The Hunt

I'm on a crazy apartment hunt. Yesterday I wrote about how I saw a place that was up a bunch of stairs and didn't feel very homey, and I forgot to include that it was up a big hill. In a country that has a lot of winter, it wouldn't be fun to trek that every day when it's icy, plus a bunch of outdoor stairs (then a bunch of indoor stairs).

Well today I saw another place. Last night before bed I went on a few websites and wrote to about 6 or 7 different places. Today a guy named Radek called me and asked when I could see one place. I said I was free at 5pm. So we met up at 5:15 in front of Novy Smichov and walked to the apartment (yes, walked! It took about 10 minutes to walk there). Downside, it was kind of uphill the whole way, but not steep hills. He walked really fast naturally, but on a nice day, taking that walk would be nothing.

We got to the apartment, and the front hallway is wide and big. The outside of the building is a pretty gray color, almost like a bluish gray. The street has parking on both sides (think of a one-way parking aisle at Giant Eagle or something, with the diagonal spaces). What I liked was that just one block away was a busy street with buses (that go from work to about a block away from this place), business, bars, shops, etc., but that the street with the building was quiet with pretty trees and was just residential. In my current place, when I have the windows open and my computer volume on max, I can't hear it because it's so loud. This street was perfectly quiet and peaceful with the windows open.

When you first walk in, you're in a little hallway. To the right up a tiny step is the kitchen, which is cute and modern, and blue and brown colors (kind of a funky decoration, I liked it very much). It didn't have an oven, but the guy kind of laughed when I mentioned this and said, "Hahaha, why, you are going to bake something?" I said, "...yes..?" and he got serious and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, it is just not very common here." :) If you go through the kitchen, there is a very tiny bedroom. And by tiny I mean you can fit a double bed, which I have to buy, but there's already a wardrobe. I could also fit another chest of drawers or something right next to that, but it would be cramped. You know, though, I was thinking that it doesn't really matter. In this temporary apartment, I've only gone in the bedroom a few times at all - I'm always out in the living area, playing on the computer or watching TV or cooking. I only go in there to sleep. And it's cozy - it's not like it isn't big enough to fit what's necessary. There are double windows which will be good for winter - like you have to open one window to get to the other one, so it's like double protection. Admittedly those windows seem kind of old, but they definitely close tightly so I'm sure it's fine.

Now if you come through the door and make a left, there's a door to the bathroom right there. The bathroom contains a bathtub, a sink, and a washing machine. Yes, a washing machine - this is very very common, that's just where the washer goes in any apartment. I like that it's included, and it's a decent size (very small compared to the US, but bigger than some I've seen in other apartment ads). You might be asking yourself where is the toilet? Well it's down the hall in what looks like a little closet :) It's truly a "WC" (water closet) as Shannon pointed out, ha. There's also a real closet in the hallway as well, which is pretty big and could store quite a bit.

And then there's the living room - this is spacious. There is a big door that goes out to the BALCONY (yes! and it's a nice one, it's not tiny, there's room for 3-4 people to stand out there, or probably for 2 chairs or so), and the view is gorgeous - it looks out over the street, a tree, and then if you look kind of "through" the trees there's a gorgeous view of all of Prague. This street LOOKS like *Prague*. It's not super modern, it has that old Prague kind of feel to it. It's just lovely.

Back to the living room - there is some furniture in there. A nice TV stand with a TV (I'd probably buy a bigger one once I could afford it), a dining table with a few chairs, a loveseat that is hideous and that I would replace immediately, a coffee table which is just fine, and a few little shelves that would come in handy for my books/DVDs that are on their way to Prague now on a ship :) There's plenty of room to move around in there, it's a great size. Most importantly, it's bright and sunny - there are new windows in there - the realtor told me that the front of the apartment was renovated but the back wasn't yet (window-wise). So the balcony door is new, the windows, etc. It's all in very good condition.

There are a few cracks in the walls here and there, which would bug some people but to be honest for me it just gives it charm. And it's really not bad, I only really noticed because I was examining closely. So, that's that. I am very interested in it, and unless anyone calls me tomorrow or Friday for more viewings, I will probably take it - I need an address soon to give the moving company so all my stuff can arrive. I sure hope they deliver/carry it up for me, because it is on the 3rd floor with no lift (pssst, that's Czech for elevator).

So, a summary:

Pros:
Spacious living room
-Lots of light
-Good windows
-Cute modern kitchen with fridge/freezer and stovetop
-Balcony
-Some furniture included, so I don't have to buy everything right away - also the realtor said that if I decide to buy new stuff, they can remove what's there
-Nice neighborhood and very pretty street with trees
-5-10 minute walk to work - I found this out when we left, and I passed Andel park where our office is - very nice!!
-Landlord gave me a discount after I asked if it was possible - the total per month including utilities will be 12,500Kc - the other one was 14,000Kc!

Cons:
-Very small bedroom
-No oven
-3 flights of stairs to walk up - what if I forget something small once I go downstairs :)
-Not too connected to transportation - it's a bus ride to get down to the Andel trams/metro, or a walk (which might suck in winter - but I think this will be an issue no matter where I live, if it's in my price range)
-Very small bathroom with toilet in weird separate room (again, I will be living alone, so do I really care?)

Honestly I think that's it for the cons. After listing it out like that, I think the cons just don't matter, and all the pros are really good.

I'll talk to some people at work tomorrow and see what they think. I will say this, when I was there, I could just see myself living there. The first place I saw, I just couldn't "picture" it - it didn't feel like "me". This one just felt.. homey. The realtor was reeeeally nice, too. Radek was the friendliest Czech person I've met so far - he made conversation and was easy to talk to and joked about his English and taught me a couple Czech words. The landlord only speaks Czech and was worried that I only speak English (he didn't care that I'm foreign, just "felt bad" - Radek's words - that he wouldn't be able to talk to me directly as his tenant) - so I would be talking to Radek for any apartment issues.

Anyway I think I've written enough about this place. Friends, please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think!!

Here is a link to the place if this helps:

http://czech-properties.cz/byty/pronajem/2+kk-praha-5-smichov-1977906680


Good night :)