Every girl dreams of meeting a dashing prince who will sweep her off her feet. Well, friends, it finally happened to me.
His name is Prins Henrikkade. You could say he had me at hello.
A listed historical building on the Prins Henrikkade facing the water, a few minutes' walk from Centraal Station and the public library, this apartment got my heart beating from the moment I walked into the perfectly preserved, shared entrance.
Being on the first floor (or second floor to us non-Europeans), even the dreaded staircase was transformed into a delightful confection. Kulang na lang ang yellow gown ko and my Beast waiting on the ground floor. Or, since I have a short bob and no yellow gown, baka dapat ang naghihintay sa akin sa baba ay si Captain Von Trapp.
The front door opened into a spacious kitchen, a full room instead of the little strip that is common to all the apartments I've seen so far. We could probably fit a decent dining table inside. I knew Marlon would love it.
And the living space. Exposed beams, herringbone floors, a gas fireplace... swoon.
*SHOOP!* Your Highness, pardon the sound of my panty falling.
... that looked out into a small light/airwell. The Prins was pushing all the right architectural buttons. Naughty naughty.
A decent-sized second bedroom for our many future guests, and at least one future baby.
Connected by an equally decent-sized bathroom...
... to the most stupendous master bedroom in the history of all house-hunts!
Fall to your knees, peasants! Behold!
I may have seen one too many episodes of So You Think You Can Dance, but it made me feel like breaking into a Viennese waltz. When the housing agent opened the original built-in closets, I simply melted into a vaguely girl-shaped puddle on the floor.
The best part about this handsome Prins? He's well out of the heavily touristed area, but just one or two streets away from the classic city centre views. With a "negotiable" asking price just a hundred Euros away from our budget range, I thought I had found my happily ever after. After seeing the pictures, Marlon gave me the go-ahead to tell our agent to make an offer.
But...
Like many modern-day fairy tales, this one does not have a happy ending.
Choosy pala si Prins Henrikkade. After my agent made the offer, the owner's agent nosed around into Marlon's salary, length of contract and tax status, then requested soft copies of his employment contract and both our passports. Mayabang ang lola mo at muntik ko nang sampalin ang kontrata sa mga mukha nila. But of course there is no way to make sampal with a soft copy, jejeje.
Yesterday I got a call from my agent. The owner rejected our offer. Not because of our income. Not even because of our nationality. But because of... our cat.
Unwanted :( :( :(
"The apartment has been newly carpeted, newly curtained, blah blah blah..."They didn't even want to put in a standard clause holding us liable for all pet-related damage. My agent was pretty pissed (his commission just rode off into the sunset!), declaring this truly unfortunate and unreasonable.
Lesson of the story: don't give your heart to the first Prins you meet. He just might turn out to be another frog.
The End.
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