Took my first ever trip abroad to paris with my sister from April 9th to 16th.

My obsession with this talk forum before my trip turned out to be very helpful. Thanks to all who write genuinely helpful comments.

Stayed in an apartment(rentparis.com)in the Marais district -- rue vieille du temple. I LOVED it here.

We used beeshuttle to get from CDG airport. Experience was so so. There was nobody waiting with a sign as promised. I called there 1-800 number and the guy kept telling me I was in the wrong area. He told me to refer to my email confirmation to all the info. I told him we did exactly as the email said..so on and so forth. Unfortunately it turned into a yelling match (out of character for me). Finally someone picked us up. Going back was great though. I called to confirm the night before and our driver was right on time the next a.m.

Our apartment was cute and

Is this a Cliffhanger


and.......

oops, posted by accident.

I was going to say how much I miss the smell of fresh pastries wafting through our windows every morning.

Cafes, pastries and cafe cremes--top favourite experiences.

did the touristy stuff-impressed with eiffel tower. sometimes that sort of thing doesn't live up to expectations--this really did.

notre dame, show at moulin rouge, walking, walking, walking,(fun)
stairs, stairs, stairs, (not so much)
boat tour, museums - truly one of the coolest things I've ever done.

we mastered the metro--bought our carnet thanks to the useful tips on this site.

bought lots of pashminas and mustard and tacky tower keychains. have to balance out all that culture you know

we had the best time. can't wait to go back someday and i'll keep an eye on this forum any time I go on vacation.

>>"Our apartment was cute and . . ."

Fill in the blank?

>>"So were the waiters, especially Laurent."

I love the rue vielle du Temple, too. I was disappointed that Au Petit Fer a Cheval was closed for renovations.

hmmm Laurent? What cafe did you say that was?
Mrs. Slocum

Hi Lucy - May I ask how your experience with RentParis.com was? I am renting an apartment in the Marais with them too for mid-May after spending two weeks in Italy...but they haven't responded to my emails just to confirm the reservation. I'm not THAT worried about it but after easily confirming with all the hotels in Italy, it would be great if they could just send me a reply! Did you have any problem with meeting them at the apartment on the first day? Did you get a confirmatory email or anything from them? Thanks in advance...

Hi Wendy, our experience with rentparis.com was pretty good, actually. They do tend to email you whenever they get around to it-I had to pester them a tiny bit to get my confirmation after my downpayment was accepted thru paypal.

They gave me a cell # to call when leaving the airport. I did that and they assured be someone would be waiting when we arrived. True to their word, there were 2 people right out front of the apt. when we pulled up. They introduced themselves and apologized all over the place because Francois was supposed to be there to greet us. (I think they were friends of his but I was too excited to remember anything)

Anyway, they had our keys, let us in, showed us around and said Francois would be by later to pick up the remainder of the payment-which he did.

One small problem-the website mentioned a washer/dryer in the apt. Francois said it was broken but would be fixed in a few days. We think someone was in to fix it because a light was left on so we did a small load of sox and uwear. Good thing we packed for "just in case" because our load took 5 hours to go thru a wash/dry cycle. By the way we still had to spread everything out on top 'cause it was still wet. So we're not sure if it just was never fixed or if the French are incredibly patient when it comes to laundry

No big deal to us but it might be inconvenient for a family or for someone packing ultra light.

The apartment was clean and I was pleased with their security,pin pad, keys, doors, more keys, you name it. Reassuring for 2 women travelling
alone.

The building was quiet too which was great for sleeping.

We never could figure out the phone. I had to call home collect. The apartment info states you can use your credit card to charge your call but that
wasn't the case. We bought a phone card but we think we may have asked for the wrong kind-this was for pay phones only. I think. Or I'm just severely appliance disabled.

It was a good experience though, and because we stayed 6 nights the rate couldn't be beat by any hotels I was looking at.

Whew! Lots of writing-good thing I love talking about my trip!

Hope this helps, have fun next month!!!

Thanks for sharing, sounds like you and your sister had a fun trip!

Laurent is mine! BTW, he's at Les Philosophes.

Lucygirl, sounds like you were in the same 'hood just before me. We stayed almost at the corner of rue de Rivoli and Vielle de Temple.

elle, I wanted to go to Petit Fer au Cheval, too. Is it just renovations, or is it changing hands? Have you been there before?

Lucygirl,

It sounds like you had a lot of fun. I will be taking my first trip abroad to Paris in a few days. Like you, I have gained so much information from this forum. Thank you for posting your report.

What did you think of the Moulin Rouge show? There are so many conflicting posts regarding it that I would love to hear one more opinion.

Regards,
Lisa

melissa--no, I've never been there. Can't remember exactly what the sign said, but you may be right--it may be changing hands.

You can have Laurent if I can have Jean-Loup.

Lucy - thanks for your reply - although they have still not written back (!) it's good to know that your experience went well! Thanks! Wendy