I love cleaning windows. At least I used to back in Germany. Over here – not so much. And that is because window cleaning in the US is so much less gratifying. Not because the windows get less dirty and you wouldn’t see the difference. The difference is in the windows themselves.
Germans love their windows open. Even when it’s raining or when it’s starting to get cold. Maybe that is why you will find tilting windows everywhere. Closed at the bottom, open at the top, they render a room fresh air at all times, usually without any rain getting inside. They also open like doors – mostly to the inside of a room. I do wonder, though, how people clean windows e.g. in the Northern German city of Celle – there the windows of old town houses open to the outside. Which is excellent to obstruct burglars (Clang – take this one into your head, Mister!). But I’d prefer not to hang outside, waist over the sill on a fourth floor, and try to reach the outside pane for cleaning. Even just closing such windows probably happens only under risk of death.
Windows opening to outside on a fourth floor in the German city of Celle – I still wonder how they clean them.Windows over here are certainly less dangerous than those from Celle (unless you count in those cathedral ceilings with floor to ceiling windows or any kind of skylights). For some cases, you simply need professional gear to clean windows thoroughly – but even then, some places escape you. Sliding windows always have parts nobody reaches. Which takes away from my satisfaction. Or you hire a professional window cleaner – but will they take a window apart to reach the places where the frames overlap? I highly doubt it. Also, it’s hard to get all the dirt out of the sliding frame. Whenever you move the window over a freshly cleaned place, you can be sure that you reapply dirt from underneath the pane.
Another part of the German window I really miss – window sills. Not just because they are often wide enough to be usable for potted plants (my German kitchen sill used to be an herb garden). They are usually made from sealed marble or granite – which means you can simply wash them down and keep them clean as well.
Is it a wonder Germans love their windows and window sills? I remember some that looked like conservatories. I remember bedding hanging out of windows for airing. Or people spending hours at times hanging out in their windows (windows widely open), making conversation with whomsoever from the neighborhood passed by. (Here goes the image of the reserved German, right?)
Along with German windows comes a curtain system that I sorely miss. I don’t like threading my kitchen curtains over an extendable curtain rod that is weirdly resistant when it comes to putting it back up again. I loved my little wheels that were attached to the curtains even during laundry and that I pushed back into the rails straight under the ceiling. Here, I’m dealing with juggling two and more rods, curtains on, depending on how many layers I prefer at a window. Maybe that is why so many homes here have no curtains at all?
Well, it’s time for my fall window cleaning. You want holiday guests to be able to take a look out of the windows, right? I guess I will head out to Lowes and check for more professional window cleaning gear and give it a try. At least, I’m not living on a fourth floor.
I fondly remember the windows of our apartment in Germany. We lived above a storefront with the landlady and two other families residing on the upper floors. At the time, it puzzled me why bedding was placed in the windows. Now that down duvets have traveled across the water, it makes more sense.
Thank you for mentioning the wide sills. We are planning a kitchen remodel and I will ask for a wider sill over my sink. Perhaps it is time for another trend to make its way to the PNW.
How fun – and thank you for your kind comment!
Airing bedding is a big deal in Germany – it also prevents bedbugs (they love the warmth and moisture a human body leaves behind in the bedding…). It was not a thing generally done in Germany though to air your bedding in your window. Not everybody thinks their bedding is their neighbors business; my mother certainly didn’t. It was windows wide open, with the bedding cast aside and fluffed up, for at least 30 minutes with us.
Ask me sometime how my mother cleaned her windows in Kiel.
Probably no different from the varieties I know 😉
Not only were the windows and sills better but how about the shutters? The real working ones. The 2 story house we rented in Herbitzheim had those large windows and shutters. In summer we could enjoy the outside air and still have the security not that we needed it, and blocking out the heat of the sun by closing the shutters.. Marble was everywhere, sills and floors. And the the rolling curtains.
There was a German Curtain store on Bridgeport 45 years ago and we bought a set of those but I ended up modifying them to accommodate the rods and my use of draperies over the curtains.
Growing up long ago in NYC we too had wide sills and they were good for sitting and looking at the stars and dreaming. The old may become new again, look at the clothing trend right now, 40s & 50s revisited.
Thank you for the fun reminder about German shutters. There are three kinds of those actually, and I only experienced the hinged ones during vacations. Usually we had roll tops made from heavy plastic or wood, coming down outside the window. Or Venetian blinds in between the window panes or inside the room. The heavy roll tops made also for a good barrier against hail.
Btw, Herbitzheim is in France … Or did you mean Herbolzheim near Freiburg/Breisgau? Pure curiosity, of course 🙂
In 1972 Herbitzheim was 5 km from the French border and was part of Germany. The area went back and forth over the decades we were told. One of our neighbors by the name of Martin was a citizen of both as the times changed. there were still bunkers used by the Germans in the area for shelters during WW2. The town had been leveled in the raids and as so many residents showed us they rebuilt the town from the ruins using much of the same materials that were left. The house we lived in as well. It sat on 1 1/2 acres on a hill with an orchard and had more modern steam heat which many still didn’t have. The sisters who owned it rented to the Americans and we were one of two families there. They also owned the local Gasthouse. My kids got creamed in soccer with the local boys but my boys had better aim when it came to apples fights across the fence. Nice memories. The adjacent town was Rubenheim 1Km away. the base near Landstull is no longer there. Sunday walks in the hills and my first time hearing a CooCoo bird.
That is so interesting! And now I found 2 (!) Herbitzheims, one in Germany near Gersheim and another one in France across the border. So I guess yours is the former, as it is closer to Landstuhl (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbitzheim_(Gersheim)). Unfortunately the English link sends you to the other, the French Herbitzheim.
Ah, kids and their battles. I sure had mine, too. 🙂
Sorry I goofed. Not Landstuhl but Zweibrucken.
I know. But Germany is quite small 😉 Zweibruecken is what? – half an hour away from Landstuhl …
Yes Gersheim was the next town over going toward Zweibrucken. Only with my children do these names come up and they enjoyed the experience and German friends from the town.