Our home

We moved into the house Wednesday of last week and it has been busy trying to transition in. We have rental furniture until our things arrive and have been living with the basic necessities. It's nice to have more space to spread out in - and the area around the house is so charming. There are a few bakeries, cheese shops, antique dealers along with the necessary grocery store, dry cleaners, shoe repair shop, etc... A mix of old world and new.

I wanted to wait until our things arrived from the US to take pictures, but I have gotten so many requests that I will be happy to oblige!

A little bit about the house...

It was built in 1883 in an area of The Hague called the Archipel. The Archipel was one of the few areas of The Hague that was not destroyed by one of the world wars. The street is Surinamestraat. Many of the streets are named after Indonesian cities because of the sheer influence of the Indonesians in this area. I don't know anything about the man who built the house, but I do know that the man who bought it from him in the early 1900's was a diamond dealer and built a small hiding room in which he stored his diamonds. The tenant just before us is the Russian ambassador to The Netherlands. There are many ambassadors on this street and in this area because the embassies are nearby. The landlord has promised me some materials on the history of the home. I feel very honored to live here and be able to take care of the place.

I love that the landlord has kept many of the original features of the home, as many homes here are gutted and modernized - with only the exterior being preserved. With that; however, comes a few unpleasantries, none of which are a major problem. The house is four stories with 5 bedrooms, 4 toilet rooms and 3 full bathrooms with showers. It is an ordeal to climb the full lot of stairs - they are quite steep. Here's hoping to a good looking rear end by the time we leave!

Enough said - you can see the pictures here:

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