Paris last minute : Help choose apt.
Dec 17th, 2008, 10:24 AM
#1
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Paris last minute : Help choose apt.
Hello,
We decided 2 days ago to travel to Paris for 2 weeks (Dec 28th - Jan 10th).
After emailing ~100 persons these are our choices for apartments:
1)E560 + electricity [20 rue de Mazagran,75010
(http://paris.en.craigslist.org/sub/957671978.html)]
2)E750 [19 Rue Houdon 75018 (http://paris.craigslist.org/vac/960269297.html)]
3)E840 [56 boulevard Ornano 75018 (http://paris.en.craigslist.org/sub/960680563.html)]
About us:
Late 20s;
First time to Paris
Live in NYC
Last trip: Wedding in Siena & honeymoon in Montepulciano,Italy
We do not need to live close to any sites. Just a Parisian neighbourhood with lots of cafes/bars. All 3 are near Metro stations.
Thank you for your help,
S
We decided 2 days ago to travel to Paris for 2 weeks (Dec 28th - Jan 10th).
After emailing ~100 persons these are our choices for apartments:
1)E560 + electricity [20 rue de Mazagran,75010
(http://paris.en.craigslist.org/sub/957671978.html)]
2)E750 [19 Rue Houdon 75018 (http://paris.craigslist.org/vac/960269297.html)]
3)E840 [56 boulevard Ornano 75018 (http://paris.en.craigslist.org/sub/960680563.html)]
About us:
Late 20s;
First time to Paris
Live in NYC
Last trip: Wedding in Siena & honeymoon in Montepulciano,Italy
We do not need to live close to any sites. Just a Parisian neighbourhood with lots of cafes/bars. All 3 are near Metro stations.
Thank you for your help,
S
Dec 17th, 2008, 10:38 AM
#2
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I don't think Craigslist is the best place to look for a Paris apt.
I'd choose the one at 20 rue de Mazagran, without a doubt. That's near Bonne Nouvelle metro stop and the Porte St-Denis. It's a fairly convenient location and an okay neighborhood. There are some bars and live music spots near there, like this one
http://www.sentierdeshalles.fr/
or the New Morning jazz club, which is famous.
I didn't even look at the other two's photos, but bd Ornano is practically on the northern boundary of Paris, so I'd say it is much too inconvenient a location.
rue Houdon is just a few steps from the Pigalle metro stop and bd Clichy. It's also a bit inconvenient for my taste, but I would not want to be just a few steps from that boulevard which is not particularly scenic or nice.
I'd choose the one at 20 rue de Mazagran, without a doubt. That's near Bonne Nouvelle metro stop and the Porte St-Denis. It's a fairly convenient location and an okay neighborhood. There are some bars and live music spots near there, like this one
http://www.sentierdeshalles.fr/
or the New Morning jazz club, which is famous.
I didn't even look at the other two's photos, but bd Ornano is practically on the northern boundary of Paris, so I'd say it is much too inconvenient a location.
rue Houdon is just a few steps from the Pigalle metro stop and bd Clichy. It's also a bit inconvenient for my taste, but I would not want to be just a few steps from that boulevard which is not particularly scenic or nice.
Dec 17th, 2008, 11:01 AM
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I wouldn't be bothered by the location of the one behind Montmartre - on 56 boulevard Ornano - that's a nice quiet neighborhood, not far from anywhere since it is well served with Métro lines 4 and 12, and in walking distance from Sacré Coeur and the touristy Place du Tertre up top and the non-touristy quaint streets further down on the hill around there, with tons of little corner restaurants and bookshops and so on - looks fine to me.
Take a good look yourself: Go to Google and input simply
map 56 boulevard Ornano Paris 75018
then switch to street view (the photos) and zoom and pan around the nearest photo point that comes up (just around the corner from where the apartment is, in rue Duhesme).
Can you see the blue Google car at the end of the street? The photo team from Google must have been making quite an impression, people seem to be staring, like the guy in denim and the lady with the doggie...
Do the same with Metro Joffrin Paris, then again with Metro Simplon. This will tell you what the neighborhood looks like, where you will walk daily, to shops and to the Métro.
The little park at Clignancourt square is so typical of Paris - a nice place to go read the paper, possibly watch some oldies play pétanque or boules...
Would work for me if everything else about the apartment pans out..
Take a good look yourself: Go to Google and input simply
map 56 boulevard Ornano Paris 75018
then switch to street view (the photos) and zoom and pan around the nearest photo point that comes up (just around the corner from where the apartment is, in rue Duhesme).
Can you see the blue Google car at the end of the street? The photo team from Google must have been making quite an impression, people seem to be staring, like the guy in denim and the lady with the doggie...
Do the same with Metro Joffrin Paris, then again with Metro Simplon. This will tell you what the neighborhood looks like, where you will walk daily, to shops and to the Métro.
The little park at Clignancourt square is so typical of Paris - a nice place to go read the paper, possibly watch some oldies play pétanque or boules...
Would work for me if everything else about the apartment pans out..
Dec 17th, 2008, 12:13 PM
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I'll be there roughly the same dates, and have an apartment rented in Montmartre. I'm guessing it's somewhat close to the one you're looking at (which I agree looks really nice), and I just wanted to let you know that I found it on Craiglist. This is actually the second time I'm going to stay there; it was wonderful.
Now, the guy who owns it lives in NYC, so I was dealing with someone over here versus over there. But it was an easy transaction the first time, and even easier this time (he mailed me the keys).
I definitely think Montmartre is charming, and as some of the other posters said, the metro system is so easy to navigate that getting to central Paris really didn't take that long at all. On such short notice, I agree that you have to take what you can get.
Enjoy your trip...and maybe we'll run into each other
Now, the guy who owns it lives in NYC, so I was dealing with someone over here versus over there. But it was an easy transaction the first time, and even easier this time (he mailed me the keys).
I definitely think Montmartre is charming, and as some of the other posters said, the metro system is so easy to navigate that getting to central Paris really didn't take that long at all. On such short notice, I agree that you have to take what you can get.
Enjoy your trip...and maybe we'll run into each other
Dec 17th, 2008, 12:30 PM
#7
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Hi kyliebaby, what apt are you referring to - the first one?
I am starting to lean towards the first one too..
Its nice to hear that the neighbourhood is 'charming'.. Send me an email [email protected] with your email and maybe we can run into each other...
I am starting to lean towards the first one too..
Its nice to hear that the neighbourhood is 'charming'.. Send me an email [email protected] with your email and maybe we can run into each other...
Dec 17th, 2008, 04:35 PM
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Note: Both rue Houdon (your second listing) and blvd Ornano (your third listing) are in the Montmartre region. But there is a big difference.
Rue Houdon is on the south side of the hill, just around the corner from the sleazy red-light district of Pigalle. The illicit or otherwise annoying activities go on precisely in those side streets, and coming home via the Métro stop Pigalle may or may not amuse you at night. In this apartment's favor: It gives out onto an inner courtyard so you won't hear as much of the street.
If you use the Google street view for rue Houdon, it shows pix from one street over, rue des Martyrs. It's daytime, you see a couple of nightclubs, Le Divan duMonde (an edgy music nightclub that looks very cool) and Madame Arthur (transvestite cabaret - to each his own...), a couple of cafés - welcome to Paris-Pigalle.
Now, to clarify, I have no empirical evidence that exactly this particular street is affected by the sex trade, but the area is, so it is something to consider. I wouldn't care but I know people who very much would care, so there you have it.
Ornano is on the other side, the northern side of the hill, it has none of those disadvantages - it is the one that I highlighted with the Google street-view photographs in my earlier post.
But if your legs don't hold up - yes, it is on the 5th étage ("stage" misprint in the ad) which is 6th floor in the US-American numbering.
Rue Houdon is on the south side of the hill, just around the corner from the sleazy red-light district of Pigalle. The illicit or otherwise annoying activities go on precisely in those side streets, and coming home via the Métro stop Pigalle may or may not amuse you at night. In this apartment's favor: It gives out onto an inner courtyard so you won't hear as much of the street.
If you use the Google street view for rue Houdon, it shows pix from one street over, rue des Martyrs. It's daytime, you see a couple of nightclubs, Le Divan duMonde (an edgy music nightclub that looks very cool) and Madame Arthur (transvestite cabaret - to each his own...), a couple of cafés - welcome to Paris-Pigalle.
Now, to clarify, I have no empirical evidence that exactly this particular street is affected by the sex trade, but the area is, so it is something to consider. I wouldn't care but I know people who very much would care, so there you have it.
Ornano is on the other side, the northern side of the hill, it has none of those disadvantages - it is the one that I highlighted with the Google street-view photographs in my earlier post.
But if your legs don't hold up - yes, it is on the 5th étage ("stage" misprint in the ad) which is 6th floor in the US-American numbering.
Dec 17th, 2008, 06:47 PM
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Cool, just around the corner from the Faubourg Saint-Denis, and you can walk to the remarkable Pompidou center (“Le Beaubourg” in the local vernacular), and to the equally remarkable but very different www.arts-et-métiers.net museum, and even as far as the Rue Rambuteau and Rue des Lombards, with more restos and jazz clubs etc. than you can imagine. Fingers crossed that it all works out, should be great.
Dec 18th, 2008, 06:48 AM
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If the link above doesn't work (and it won't), try this one: www.arts-et-metiers.net
(The HTTP standard for URLs doesn't allow accented characters.)
(The HTTP standard for URLs doesn't allow accented characters.)
Dec 18th, 2008, 07:32 AM
#14
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Thanks for the info..Will check it all out..The mattress is on a platform not on the floor. Not ideal, but our youth allows us to be flexible(for now!!).
We are not paying any money until we get there. Also I have requested that the security deposited be paid as a cheque so we have some proof of payment.
Thanks,
S
We are not paying any money until we get there. Also I have requested that the security deposited be paid as a cheque so we have some proof of payment.
Thanks,
S
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