26 May '05 - + 17 - 19 The Apartment
Jenny did a great job finding our apartment. She came to Hamburg
before I did, so she ran all around Hamburg looking at various
neighborhoods for nice furnished apartments, and we ended up choosing
the first one she saw.
It's in a nice neighborhood, less than a kilometer from the lake and
about one kilometer from her work and my German class. Our bank,
supermarket, ice cream stand, and subway stop are all within walking
distance, so it's a great place to experience car-less city living.
The building dates from 1875, according to numbers above the outside
door, but it was bombed to a shell in World War II. It was
rebuilt well, and it has a lot of charm and character. Some of
the apartments Jenny saw were much more sterile, but this place has
warmth.
The front (we're on the first floor above street level, with the enclosed porch):
The bedroom:
The living room dining area (with back porch visible through the window):
The living room sofa:
The living room office area:
So, there are really just two rooms, but they are large enough for the two of us to be comfortable.
BTW, click on the images for larger versions.
twelve comments, already:
We love the penguins!!!
They have ads for Calgon “take me away” over there too?
Rob & Leeann - 26 May '05 - 21:01
I actually haven’t seen a Calgonlit ad; Jenny took these pictures before I came over.
The Penguins are the cheeriest art in the place. Some of the other art is… interesting. In the bedroom, there’s a large portrait painting of the landlord. Above the couch is a nice reproduction of Raphael’s
The School of Athens. Above the TV is something that will probably have to be taken down when we have company. It’s a black and white photograph of the landlord and seven other men; all but one are naked. Very odd.
Lance Finney (link) - 27 May '05 - 01:17
Funny, I hadn’t even noticed the ad! Guess I should have taken pictures with the TV off. The ad is for a dishwasher detergent though, not bubble bath.
We also need a new picture of the outside, without the scaffolding. It looks much better now.
Lance doesn’t like the penguins. The first thing he wanted to do was remove them!
Jenny - 27 May '05 - 06:14
Hope you gave that place a thorough scrubbing before moving in ;P
Dan Lewis (email) - 27 May '05 - 08:49
I think you should be a little afraid of your landlord. He sounds… interesting.
Rob - 27 May '05 - 10:48
Penguins make me … horny.
Scotty G (email) - 04 June '05 - 01:21
For the record,
Lance and Jenny, if either of your parents, relatives, or other normal life associates read my above entry, I’m referring to the growths on the top of my head.
Thank you.
Scotty G (email) - 04 June '05 - 01:22
Be nice to the penguins! Or I’ll revoke your blog priviledges!!
Jenny - 05 June '05 - 15:25
Jenny, be nice to the Gelbish! He was only commenting on how much he liked the penguins!
Rob - 06 June '05 - 10:39
WOW, great place. Lot’s of charm. I agree the penguins are a bit cheesy but certainly a great conversation piece.
Mary Anne (email) - 15 June '05 - 08:44
Hey – I’m looking for 2-3 nice neighborhoods to live in while I spend 18 months in Hamburg. Any advice would be great!
Options include:
Barmbek
Winterhude
Volksdorf
Horn
Ahrensburg
Eilbek
Bramfeld
Rothenburgsort
Eimsbüttel
Langenhorn
Hohenfelde
Tonndorf
Harvestehude
Farmsen
Fuhlsbüttel
Jenfeld
Alt-Rahlstedt
St. Georg
St. Pauli
Altona
Schnelsen
Hamm
Danke!
Al Arrington (email) - 12 July '06 - 13:06
Al,
There are a lot of nice neighborhoods. It really will depend on where you need to be, what your price range is, and what your transportation needs are. Our goal was to be near Jenny’s work (in St. Georg) and not to need a car.
We were in Hohenfelde, which was great: very nice area, right on the lake, close to bus and U-Bahn stops. The neighborhood is next to St. Georg, but it’s a better area to live in than St. Georg (a fun party area, and big gay area with more restaurants and less good housing). Altona seems like another good area, but we were only there one afternoon. We could have gotten better deals in farther out areas, like Winterhude, but would have spent much more time riding public transit to get to work and to the city center. Our location allowed us to take one U-bahn to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and center or to easily bike there.
If you speak german, we can recommend a real estate agent. They will charge a fee, probably a month’s rent or more, but Jenny’s company was willing to cover it (as I would guess yours would be). We used Ihre Mitwohnzentrale (
http://www.ihremitwohnzentrale.de/start...). They were very nice, and in a convenient location for us, but spoke little english. There are others as well, of course.
The other question is whether you want a furnished apartment. That is what we had, and it is much harder to find (and, of course, more expensive). If you want a non-furnished apartment, you may be able to find one on your own, through ads in the paper and online. But for furnished, going through an agent is much better.
Some other sites:
http://immobilien.immonet.de/
http://www.wencke-partner.de/english/ind..
http://abendblatt.immonet.de/
http://www.maklerbuero-schmidt.de/
Barmbek – not far from us, seemed nice when we rode our bikes through
Winterhude – on the north end, but I don’t know it
Volksdorf – no idea
Horn – no idea
Ahrensburg – it’s really a separate town quite a distance from central Hamburg. It’s a nice day trip with a cute castle (
http://europetravelogue.com/blog/pivot/e..), but I wouldn’t recommend it because of distance.
Eilbek – not far from us, seemed nice when we rode our bikes through
Bramfeld – no idea
Rothenburgsort – no idea
Eimsbüttel – no idea
Langenhorn – no idea
Hohenfelde – where we were. Not particularly well-known, but central with good services.
Tonndorf – no idea
Harvestehude – no idea
Farmsen – no idea
Fuhlsbüttel – no idea
Jenfeld – no idea
Alt-Rahlstedt – no idea
St. Georg – between us and the center. As I said before, it’s a better place to party and eat than to live. Part of the neighborhood is a red-light district.
St. Pauli – also a big party/red light district area. The Fischmarkt (weekly fish market) is right there and an important part of Hamburg life, but I’d stay away.
Altona – don’t know much, but it looks nice.
Schnelsen – no idea
Hamm – no idea
Lance Finney (link) - 12 July '06 - 18:23
