!
Jan did a fair amount, but yep… we were busy ALL DAY on Friday/Saturday.
Moving itself is terrible, but looks like you’ve made really good progress! All of those books neatly in the bookcases – nice!!! 🙂
We still need some more shelves (you can see the big gap in the bookcase at the end), but I’m pretty pleased with it so far 🙂
You mean I should have cleaned my windows WHEN I moved in?! I just ignored that bit of the cleaning…
Haha, well I didn’t clean any windows when I moved in. But when the landlord was over talking about arranging appointments for people to view our flat in Germany he said we needed to hand the place over in a clean state (which seemed pretty obvious!) then specifically said “clean the windows… that sort of thing”. He must have noticed how dirty they were
Well done! It looks like you’ve done so much already! x
Thanks. To be fair Jan did a lot while I wasn’t there.
I’ve never cleaned a window in my life and am not planning on starting either 😉 Love the way the books took priority over everything else! Good luck with the rest of the unpacking!
Of course the books took priority 😉
(Actually, I think the TV might have been the first thing Jan set up, but I wasn’t even there then).
I think this is the second time in my life I’ve washed windows. The first was in the student residence where everybody had to pitch in with the big clean once a semester. The first time I got stuck cleaning windows, the second time it was showers. Not sure what was worse… The only reason these windows got done is because the landlord was over a few weeks ago and when he was saying what needed to be done before the handover he specifically said “… and clean the windows” looking pointedly at the ones in the living room.
I’d only clean those ones then 😉
LOL, I’m cleaning them all just in case. We need out deposit back!
I’m so happy to have read all your Northumberland-tagged posts and discovered you are a Northumbrian girl! My husband is from Hexham-originally, his Dad lives in Haltwhistle now and Mum in Hexham. A uni friend of mine, Lynne, was from Morpeth. I do love going there!!!x
My mum and dad are from Morpeth 😀 I’m only *sort of* Northumbrian because I was born into the army and only moved up North when I was 13, but I went there for holidays before that and consider it my “home” (although where I lived is NOT my home town because it SUCKS!).
Wir haben auch Stäbchenparkett!
Ich wußte gar nicht, dass es so heißt 😀
HOW MUCH WRAPPING PAPER DO YOU NEED???!!!
ALL THE WRAPPING PAPER!!! haha, I can’t help myself. When I see a nice one I just haaaave to buy it 😉