Haus Hunt

Finding a permanent home in Basel is DIFFICULT! Everyone told me this beforehand but I didn't necessarily believe them. The facts I guess speak for themselves. Vacancy rate is about 1%. To give perspective, a housing marketing is considered full at 5% vacancy and NYC is typically at about 3% vacancy. Awesome.

That being said, I've seen quite a few places in the 3 weeks we are here. Main issues are finding a place with the right space in the right area, that isn't a complete baby death trap. There are some real beauties on the market! Here is just a sampling.

Haus #1: Tiny Top of the Line
This listing isn't available anymore, so I can't find pics, but it was a brand new condo building where the owners were renting it out. Pretty much everything was automated. Automatic blinds, light sensors, auto floor heaters. It was quite nice, but a little small for our purposes. For example, I don't think a king bed would fit in any of the bedrooms.

Haus #2: Charming Baby Death Trap.
This place was a trick I tell ya! Look at that front door. How lovely.

You walk through the beautiful green door and into this even more adorable courtyard! Where we were greeted by the owner, a dear old man who reminded me of great-grandfather. He was so kind and kept talking about how wonderful it would be to have a little one in the apartment again.

He first showed us the cellar as he described that the building is from the 18th century. How endearing! The cellar was more like a castle dungeon that should be in a museum, but somehow had character and since EZ would never be going down there, and we'd just use it for storage, I was unphased.

Then we headed back to the main building which would be our apartment. We climbed up the 3 flights of stairs with EZ in my arms. Manageable, but daily?! The place was certainly charming.

Cute little European kitchen.

Upgraded bathrooms.

But, these stairs?!!!!! These were not stairs. This was more like a precarious baby death trap ladder.

This dangerous equipment leads up to the "2nd floor" aka. Munchkin Attic, where Matt or I would only be able to stand in the very center. Basically, useless space. This picture must be taken from below floor level, because there is no way the ceilings are as high as the appear.

Needless, to say, I don't think this is the place for us.

Haus #3: European City Perfection ... Except ...

When I was walking up to this gem, I was falling in love with every passing step. Here's a little snapshot of the walk up to this old apartment in the city center. 

That's the one!

That door!

There it is!! It's absolutely beautiful from the outside and you walk into the courtyard and it continues to be quite old city perfection. Even stepping inside the incredibly cluttered apartment, I see great potential! The kitchen has most certainly updated as have the bathrooms and while the rooms are stuffed with the current renters belongings, I'm torn between thinking the space is incredibly small and that it must be larger than it seems if this couple can fit so much random stuff in here! We go upstairs and I'm sold. The downstairs living area is certainly small, but I could keep that as a dining area and make this upstairs room into a master bedroom / living room, like a studio apartment. (Can you tell I was falling in love?) 

Current office -> future studio apartment  (see floor plan options below)

When I got home, I received the floor plan with dimensions and I set to work on how I could make this work for us!

Downstairs

Upstairs - "Zimmer 2" is our future master / living room --> studio apartment

Option 1- can't actually open the door...

Option 2- Matt's layout. He tried to convince me this wouldn't feel too cramped...

Needless to say, this wasn't going to work out. It would've been a once in a lifetime, special & unique experience, but alas I think that time has come and gone for the 3 of us. 

Haus #4: I want it!

Admittedly, I haven't been here yet and the # of rooms probably won't work, but that backyard!! And they already have my cow hide rug in the kitchen!

Haus #5: High Potential Modern

Well, after all that in trying to find a place not in the same neighborhood we currently live and looking for somewhere with some old charm... I'm feeling we may end up picking a place based on size. I haven't been here yet, but it's spacious, clean and upgraded. It's a block from our temporary apt and a block closer to Matt's office. That would make for approx. 5 min walking commute. (He's pretty excited)

Now I love a non- traditional floor plan as much as the next person, but these are some wacky angles? Why would you build a new apt like this? But it's so big!!  

Will keep you posted!

Rainy Weekend in Basel

This weekend was forecasted for tons of rain, which is always the worst. I much prefer rain during the week. However, we were still determined to get out & about if for nothing other than to get some rain gear for Avocado.

After watching all the other baby mommies, I quickly learned even with all my preparing, I didn't have the correct Avocado + Stroller + Tram gear. We obviously needed a rain cover & these uber cozy stroller sleeping bags to keep our little man all snuggled when we are out and about.

Stroller Rain Cover: (I know it looks like we're suffocating him, but there are big air panels)


Stroller Sleeping Bag: (future pics of our little man once we get it all installed :P )


Once we had our gear to keep Avocado prepped for the day, we were just roaming about and came across the "Basel Head." Stealing inspiration from the "Head of the Charles" (Boston) and "Head of River" (London), the Basel Head earned its name. The races are 85 boats of 8 and the winner is all based on time. The pics are of the boats entering a staggered start so that each race one at a time (simultaneously, does that even make sense?). The race is 6,4k, aka. LONG. Most interesting part to me, was that the course has a turn involved! I've never raced with a turn in an 8, but thought that's pretty impressive to speed turn.

Here's the little website

Anyways, of course I created a flipgram! :P

Basel Head Flipagram

I just always love that there's something going on in this city!

An Afternoon in France

Last weekend we went to France! Honestly, it sounds more glamorous than it turned out to be, but still fun to say.

As I mentioned, Basel is located in the border of France & Germany, therefore it only made sense to go check out the towns. Our visit trip we visited the closest city of St Louis, France. 

We took the tram from our place 2 stops north, then we literally walked across the border and passed through this intense checkpoint... It was unmanned. Even though Switzerland is not a part of the EU they have an open border policy with both France & Germany. To be fair we did see some random checks on our way back out. 

We just went to check out the little town as we were told they were a bunch of cafes and delicatessens, turns out there was just one of each, but still delicious! Here's a little video snapshot of our walk. Not super fancy and not sure if we will back, (although that raspberry tart was tasty!), but happy we went. 

EZ is becoming quite the globe-trotter. :)