The first thing I do when we arrive at Champagne is to re-arrange the furniture so that I can sit in a easy chair, read a book, and look out one of the 6 French doors to the corner of Ave Rapp & Bourdonnais. I keep an eye on people coming & going and having lunch or dinner outside at the Brasserie Champ de Mars. I keep an ear out for the "klop klop" of the horse & buggy coming up Bourdonnais. Also the hop-on-hop-off bus. Around 7pm, it's fun to watch the commuters drive up Ave Rapp - especially in winter. In fall, watching the late sun shine on the Hausseman building across the street is spectacular - especially with the Eiffel Tower behind it. We made a poster out of a photo my wife took of this scene, & it's framed & hangs in our kitchen. One morning while we were there just before Christmas, it was strangely silent when we woke up one morning. It had just snowed. We had an early reservation for the Renoire exhibit at the Grand Palais. The bus system was shut down & we had to walk along the Seine to the exhibit. Our footprints were the first ones in the snow along the Seine that morning.

Stu Dudley

Sounds idyllic... makes me want to start planning.

Do you have a link to any pictures?

Nope. My wife did a Shutterfly book of our trip, but because of Shutterfly software problems, it is no longer viewable - unless you have a Shutterfly account.

Stu Dudley

I do, actually, but understand if you want to keep them private.

Again, enjoy your trip to France tomorrow!

OK - see if you can move this to your account.

https://stududley.shutterfly.com/44

Let me know how it goes. Taxi arrives tomorrow at 11:15 Calif time.

Stu Dudley

scrb11 - Many deluxe apartments charge 350 EU and even more per night. Some of them are not even special or that large.

I book a hotel room to sleep, shower and dress. People who want to "take their whole home with them" are a mystery to me.

I don't have a Shutterfly account, and I can see all of your photos, Stu.

Got it. Thanks!

We want a full report when you get back!

1. those offered by the owner/resident for a period not to exceed 120 days a year.

We rent from a person that owns and lives in her building. She lives on one floor, her sons are on another and the third floor she rents when her daughter is not there. She lives in another country. The fourth floor she rents long term to a Doctor.

fuzzbucket, I pack very little so love having a washing machine and eating in for majority of meals. We eat out for lunch but like shopping and bringing food back for breakfast and late night.

This last trip we had to eat out for every meal and I craved fresh simple food. I was dying at the town markets. So many fresh veggies. I wanted to buy the Jersey potatoes but no way to cook them.
Anyway, not planning a Paris trip for a while but enjoy Stu!!

I don't think it's about "taking your whole home with you." At least it wasn't that for us.

>>I don't have a Shutterfly account, and I can see all of your photos, Stu.<<

That's interesting. I can't view them.

Trophy - I don't do trip reports. Besides, we're returning to "old favorites" this June, and they are included in my 33 page Provence/Cote d'Azur itinerary.

Stu Dudley

Many days I'll just sit inside or outside of one of our gites (we've rented 66 so far) & read a book while looking out at Mt Blanc, the Dordogne River, Alps, Pyrenees, Eiffel Tower, etc - and enjoy a "do nothing day". I usually consume several hours to make chicken stock from a leftover rotisserie chicken carcass for later use in preparing a risotto or Maderia/Tarragon chicken breasts. It's nice to have several bedrooms to store the bags & seldom-used stuff - and also multiple bathrooms. A separate living room is welcome. In the Loire Valley, we had a music room with a piano. We've rented about a dozen gites with private swimming pools - needed on a 30 degree day. The gite where we are staying in late June has a pool - and we can walk through vineyards & olive groves to the village to shop or to have morning croissants & cafe creme - or enjoy their fabulous Monday farmer's market.

Rooms in a hotel are not enjoyable for us.

Stu Dudley

<i>We rent from a person that owns and lives in her building. She lives on one floor, her sons are on another and the third floor she rents when her daughter is not there.</i>

In the strictest sense of the new law, the only apartment that the owner could legally rent short term would be the apartment she herself occupies full time.

She legally can say she lives on all three floors. Maybe she rotates where she sleeps each night. SMH.

There are no shortage of ways to skirt the law.

I am only attempting to illustrate that unless a potential short term renter can afford a government approved apartment, and these will be not be inexpensive, the only other legal option is staying in an owner´s home/primary residence which may be rented out for a period not to exceed 120 days a year.

Using this same example, the doctor on the 4th floor cannot rent his apartment short term because he is not the owner of the apartment. The same idea would apply to the owner´s children living on the other floors.

As the registration law becomes effective this fall, much of the confusion of what is legal and what is not legal to rent should be greatly clarified.

Stu, which sites do you use to rent gites?

Specially want to see the site with a view of Mont Blanc. That was in Chamonix?

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...e-web-site.cfm

It's difficult if you can't read or speak some Franch.

Stu Dudley

https://www.gites-de-france.com/loca...74G103018.html

It's in Domancy. De depart for France in 1 hour.

Stu Dudley

Thanks, no problem with reading French.

Punches all the buttons
Gite with pool (Ardeche - 1st gite)
Gite with view of the Alps (2nd Gite in Haute Alps)
Gite with view of Mt Blanc (3rd gite)

https://stududley.shutterfly.com/53

Click "full screen"

Stu Dudley

45 mins to departure