Monday, May 18, 2009

The New Hood

It'll probably take me a couple more weeks until I have some decent pictures of the new apartment. We're relatively settled but we still have a lot of hanging to do (pictures, shelves, etc.) and that's all the stuff that really makes it look and feel like home. So while you wait, here are some pictures I took from our balcony.

Here's what you see when you look left:

I left this picture kind of dark so you could appreciate the sunset. If it were lighter, I would point out the following things in the foreground:
-on the left is a clube that we hope to join soon. They have pools for swimming lessons, tennis courts and lots of other great places to work out. It's a private club
-next to that is a Volkswagen dealership. This will come in really handy when we win the lottery and want to buy some new cars.
-beside that, on the far right, is a big grocery store. It takes Jackson and me all of three minutes to walk over there.

When you look directly down and to the left, you see this:


It's kind of a crazy intersection but it's all one-way streets so it's not really too bad.

There's a magazine stand where people tend to gather.


We see this guy every afternoon.

He's a recycler--he digs through the trash and pulls out recyclables and turns them in for money. It's a tough but honest way to make a living. This guy is awesome because he is very conscientious with the trash. He goes through it all carefully and puts it all back when he's done. Not all recyclers are so kind--often they leave the trash strewn on the sidewalks.

Here's the view to the right:

On the next corner there is a little strip mall called Babel. There's a place to have açaí (AKA the Brazilian super duper miracle fruit, or whatever they're calling it these days!), a salon, a copy shop, a pizza place and a little ice cream store that has been closed for the past couple of days (we're a little worried!).

Finally, this is what you see when you look straight down:

Nothing too exciting. That's the drive in to our apartment, the front gate and our pool. Jackson and I haven't had a chance to try the pool out yet since it's been so cool and rainy but we're looking forward to the summer months!

We love our new neighborhood!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nifty! It's fun to see where you guys live. We also live in the city, but it's definitely not as big!! We, too, have recyclers. All of Germany is recycle-CRAZY, which makes it a lot easier for the guys who make money off of it. Even public trashcans are sometimes already divided! Looks like you have everything you need close by--did you find the post office yet? :-) Bri

thegermanygirl said...

It all looks lovely, Val! congrats on your new place--and I'll be glad to see interior pics as well. ;o)

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