Schierstein

Things that have gone wrong in our latest temporary apartment:

• No hot water

• The upstairs toilet wouldn’t flush (on two different occasions)

• One side of the mattress support for the bed fell down multiple times

Honestly though, it hasn’t been that bad. The cottage is very small and the ceilings in a few of the space are ridiculously low, but it’s still a really nice place in a fantastic area. Plus, the woman who owns the apartment is very responsive and eager to make sure everything is going well. From what she has said this is a passion project for her, it’s her first foray into the rental property realm, and we are the first guests in the apartment. On top of that, they only finished the renovations a few hours before we arrived, so when things have gone wrong she has been very quick to get it sorted out, to include getting a plumber to fix the hot water on a Sunday evening.

While the apartment is quite nice, it’s really the location that makes this stay special. We are in Schierstein, right across from a small harbor off the Rhein River. While you can drive in the road right in front of the apartment, it’s mostly a bike path with a few cars going very slowly as the drivers look for parking and try not to hit anyone. There is also a wide pedestrian trail along the water, several places to buy ice cream, a few restaurants and bakeries within easy walking distance, and a couple of wine stands for everyone to enjoy while watching the sail boats, kayakers, paddle boarders, geese, swans, and whatever else appears on the water. In addition to the great location, we also have some coworkers who live a couple of blocks away, and they have invited us on several outings with their neighbors, which has made us feel very welcome.

Other than the inconveniences of having things go wrong because we’re the first people to stay in a newly renovated place and the low ceilings, there is only one big issue with this apartment: walking the dogs. It wouldn’t be a big deal if our dogs were well-behaved like the German dogs we see everywhere, but instead they are very reactive to other dogs, and the pedestrian path is extremely popular for dog walking. I have quickly mastered the sentence “Sie is nicht brav” (she is not well behaved) when Ghost starts losing her mind about another dog, or when a German with a perfectly well-behaved dog looks interested in letting our dogs meet; luckily that is usually a short lived impulse once Ghost starts barking and screaming at them.

For the most part the walks have only been a little embarrassing and frustrating, but I managed to get my pinky finger caught in Ghost’s harness as she tried to lunge across the road to get to another dog the other day. I’m not sure if she broke my finger or just jammed it — but after two days I have a lot more mobility, so I opted not to get an x-ray.

Because of the injury I tried a new tactic when I walked Ghost the next time — I took a ball with me, which instantly and completely caused Ghost to fixate on the ball and nothing else. I could have walked her through a herd of elephants and she wouldn’t have even noticed. I did manage to walk her past several dogs along the path without her even realizing they existed, although they (and their owners) definitely noticed her, since she was breathing louder than a freight train out of excitement. On the other hand, she was also so completely fixated on the ball that she had no interest in going potty, which most of the reason we were out there, and on our second trip outside with the ball she kept jumping for it and managed to injure her leg when she landed badly. I took her to the vet to get checked out after a solid day of favoring the leg and walking with a pronounced limp, but the vet couldn’t find anything wrong with her.

We will be in this apartment until 1 August and then we will finally move into our new apartment. about 15 minutes north of here. We were originally trying to get into one of the houses down the block from this apartment, but we couldn’t get the timing to work out with the coworkers who were leaving, which was a little sad. On the other hand, at least we get to enjoy the location for 5 solid weeks and we will be here for their big summer festival in mid-July.