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Review 1255: Bienvenue a Paris, Le Marais

www.bienvenueaparis.com

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Review by rlucido from US

1bed/1bath apartment in Marais, Paris

When

12/26/04 - 12/31/04, 5 days

Location

The apartment was in the Marais district of Paris. Good convenient location, but not especially beautiful building. Although on the Place Bourg du Tiboug right on the Rue de Rivoli, it was actually very quiet.

Nearby Amenities

Nice shops, pharmacie, grocery and many, many resturants within walking distance.

The House/Apartment

The apartment was in perfectly fine old building on the Place Bourg du Tibourg. Nice enough. Tiny elevator, but we were on the second floor so no big deal. Above a resturant. Nothing fancy or noteworthy about the building either way.

Garden

No outside area.

Furnishings/Cleanliness/Living Areas

We rented a one bedroom apartment from Bienvenue a Paris. The staff we worked with were very nice and helpful, but actually the apartment was a bit of a disappointment, and it didn't have to be that way. The pictures showed a rather clean and even sparsely furnished apartment, but nothing to offend. But instead, this small space was stuffed with a second couch that was actually broken (and dangerous to sit in) and really unsightly (green silk covered in a red knit blanket as a sort of slip cover, I suppose). The curtains did not fit the windows and there were two extra tables that seemed to be in the apt for no particular purpose, other than perhaps storage. Gave the place a rather stuffed grandma's attic feel. The other furniture, which was fine, was crammed into the remaining available space.

The apartment was not really "nicely appointed" but I am pretty picky. (The bed had a bottom sheet and a comforter in a duvet, but no top sheet ... weird.) After I arrived I started putting away the ugly, dusty fake flowers that were in a bad vase and pulled out some other more interesting things from shelves to place more prominently. Moved a couple of chairs around so they weren't blocking pathways into the other rooms. Not sure what the owners were thinking.

Bedrooms/Bathrooms

The bed was very comfortable. It was a king size bed, which is a bit hard to find and I slept like a rock.

The bathroom was large and pretty nice, but they gave us no bath mat and I had to find bath towels in the closet as all they set out in the bathroom were hand towels. The bathroom lighting was pretty poor and no window.

Kitchen

Kitchen was nice. Actually they had done some very nice upgrades to the cabinets and the kitchen, which makes the other things about the apartment all the more curious.

Problems or Bonuses

Lots of good travel books on the shelves was a bonus.

Dusty furniture was a bad surprise. The place was not really dirty, just dusty and a little dank.

Agency and Representatives (and price)

Agency personnel were very nice. The rental agent is in North Carolina, as are the owners. The price was $1200 (US) for the week.

Do you recommend this vacation rental to others?

If you are as picky as I am, no. You can do better. If you like the price and like the location and want more room than you would ever get in a hotel for that price, then yes.

Things to do in this area

Lots and lots of shopping and resturants and the apartment is one block from the Hotel de Ville metro stop. Great location to get everywhere in the city.

This review is the opinion of a Slow Travel member and not of slowtrav.com.

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