Wer hat die Wahl, hat die Qual

Statue at Schiller Park

 Apartment troubles continued to plague us as we searched for a place for June. We found the third apartment that we totally fell in love with, arrived first, and were told she was going to wait to make her decision until after the other applicants had seen it. WTF. She ended up choosing a single person v. a couple. Sigh...nothing we can do about that.

Then we found a place in Friedrichshain. Though at the top of our price range, it offered an absolutely amazing location among bars, & restaurants and fit all of our ideal criteria. "We'll take it!" However, as a good west German he wanted to get the sublet approved from his landlord. We have undoubtedly rented some places illegally, as I bet a few of the renters haven't informed their landlord of our deal. Though this is theoretically risky as your rental agreement is null without approval, it is the norm of many sublets. We were eager to have everything on the up & up and submitted the necessary documents. Unprovoked uneasiness prevailed in our joint mood. We had everything we needed, but lady luck has not been kind to us lately.

She proved unkind once again. We were rejected, with an unexplained "Nicht erwuenscht." In vain, the sublettor tried to contact the agency. Fear was now allowed to run rampant as we had to move the next week and once again, possibly had no place to go.

Taking the tact of the proactive, I started contacting places once again. I set-up 2 appointments as we waited for the Freidrichain sublettor to make up his mind. To sublet illegal, or not.

Luckily, the first place was gorgeous. In a Northwesterly neighborhood (Wedding) we haven't had much interest in, the apartment more than satisfied our every wish. Lovely wood floors, tons of room, full balcony, wifi, TV, washer, dishwasher, AND- cats allowed. Plus there was a bit of kinship as she thought she had the place rented out, and just the day before her subleasor had pulled out. Reluctantly we told her we would let her know & made our way to the next appointment. Checking our e-mail, no word from Freidrichshain.

The next place as in Neukoelln, the neighborhood we had been ripped off in and a bit of an English language enclave.  We were wary, but desperate. we headed to the hinterhof and found a very strange apartment. The place was mostly hallway with an awkwardly shaped kitchen, tiny bedroom with single bed, and cluttered & small main room. We made small talk and were in agreement as we left- no thanks. It's a bizarre thing in Berlin that apartments in the same price range can come in such a vast range of qualities.

"Wer hat die Wahl, hat die Qual", Ian told me. "Who has the choice has the misery."

Well said Germs. To go with the maybe in Friedrichshain, or the sure thing, a perfect place in not our favorite hood. When we thought about it and the decision turned out to be easy. We went to live in Wedding.

We called Marie in Wedding & we happily became her sublettors. Whew! Less than an hour later Rolland in Friedrichshain called. He was ready to do the sublet. Arrrrggggggg- why couldn't you have decided that the night before. We let him know we couldn't wait and had taken the other apartment and there seemed to be no hard feelings, I am sure he found someone. But oh the agony! Sometimes, it really is too much.

Enough apartment drama! We're ready to enjoy Berlin in the Summer.

Balcony! It has been so hot we have been living on this thing

Living Room- shot from the dining area

Living Room

Lady subletting is a make-up artist. She's got crazy stuff

Bedroom

Lightening & thunder storm. A beautiful show


Want more pics and stories of apartments in Berlin? Click the apartment label for full gory details of our many, many moves and read What Moving 6 times in a Year has Taught Me.