The Big Move

Our plan in Spain is to be here at least a year, likely more now that we're having such a good time.  I don't know how we're going to feel at the end of that year so I can be certain.  But we're committed to at a minimum pushing through an entire year here.

As I've mentioned before, we didn't want to make such an important decision as signing a 6 month or 1 year lease from the states without getting to know Madrid.  And as you all know, simply looking at pics on the web of places can be very deceiving.  Anyone who knows how to handle a camera can make even the ugliest apartment look appealing.  After a month plus here, I think we very much made the right decision.  Getting a place here for a month and using that month to get to know the city, research areas and apartments, AND going to see those apartments was the way to go.  I can't tell you how often we heard ourselves saying "Wow! That looks like the perfect place" after seeing a posting online for a rental.  Then going and seeing it and "UGH!"

All told, we looked at probably two dozen places in different parts of Madrid, deciding very early on that we would stay in this city as opposed to trying to move out to Sevilla, Barcelona, or some other far off city in Spain. Of the twenty odd apartments we looked at, we landed on two that we really liked and one that we would have lived in.  The rest ranged anywhere from "we would do it if we had to" to unlivable.

We decided on a 6th floor 1/1 apartment, externally facing, 5 balconies, 42 square meters, very near the Royal Palace.  The other place was more in the heart of Madrid and offered a great location.  The x-factor was the dogs.  The apartment we chose has green areas all around and is right next to one of the largest parks in all of Spain.  In the other place, the dogs would need to continue learning how to poo and pee on concrete.  For me, making it easy for us to take the boys out to do their business and get a run in was so very important to may sanity.  We were getting so stressed out yelling at the dogs to stay away from people, avoiding getting scolded at by shop owners when they shat in front of their store, and making sure Max and Luke could play and get some exercise (a tired dog in the house is much nicer than a hiper one).

We get a view of the mountains, Casa Campo (the park I mentioned), it's quite a bit quieter here, and most importantly...GREEN!

So, that was our #1 priority in the first month.  Done!  We spent quite a few hours on it but it was well worth it.  We LOVE it here.  If you ever come and visit, you have a place to stay and you can see for yourself.

The next order of business was furnishing the place.  This turned out much more stressful than I would have imagined.  First, this is the first time Annie and I had to choose stuff for our place.  When she moved into my place in Houston, she was great about just accepted the stuff I had and making minor changes.  Now, we have a completely empty apartment and we need stuff.

Answer: Ikea

Mind you, there are a ton of furniture stores in Spain as everywhere.  Ikea furniture is obviously from there ("Is that an Ikea table?") and it's normally fairly low quality.  But without the convenience of Ikea, I would have done a half-gainer off off our balcony.  Being able to go to one place and get everything we needed: a couch, tables, shelves, kitchen and bathroom stuff, a bed.  The other factor, likely a bigger deal, was that we really had no way to transport this stuff.  A one-stop shop for all our home shate was not only nice but quickly became necessary.

I'll not bore you with the details.  Two truck rentals, two full days of walking around Ikea, two full days of building Ikea furniture, and plenty more days organizing and decorating, we have a fun and cozy place to live in.  Here are some pics of that adventure.

And you can't have a new place without a new do :)

Our new place is at:

Calle de Segovia, 29, 5 D

Madrid, Spain 28005

Consider this a standing invite to come visit (and stay with us if you like).