Renting an Apartment in Paris - Some Things to Think About

     Mike and I just returned from France.  We decided to rent an apartment rather than staying in a hotel.  It promised to be a better value especially since we would have a kitchen for preparing some of our meals.  The apartment had a washer and dryer, so we figured we wouldn't have to take so many changes of clothing.  We also thought it would be nice to have a living room area for watching TV (even if the only channels in English were BBC and Al Jazeerah).  To top it all off, after having seen our share of "House Hunters International" episodes, we yearned for a real Parisian experience.  Here are a few things to think about before you run out and do the same thing.
     We booked our pied-à-terre through Rentals in Paris.  You can see the write up and pictures of the apartment by clicking this link: http://www.rentals-paris.com/birague.shtml
     It looks fabulous, huh?  Rentals in Paris did a superb job staging this place for photos.  The website's pictures didn't match the apartment's reality.  I won't put side-by-side pics on my blog since I don't "own" the Rentals in Paris photos.  You'll have to compare by jumping back and forth from their website to my pictures.

The website shows a flat screen TV sitting atop a sleek, modern entertainment console.  Routers and remotes are neatly laid out next to the television.  We found the TV mounted on the wall.  The routers and remotes were in the basket on the floor.  

The stove shown on the rental website is a stainless steel range with four burners.  We had a two burner induction cook top, the other half of the range area being filled in with some ceramic tile.  Obviously, the four burner cook top had been replaced.  I'm sure the new appliance performs better than the old one did, but it doesn't have the same look, does it?  We never cooked anything that required more than two burners, but the renter who wants to cook up a big feast with be disappointed they didn't get four burners.

The website pictured a modern leather (perhaps pleather) sofa in front of the TV.  We found some sort of metal two seater that could have been a child's day bed or a piece of porch furniture.  It wasn't comfortable and a good-sized American male would fear falling through it. 

This is not a complaint, just a word of warning.  City apartments are small, especially apartments in European cities.  The den was not much more than four suitcases wide.  The ceilings might have been six feet high.  The other rooms in the apartment, while small, had adequate ceiling height.  

My cousins, whom we went to visit, asked us if our apartment was clean.  We responded that it was clean enough, but not extremely clean.  They said, "Oh, it's French clean!"  This foot stool was covered in an assortment of smears.  We found dust and a bit of greasy film on top of the refrigerator, cabinet fronts, and back splash .  The apartment was adequately clean, but I wouldn't eat off the floors (as the saying goes).  I didn't find any bugs, dead or alive, so that pleased me.

The curtains in one bedroom showed what looked like water stains.  Also, the hems had been taken out, maybe for a little extra length.  Hemless, frayed drapes don't convey "beauty" or "elegance" to me.     

     Heat and hot water was more than adequate, but the air conditioning touted in the apartment's write up would have failed us if the weather had been warm.  There was a floor model AC unit that vented through a window and would serve only one room at a time.  The washer and dryer did not perform like American appliances.  The wash and dry cycles were extremely long and temperatures for the cycles had to be set in degrees Celsius.  Make sure you bring along the formula for converting temperatures.  

     A final caution would be to think about how many stairs you are willing to climb.  While our apartment was said to be on the second floor, one has to remember that the first floor is called the ground floor in France.  The second level is the first floor, and the third level is the second floor.  We had to climb two flights of winding stairs.  The original wooden stairs were worn and sloped downward.  We aren't as sure of our footing as we used to be, so we were a bit wary when we descended those stairs each morning.  We huffed and puffed climbing the stairs each evening, but we are proud to say we increased our stamina after the first week.    

     The beds were comfortable, as advertised.  The neighborhood was safe and filled with nice restaurants.  There was a supermarket and pharmacy just a short walk away.  There were two metro stations, also a short walk in opposite directions.  We were able to stay for less in an expensive and exclusive area by going the apartment rental route.  If you decide to do the same, take the descriptions and the photographs on rental sites with a big spoonful of salt.