Let's try this again

After hearts are broken, life must go on. (Chos! Emo!) So, in the interest of moving on, Marlon and I have instructed our housing agent to make an offer on another flat. It's on Beethovenstraat, in what the housing agent and relocation consultants keep saying is the one of the poshest areas in Amsterdam. 

I don't know if this fact is stated over and over again because it's meant to be a huge selling point; it's all the same to me. It's not like fitting into the social hierarchy is on my agenda here. What I care about more is that right across the street are a tram stop, Albert Heijn supermarket, fishmonger, bakerij and butcher! No more carting heavy bags over a 15-minute walk in the cold!

Ayan, na-excite na naman ako. Be still, my heart. After my recent real estate heartbreak, I don't want to really get my hopes up. But I thought I'd share the place with everyone anyway so you can root for us!

It's on the first floor, so just one flight of moderately manageable steps, thank goodness. The front door opens into a small hallway that leads to all the rooms. I now have to think of things like where to hang the coats, and whether there's space for a coat rack or just wall-mounted hooks.

I like the wooden floors and the decent-sized living/dining space facing the street. The decommissioned brick fireplace in the corner is a nice old detail in an otherwise modern space.

The all-important second bedroom also faces Beethovenstraat. Because it's a busy street, the owners have all but hermetically sealed this room off. To compensate for the lack of circulation, they've also added a contraption that lets in fresh air while filtering out the noise from the street. It's the small rectangular box on top of the radiator.

I also like the checkerboard floor in the bathroom, and the fact that the place comes with its own washer and dryer (less for us to spend on!). It doesn't have a bathtub though, which I initially thought was not such a big minus. Huwag maging choosy ang lumaki sa tabo at balde, lol. But I did a long, delectably hot soak in the serviced apartment bathtub the other day, and I must admit having one would be a wonderful luxury.

Still, I can't complain. The his-and-hers sinks are a major step up from our tiny bathroom in Singapore.

The master bedroom is airy and spacious. The closet is a huge plus, since a lot of apartments here don't come with built-in closet space.

The apartment has its own garden! How cool is that. It will be really lovely to eat here with guests when the weather is warmer. It's a little odd, though, that the only access to the garden is through the master bedroom. Marlon and I are toying with the idea of switching spaces, i.e. using this room as the living/dining area and the front room as the master bedroom. But then that would mean that our bedroom faces the street.

A relatively spacious kitchen, with the very rare full-sized refrigerator (who needs a refrigerator when it's already cold outside? is the Dutch logic) and enough space for our kopitiam table, Eames chairs and maybe some extra shelving.

Looking at it on the map, Beethovenstraat seems kind of far from the center of town (the canal belt up top), but it's only about ten minutes by tram. The Museumplein where the Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum are about three stops away. Yep, Amsterdam is that small.

For guests (that's you!), there's a direct train from Schiphol Airport to Station Zuid, which you can see is practically walkable from the apartment.

So root for us to get it! It's a great apartment for you too!