So house hunting today and 10 places to see so got to keep moving.
(Lucky for us we have a guide and a driver)
First stop one of Stalin’s seven sisters (http://www.moscow-life.com/moscow/seven-sisters) a huge new gothic style building which seems to go on forever. The apartment is a decked out in what appears to be the style of a French boudoir. Ever so slightly weird with two dining rooms and to walk in closets plus two safes. A bathroom which is straight out of a showroom brochure. The whole thing whilst fascinating is probably impractical so we continue on.
Not going to list all of them but I can say that whatever you see on the outside is no indication of what you are going to see inside. Tall square drab buildings reveal subtly you would never imagine and style which would rival anything you are likely to see across any chic European country.
Specifically lighting and bathrooms. Now all of the places we saw had been renovated so I doubt very much the average “Serge” has all of these ameneties but the more I saw the more impressed I got. The one common thing all of them had was very very sturdy iron doors with two triple locks and some level of security. I am not sure I have at any time felt threatened so maybe this is just overkill.
Now Judi being Judi has her list of requirements including, how far to work, from a Metro, from shops, has a spare bedroom, underground parking (good for the cold weather. Mine of course are slightly different where does the sun come up, can I see any trees, how close is the coffee house. Somehow we always work it out. We have gone through this ritual many times now and it always end up with us having a couple of drink and talking ourselves into the right one.
The only exception to this was in 2008 in Atlanta when Judi returned from a trip to find a sheriffs note pinned to the door letting us know the house had been foreclosed and we needed to vacate in 3 weeks. Now I was working in Costa Rica and not due back for 3 weeks so Judi had to do it all on her own and I looked up each house on Google earth and gave comments.
I arrived home on the 25th April and we moved on the 26th with me seeing our new house for the first time the day it happened.
Now that was fun