The Big Day

Moving day has come and gone, and I know I've been promising pictures for a couple of weeks now, but you're just going to have to wait a bit longer.  The card reader for the camera is packed in one of our many boxes, and as we don't really have anywhere to unpack, I can't say when it will surface.  But I am taking pictures, and you will see them soon!

Yesterday was the big move.  We got started early, picking up the truck at 8am.  We found a great parking spot just outside our building, and Erik and I got to work right away, taking the bed apart, and moving the matress into the truck while we waited for our movers (aka strong friends) to arrive.  Thomas and Alex arrived, and we quickly started loading up the elevator and sending it down.  We had gotten most of the big items out before the elevator jammed and we had to call the 'depanneur'.  While we waited for him to arrive we continued to run up and down the six flights of stairs with most of the remaining items.  An hour later, the elevator was unstuck, and we loaded the last things into the truck.  Then we hit the road en route to the new place.

Parking at the new place was a bit more complicated, and Erik decided that our best bet was to simply park in the entry to the underground parking garage and then move the truck whenever someone needed to get in or out.  Lucky for us, a friendly stranger showed us how to pull up two guard rails so we could park the truck on the pedestrian walkway right next to the building.  Unloading the truck was pretty quick, being on the ground floor everything went in through the window. 

By 1:00 we were amazed that it was all finished.  We headed out for a pizza lunch, and then an exhausted Thomas and Alex left, and Erik and I went back to drop off the truck--four hours early!!  We should have gone to Ikea or something, but we all know that Ikea and exhaustion are a recipe for disaster.  The afternoon consisted of more Leroy Merlin for Erik, and old apartment cleaning for Torie (so dusty!!).  I'll go back today to finally empty out the fridge, and collect our deposit.  I'm sad to be leaving that place. 

Life in the new apartment is rustic.  It's a bit like camping.  The only difference is that there is no tent, and the toilet is right next door.  Also, there's no campfire or smores, which are pretty much the only reason to go camping, right?  Anyway, all that to say that there isn't much electricity yet, and aside from two work lights plugged in by extension cords to the one working outlet in the entry, we were in the dark last night.  Howard has a handy headlamp, and there is a very powerful LED flashlight/torch that serves as the bathroom light. 

At 10:00 we were all crazy from exhaustion and hunger, and headed out in search of food. The first place we passed was a Turkish/Greek restaurant, and in honour of Joan and Karina's trip, and due to the fact that it was open and really close, we stopped in.  It was great.  Simple, tasty, satisfying and cheap.  Three course dinner for 15euros!  We'll be back.  It was a good way to end a long day.