We moved out of our apartment last Saturday night to spend a night at the Nassau Inn in downtown Princeton the night before our flight to Sweden. We'd sold all of our furniture and the rest of our belongings had been packed and put into the shipping container. We had a lovely last dinner (or so we thought) with our friends Malin, Kristin and Linden. Sunday morning we woke to find that our flight, which was supposed to depart at 9:30 that night from JFK, had been delayed seven hours and was now scheduled to leave at 4:30am. We decided to rebook to the following night, because we didn't want to take August on a middle-of-the night flight. Unfortunately, the flight we were rescheduled onto was also seven hours late, but we took it anyway. We stayed at the hotel for three nights (the last night only until midnight, when our car arrived to take us to the airport), and had another afternoon and another farewell dinner with Malin, Kristin and Linden. It was so much fun, during our last week in Princeton, to watch Linden and Augie spend so much time together. They both seemed to really enjoy being around each other, and it was a delight for us to watch Augie's interactions with another kid (well, except when he was hitting Linden or snatching things from him).
The flight was fine; we were placed on a EuroAtlantic flight (instead of Norwegian Air, which we had booked), but we had business class seats. Flying business class internationally makes all the difference: we all slept for about five hours, nearly horizontal, with Augie lying on my chest and between my legs that whole time. He spent the rest of the flight exploring our cabin and the service areas. The flight crew was Portuguese, and it was surprising to me that the men on the crew took to Augie and were patient and understanding with his constant running around. At one run around the cabin, two of the male attendants interrupted what they were doing to reach down and tousle his hair. Although we must have been disruptive, the crew didn't make us feel that way.
So now we've moved into our apartment and are settling in. We're in a great neighborhood with parks and shops and cafes everywhere around us, only about 75 meters from the water (though we can't quite see it from our windows). However, as much as we had looked forward to settling into this neighborhood and spending a year or so in the city before moving farther afield, we don't think living in this building is going to work for our family. The biggest issue is the stairs: just to get in to the building from the street, you have to walk up a set of stairs before you reach the main level (where the teeny-tiny elevator is). It's quite difficult to pull the stroller up the stairs, especially for a pregnant lady. And it's going to be even harder when there are two babies in the stroller! Yesterday we went grocery shopping and I tried to pull the stroller up with Augie and one bag of groceries in it; I couldn't! In fact, the effort gave me a Braxton-Hicks contraction (a so-called "practice" contraction). By peeking through entryways, we've noticed that almost every other building in the neighborhood has an inner ramp to guide baby-toting parents into the building - we seem to be in the only one that doesn't.
The elevator fits three people, if they really like each other and if they aren't carrying anything; again, I don't know how I can get from the stroller storage room up to the apartment if I am carrying two babies, a diaper bag, and even a small bag of groceries. We met a couple the other night who moved out of this neighborhood when they had children for these very reasons.
We have some other small issues with the apartment itself that compound the accessibility question (miniscule bathrooms, odd layout, the apartment already being so full of someone else's stuff that there's hardly room for our things). We are in the process of looking for something else, which has taken no small amount of pleading and wrangling with the property owner and the rental agency. And it's been shocking how unsympathetic, even unhelpful, the rental agency has been. I imagine Swedes don't ever complain, or that they would never consider moving out in the way that we are, so they just don't know what to do with us. It also demonstrates that Stockholm is very much a lessor's market, and the slim pickings for lessees mean there is little negotiating room - or sympathy - when something doesn't work.
All of this said, now that we have some of our basic errands out of the way and the jet lag is diminishing, we are starting to enjoy being here and beginning to imagine what our lives might be as we integrate ourselves into the life of the city. After going to the bank this afternoon (we had to talk our way in, because counter service for customers ends at 1pm!), we sat in a park while Augie played in a sandbox (below) and chased pigeons. We watched families coming and going, young children playing, watching and listening to the city around us. At least for a few moments, it felt good to be here.
Augie's adjusting well, exploring his new home and getting into the new time zone, though evenings are difficult as he's tired and overstimulated and prone to hitting and fit-throwing. We've taken some evening walks along the water, which have been lovely. We're quite torn in our decision to leave, because we love the area more the longer we're here; but we just can't see, from a practical standpoint, how we can make it work.
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