Dear Fodorites,
We're about to rent a vacation apartment on Blvd. Edgar Quinet, 14.
arrondissement in Paris and I'd appreciate your input on the location and
the web based rental agency www.nyhabitat.com in New York.

Also, what's the "reasonably fit adult" walking time/distance from the
apartment to Jardin du Luxembourg ?

The apartment is situated pretty much on the corner of Cimetiere de
Montparnasse that is closer to Gare Montparnasse, but I don't have the
excact number of the street yet.

I've taken a look at the street in general at www.pagesjaunes.fr photos and
the buildings looks nice enough.

The neighbourhood is described as "lively", and I guess Blvd. Edgar Quinet
sees some traffic, but are we talking "disco/pubs downstairs" lively
traffic, just cars or worse ;-) ?

TIA and best regards
Cecilie Thorning Jacobsen, Denmark

It would be about 1/2 mile walk, so 10-15 minutes..?

There is a street market 2 days a week along blvd EQ, and on Sundays there is the "Marche Creation" arts market..

I didn't notice any clubs along EQ - actually there are quite a few 'funeral' related businesses, as you might guess. The cemetery is interesting and very well-maintained.

There are two cyber cafes in the area, I'll have to get the addresses. Plenty of cafes and restaurants, on and off blvd Montparnasse and also on the far side of the cemetery in the rue Daguerre area. Several cinemas on blvd Montparnasse as well. The view from the terrace on top of Tour Montparnasse is fantastic.

We stay south of Denfert Rochereau and like this general area a lot.

Here are those internet shops:
XS Arena
5 rue d'Odessa 75014
www.xsarena.com
M: Montparnasse;Edgar Quinet

Cyber Cube - Montparnasse
9, rue d'Odessa 75014
http://www.cybercube.fr/us/index.htm
M: Montparnasse-Bienvenue, Edgar Quinet

Thanks Travelnut ;-)
I kind of like the idea of a street market, although it will probably be a bit noisy on the 1st floor apartment (2nd floor American).
I always bring earplugs when travelling, and no matter how well we prepare it is always interesting to see how our 3½ year old daughter deals on this particular trip ;-)

BTW do you have any restaurant tips to share ?

Having an early lunch (around 12-13)with our daughter in a nice restaurant and dinner at home has worked rather well (as in quiet) on several trips.

The max. lunch budget per person is 100 Euro provided the quality/price rate is high.
We'd appreciate less expensive alternatives as well, but are very willing to splurge at least 6 of our 12 day vacation.

TIA Cecilie

I have no experience with dining at the generous budget you have specified, not even for <i>dinner</i>.

But there are some nice bistros just north of you:
-Cameleon 6 Rue De Chevreuse 75006
-Chez Marcel 7 Rue Stanislas 75006
-Natasha 17bis Rue Campagne-premi&egrave;re 75014
and the famous cafes:
-Coupole 102 Boulevard de Montparnasse 75006
-Dome 108 Blvd du Montparnasse 75014

I suspect many/all of these are on www.reservethebest.com

Thanks again for your tips - bistros with a good chef should *never* be discarded no matter the flexibility of the budget.

During our last visit 6 years back we were very happy with the recommandations of www.jack-travel.com, but it seems that they have not been updated since 2002.

How's Zagat's compared to Michelin's Red Guide ?

TIA
Cecilie

I will let someone else compare notes on the dining guides...
We are the types to frequent Asian delis, pizza places, corner cafe, etc. Our &quot;French bistro&quot; experiences have been Chez Charles-Victor (14th), Chantairelle (5th) and Le 27 Gourmand (17th)...

Michelin Red is rigorous ratings based on a number of specified details. Zagat is the masses (like us) voting for popularity, and my idea of &quot;tasty&quot; or &quot;expensive&quot; is not necessarily anyone else's idea. It's nice to think that the extreme opinions balance each other out, but it's also possible for anyone to vote on a restaurant they've never been to.
Still Zagat is useful to carry around, and it includes a LOT of places to eat.

I stay in that neighborhood a lot and really like it. I've probably viewed that apt. on their website when I was looking. I don't think much of that agency myself, but not because I think they will rip you off but just because they aren't really much of an agency and don't do anything for their fee (which is very high). They charge about 1/3 commission and then do practically nothing but put you in touch with the owner. You are completely on your own, and it is up to the owner to set the terms, refund your deposit, etc. NY Habitat doesn't guarantee or do anything.

When I use an agency, I expect them to do something for their fee. If you don't mind that, that's the only comment I have about them.

That is lively in the sense that is it a major street, not some little alley, and there are restaurants on it. It's not super noisy because one side is the cemetery, but cars can even park in the median. There are no discos, but there are clubs on that street (and a couple are gay/lesbian, I think, but not the super-noisy flashy disco kind) -- they are more on the western end of Quinet, say inbetween the Quinet metro stop and the gare Montparnasse. It's pretty quiet going east from there in that regard (most of the restaurants are down in that end, also).

If the apt. is right near the Quinet metro stop, it will be somewhat noisy if you are on the first floor, as that's where a lot of the people are.

I don't understand the location you cited (corner of the cemetery that is closer to the gare). The cemetery runs the entire length of Quinet between the gare and bd Raspail, and there are several &quot;corners&quot; along that entire stretch where there are driveways or walkways into the cemetery. If you mean the apt. is near gare Montparnasse, that would be the more noisy end of the street, but it's not nearly as bad as many other areas of Paris.

Hi C,

&gt;what's the &quot;reasonably fit adult&quot; walking time/distance from the
apartment to Jardin du Luxembourg ?&lt;

Go to www.mappy.com. Enter your address and &quot;Luxembourg&quot;. Click &quot;pedestrian&quot;.

&gt;The max. lunch budget per person is 100 Euro...&lt;

Mon Dieu!!!!!! YOu can have lunch at Taillevent for only 70E.

Ceclie,

I may be in a minority that finds the Zagat usually quite reliable. We don't routinely dine in the upper-end restaurants that your budget allows, and frankly I don't think it's a good idea to do so that more than once every three days or so, because more often can rob one of the pleasure of surprise. The Gault-Millau Paris restaurant guide and the Time Out are two others we routinely consult for Paris dining, and once or twice it's fun to try a place remarked while wandering the streets - for the full house and pleasant looking room, not to mention what can be gathered from glimpses of people's plates. In those cases, we return a later day after having reserved.

Goodmorning Fodorites,
Christina, I happen to agree with your comments about nyhabitat.com, but the apartment # 1706 is so far the nicest looking/best located/reasonably priced place we could find for that period in April.
We wanted to stay within a reasonable walking distance to a playground (Jd. du Lux.) in either 5, 6, 7 or central 14th arr., so that's how we've chosen it.

I appreciate everyone's comments about the price level in the restaurants - our last visit was 6 years ago and I'm just mentally prepared for a Copenhagen-pricelevel in the upscale restaurants.

Please keep the comments flowing ;-)
Cecilie

I would keep Googling around for vacation rentals.

nyhabitat.com does have a nice presentation so if that helps rent the apts., I guess their fee is justified.

Often you see the same properties listed on more than one site. You may be able to contact the owner directly and negotiate a better rate.

Not sure why one person listed the cyber cafes but if you're looking for Internet access, seems like for what they're asking, the property should come with DSL.

That's a nice area though, pretty close to the 6th, although like I said, depending on when you need to rent, there should be properties closer to the Jardin du Luxembourg, maybe on the Blvd. St. Germain side or the St. Michel sides.

Your budget is certainly enviable (100 Euro/pp for lunch?) for a budget travel website! If you can really afford it, there's no question that Michelin is the way to go. I'm totally unaware of how Paris 3 star's might recieve toddlers although I'd suspect that lunch, as you imply, is more viable than dinner.

Did you see these relatively casual (and cheap!) 3 star bistros/chefs that look great in Paris?
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/01/2...l/22paris.html

Cecile, I know what you mean about NYHabitat. The bottom line is the comparison of the price versus other agencies, and if it is the same or better, that's your main reason to decide. My main complaint with them was the apt. price was acceptable with the commission (which is added in for the terms of less than a month, I think--for long term, you really have to be sure about that), but that they didn't do anything for their fee. When I rent from other agencies, I know they are the ones who must return my deposit and that I have a &quot;company&quot; I can redress (or complain to authorities about) if they don't return the deposit, things like that.

IN any case, I still really like the location. As for playgrounds, the Lux. gardens are really nioce, of course, but there is a small local playground that is much closer and where lots of locals take their children (and some nannies, also). That is the small playground on the side of Notre Dame des Champs church at the corner of bd Montparnasse and rue Montparnasse. There is also a really nice park area in back of gare Montparnasse (Jardin Atlantique), and that may be a little closer than Lux Gardens, also. IN any case, you won't run out of playgrounds! There is sometimes a carousel on the parvis of the Montparnasse tower, also.

Just a couple other comments -- there are a couple nice toy/game stores on bd Edgar Quinet not far from that corner, and some art supply stores, also. There is also a very large general discount and grocery store just about a block away (Inno).

There was a woman recently who stayed in a hotel very near that apt with her daughter who was about 11 years old, and she wrote a really great trip report on her experience and talked a lot about the neighborhood. YOu might want to look that trip report up, it was really good. Her name is Teri, I think. Maybe someone else can find the thread for you, I am not good at that kind of thing or copying the URL.

Thanks for those last recommandations as well -sounds as if I should consider booking some of the lunches already ;-)
The food budget is pretty much: boulangerie breakfast in apartment, preferably a good restaurant lunch where we'll splurge if necessary, icecream/crepe of the day for our daughter, coffee stop for the parents, dinner made from whatever ingredients the supermarket/whichever foodshop we pass can provide.
6 years ago we had memorable food in Paris - it wasn't necessarily expensive, but that's just a part of our holiday budget that has always had a high priority.

Dear Christina,
Thanks a bunch for the info about nearby playgrounds. The apartment itself and the area still sounds nice.
We still agree completely about the fact that the success of this particular rental totally depends on the owner of the place and in *no* way the agency.

I *know* there are tons of small playgrounds scattered all over Paris centre, but since I didn't know the excact locations I had to limit the apt.search to 5.,6. and 7th arr. due to Champs de Mars and Jd. du Lux.
As you can imagine it has been rather maddening to ignore 1-4. arr. completely due to missing info on playgrounds ;-)
The bottom line is: we're going for 12 nights 9-21st of April (over Easter) and all the best located, nicest looking and cheaper apartments I found were booked.

I checked at least 17 larger and smaller agencies incl. vrbo.com and agree that a lot of the apartments are represented by more agencies.
So I'm pretty much &quot;agencied out&quot;, but I'm sure there'll be another visit within the next 10 years, so the lesson is &quot;don't book late unless you have the stomach for the last-minute offers&quot; ;-)

I'm interested, Cecilie, in your comment that you could look t the buildings in your area on www.pagesjaunes.fr. How does this work? We've rented a place on Rue Mouffetard and would love to know how it looks. Do you have to know the eact address? Thanks.

Yes, you open that website (Paris Yellow Pages) and enter the street address - if you know the postal code, that goes into 'localit&eacute;'; if not,just enter Paris.
Click on 'photo' and a new/smaller window will open. Use the arrows to navigate.