It’s a 7 hour (750km/466miles) drive from Munich to Nordhorn (where ProHaus is). So when my mom made the offer to stop at her place (which is almost in the middle of the trip) and take the kids for the days we were gone (which the kids wanted to do anyways) we gladly accepted. I am pretty sure the “Bemusterung” (where you pick out everything for the house from roof tiles to toilets) would have bored the kids to death anyways so I was glad Chris and I could go by ourselves.

Bemusterungs appointment was August 25th and 26th with ProHaus paying for the hotel and everything starting August 24th, because they knew our way was long.
Because I know we are not good at making decisions, Chris and I decided to drive up there Sunday August 23rd, check out the ProHaus place on Monday the 24th (just to check what bathtubs etc. they have to make the decision easier), do the appointment 25th and 26th and stay another night till the 27th. So we knew we had to pay 2 extra nights (Sunday to Monday and the night to the 27th) but I it was very much worth it.

We left early Sunday morning and got to Nordhorn in the afternoon. We checked out the hotel and the spa area – all of which was extremely nice – and decided to just take it slow by slowing done in the spa area and having a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant (which was really good! We ate there on two nights. They offer amazing bread baskets with dips. Very yummy.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning we checked out the ProHaus Bemusterungszentrum and realized we actually did mostly like the same stuff. It didn’t take as long as we thought to go through their things but I still recommend going a day early so you can talk about like what kind of front door you want. While they will give you time to think about it when you are actually there for an appointment, that time is usually a minute or two and I couldn’t have decided on things that quickly.
However because it didn’t take as long as we thought, and since the city of Nordhorn is bordering the Netherlands we figured we should head to Amsterdam.

Never did I dislike a city so much. I have traveled quite a lot in Germany, Europe and the States, there are some cities I like more and some I like less, but never did I want to leave a city as badly as Amsterdam. It was dirty, smelly, aggressive and full of drug addicts. Yup, we totally forgot drugs were legal in Amsterdam. While I don’t really mind drugs being legal – I am still not going to use them – I was very disgusted by the smell of everyone smoking weed. People describe it as smelling sweet. I think it smells like puke. Walking through a city that smells like puke to you is not much fun. Every single corner had a weed shop where people set and smoked and looked funny. I really wasn’t a fan and was very happy I didn’t bring the kids. Even my husband, who really, really loves to travel and adapts to all places, didn’t like the city at all.
Our original plan was to eat dinner in Amsterdam, but after seeing weed was even inside of ice cream we didn’t think it would be a good idea. I thought the weed ice cream was pretty funny, at least they tell you it’s weed, however once we got hungry for lunch, I didn’t find it so funny anymore. Remembering now that drugs were legal, I figured better not to sit down in a “bakery” or something for lunch so I thought why not snack on some fries. After all I’d seen all the locals eat fries in a purple paper bag with some yummy looking herb sauce on top. We found the place that sold the fries and when Chris said we should just put ketchup on I said NO! Do as the locals do and eat the herb sauce. While in line though I remembered I was allergic to garlic and figured I’d better ask if there was garlic in the sauce. The person behind the counter didn’t speak German or English, but after some conversation with our hands and feet it was understood that all the locals didn’t eat herb, but weed sauce. I was upset because there was no picture, no nothing to show you it was druggy sauce unless you speak dutch. After that I really just wanted to go back to the hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did decide to give Madame Tussauds a change though so the trip would be at least a little worth while. We had a blast there, I am sure that’s the one thing that made the trip worthwhile. I can highly recommend this to everyone. It’s a blast, even though it’s fairly expensive to get in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didn’t have dinner in Amsterdam though and instead chose this neat little restaurant called Pier 99 by a lake that was just super cute. Made the best milkshakes too. We ended up eating there for the rest of our stay and I can highly recommend it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day at 9am we had our Bemusterungs appointment with Herr H., who was really nice and helped us a lot. First thing he did with us was tell us how much more we already have to pay for the changes we made with the house (extra windows etc.) . We thought we new the exact number – after all we had everything in writing – but turns out our “awesome” sales guy lied to us all over the place and it was more than we thought it would be. The number was a huge shock at first, but after some talking we figured out it already included some of the stuff we new about so the actual number was only half as much. Still not pretty. We actually talked to the manager and the sales guy and it was all this huge, time consuming thing. In the end everyone apologized to us (the numbers we had in writing – and signed! – were literally a lot different from the actual prices.) but nothing was done to change the prices we had to pay. First time we were really disappointed in the company. I was going to write a whole article about it, but after talking to friends and new neighbors, everyone who had build at one point told me it was normal and the same thing happened to all of them (all with different companies). So after a couple of deep breathes, I decided against going into too much detail, it’s not worth my time. It was simply disappointing.

So after we figured out all the numbers and decided we are still going to build the house *hehe*, we started looking at things like doors, windows etc.
I think the entrance door was the hardest decision, there were so many possible colors, ways to put glass in there, kinds of glass, etc. it was crazy. I was very glad that we did look at things the day before and already had some kind of ideas.
In the end we decided on a white door with clear glass in the middle. We got rid of the wood window frames – because I will NOT be painting windows, which sadly cost a little more but now at least we won’t have do deal with wood. The color for the outside of the house was also tough. We knew we wanted light blue but were not prepared for 700 shades of light blue 😉
We had to decide on interior doors, roof tiles, rain gutter colors, door and window handles, light switches, etc. etc. All of this took from 9am to 11pm with a small lunch break (ProHaus offers a warm lunch for free that was actually really good). After we were done we got 50(!) pages to look through back at the hotel before heading back again at 9am the next day. The 50 pages DID contain mistakes (like wrong colors for things, etc.) so we did have to read it carefully. Needles to say we were done at the end of the night (we still had to have dinner too) and went to bed as soon as we were done reading everything.

The next day we finished some of the stuff we didn’t the day before, like picking out bathroom stuff (bathtubs, toilets, etc.). We both wanted a corner bathtub, the kind that looks very nice. There was also this odd tub for corners that the guy called “Trapeze bathtub”. I really didn’t like the looks of it and asked if people actually bought that. He said yes, because unlike the bathtub we want, people can actually lay down in this trapeze thing. I couldn’t believe him, so Chris and I tried it out. Sadly it was true. While the one tub looked a lot better, you couldn’t even lay down in it. In fact even if you sat down in it you legs would barely be covered in water because the overflow valve is so low. So we decided that an ugly tub you can actually use might be better than a good looking one you can’t 😉 Chris even liked the trapeze one better for it’s looks, so it was decided.

And because Chris got to decide on the bathtub, I decided on the toilets. They had regular toilets for free or fancy ones for a bit more. Now you may think a toilet is a toilet and why would you pay extra? Well, the fancy ones had two things in their favor. A) A toilet seat that slowly closes itself, without a sound. No more slamming of toilet seat covers! B) and that’s the coolest part. The fancy ones don’t have a rim. So no more annoying cleaning of toilet rims. I love it. And I have two guys in the house so it will be so well worth it!

After that was going to be tiles and floors. Because we were made a great offer we couldn’t refuse and were able to pick out floors and tiles in crazy big stores in Munich for amazing prices, we didn’t bother keeping the stuff from ProHaus in and took the money back instead. And let me tell you, after taking a look at their tiles, I am more than glad. Flowers, flowers and more flowers and flowery tiles that would make my great-great-grandmas bathroom from the 20’s jealous. ProHaus – really? Even the tiles you had to pay a crazy amount for were just plain um…. unpretty 😉 Not worth it, look for tiles somewhere else.

Then it was hours, hours and more hours of planing every single outlet, every single light switch and lamp. Probably the most boring part. 😉 This again took till around 11pm so ProHaus decided on paying an extra night for us to come back in the morning. YAY! One night saved 😀 We did end up finishing that night but they still paid so I didn’t complain. We still went back the next morning to look at the actual factory building where they make the houses – sadly I am not allowed to upload those pictures – but let me tell you that was worth it. They finish one house ever single day from handing in the drawing to the builders to finished walls, complete with electric wires, water pipes, windows, doors and even shutters. The very nice worker who showed us around explained ever step from a wooden post to a done wall, ready to be shipped to us. We got to see how the stairs were made etc. It was super interesting and you should really take the extra day to look at it if you end up going there. We went home after that and some several hours later celebrated my birthday with the kids, since that happened while we were gone.
All in all it was a great time, and an important step towards getting this house standing.
Now it’s really just a matter of getting that last missing stamp on the building permit and our house will be here!
Here are some impressions of stuff we picked out:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We picked white stairs with dark steps. The “sticks” will  be white but straight cut as well as a straight white pole at the end. We’ll also have a U-shaped staircase.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Floors and tiles we picked out from the Munich stores: