Moving and Venturing Out

Cramped up in a tiny one-bedroom apartment with a dog and five people in the middle of a new bustling city was not the lifestyle we were accustomed to. Needless to say, upon our arrival in Karlsplatz, Finn and I set our sights on finding a permanent spacious apartment to move the family into right away.

This move was simpler than most we had experienced, one of the perks for not having a lot of stuff!
The apartment we decided upon was vacant, perk #1; within walking distance to the kid's school, perk #2; a short skip to the bus stop,  perk #3; garden level with access to the private back yard, perk #4; and roomy enough to give the kids their own small but separate bedrooms perk #5! We felt blessed to find all of this within our budget for living in Europe on the cheap is not cheap! Thus, the reason why most Austrian families only have one child...

Mid-January, a friend and colleague of Finn's offered to drive Finn and all of our suitcases from the 2nd District to the 19th District while the kids and I took public transportation (because we couldn't fit in his car:-)).

We have been in our apartment now for over a month and as you can see from the pictures, we are still sleeping on air mattresses in the living room. We just confirmed that our shipment will be delivered on Feb 23 and 25. Yay! In the meantime, anything I've been able to pick up from IKEA and haul home in a grocery bag has had to suffice. Amazing what you can live without when you have too!

One of our goals during our time here is to see as much of the area and surrounding countries as possible. It still amazes me how close the different countries are to one another and so easily accessible by car. Most countries do not have a border patrol so you just drive in and out like you would cross the state line. While driving on the interstate, it is easy to forget you are in Europe for the terrain and vegetation look identical to parts of the southeastern US and Appalachian Mountains.

So far, we have taken a weekend trip to Prague and this past week, were able to venture south to the ski resort of Obertauren because the kids were out of school for "ski week". Hhmm, CO should consider doing this:-)