39Vaugirard

We’ve had some doozies over the years. One beautiful high-design apartment was built over a bar AND directly over the subway. It looked great in photos and even better in person, but we couldn’t wait for our vacation to be over so we could get a good night’s sleep.

Beyond the obvious, here are 10 things we’d want to know before sending in a deposit.

1. High floor? Ideally an apartment should be above the second (American) floor so you’re slightly above traffic noise and dirt.

2. Double or triple-paned windows? This can help, if not totally eliminate traffic noise.

3. Air conditioning? Never a “standard” item in Europe so always ask if you have low heat tolerance. It often doesn’t exist because cool nightly breezes cool things to “livable” levels, but you may be spoiled by US standards. Make sure A/C is strong enough to handle a major heatwave if you’re traveling at peak periods.

4. Close to subways or other transit? Close to grocery stores? This will make a world of difference if you’re out and about. It’s no fun to lug groceries 7 or 8 blocks home after a day or touring.

5. Friendly or at least non-aggressive neighbors? In many places, there is no legal ability for neighbors to protest short-term rentals, but they can go out of their way to make short-term renters feel uncomfortable and unwanted.

6. Quiet neighbors? Make sure the Flamenco dance studio is closed during your visit.

7. Bathroom and shower in the apartment. This likely won’t happen to you, but as a student, I once rented a place where you had to go out in the hallway to use the toilet. “Chambres de bonne” in France often have shared facilities including showers, so don’t take this for granted, especially for low-price offers.

8. Includes towels and other equipment? You don’t want your first excursion to be to a store to buy plates and towels, as I had to to do at a sublet in Corsica.

9. Does everything in the pictures “work?” TVs and computers make nice furniture, but are frustrating if they don’t actually function.

10. Internet or “internet-ready?” Even in 2010, some people suggest “internet ready data port” meaning an outlet for your modem cord on the phone. We fell for this one five or six years ago, but still see it often in ads.

Good luck and let me know if you have any of your own gained through experience!

We’ve had some doozies over the years. One beautiful high-design apartment was built over a bar AND directly over the subway. It looked great in photos and even better in person, but we couldn’t wait for our vacation to be over so we could get a good night’s sleep.

Beyond the obvious, here are 10 things we’d want to know before sending in a deposit.

1. High floor? Ideally an apartment should be above the second (American) floor so you’re slightly above traffic noise and dirt.

2. Double or triple-paned windows? This can help, if not totally eliminate traffic noise.

3. Air conditioning? Never a “standard” item in Europe so always ask if you have low heat tolerance. It often doesn’t exist because cool nightly breezes cool things to “livable” levels, but you may be spoiled by US standards. Make sure A/C is strong enough to handle a major heatwave if you’re traveling at peak periods.

4. Close to subways or other transit? Close to grocery stores? This will make a world of difference if you’re out and about. It’s no fun to lug groceries 7 or 8 blocks home after a day or touring.

5. Friendly or at least non-aggressive neighbors? In many places, there is no legal ability for neighbors to protest short-term rentals, but they can go out of their way to make short-term renters feel uncomfortable and unwanted.

6. Quiet neighbors? Make sure the Flamenco dance studio is closed during your visit.

7. Bathroom and shower in the apartment. This likely won’t happen to you, but as a student, I once rented a place where you had to go out in the hallway to use the toilet. “Chambres de bonne” in France often have shared facilities including showers, so don’t take this for granted, especially for low-price offers.

8. Includes towels and other equipment? You don’t want your first excursion to be to a store to buy plates and towels, as I had to to do at a sublet in Corsica.

9. Does everything in the pictures “work?” TVs and computers make nice furniture, but are frustrating if they don’t actually function.

10. Internet or “internet-ready?” Even in 2010, some people suggest “internet ready data port” meaning an outlet for your modem cord on the phone. We fell for this one five or six years ago, but still see it often in ads.

Good luck and let me know if you have any of your own gained through experience!

And here is has to do with the Enlightenment and the brilliant people living the city:

Paris has many nicknames, but its most famous is “La Ville-Lumière” (most often translated as “The City of Light”),[15] a name it owes first to its fame as a centre of education and ideas during the Age of Enlightenment, and later to its early adoption of street lighting.[16]

[From Paris - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]

33 years ago, I was this person, fresh off the boat (or 747), not knowing what to expect from a year in France (Rennes in my case).

Bonjour!

It is hard for me to believe that I am actually in France. At the moment, I am sitting in my bedroom in Nantes, home from a brief three day orientation trip with the IES Nantes group in Tours, France. This past week has truly flown by.

Tuesday feels like a month ago. My plane left from Charlotte and as I sat in the tiny blue airplane seat, fighting the stranger next to me for armrest room, I began to wonder what I had gotten myself into. I was a twenty-year old college student on an eight hour flight to Paris, France but I felt so much more like an eight year old headed to sleep away camp for the first time. Never before had I been on a plane alone so therefore I was very nervous. What if I missed my connection? What if I arrived in Paris and was incapable of finding the correct train to Nantes? Luckily, all of my worrying was for nothing. I made my connection in Newark with minutes to spare and arrived in Paris safely.

[From Bienvenue to me! | Inside IES Abroad]

I agree and just minutes from our apartment so we often walk across on the way to the Right Bank. We’re lucky to have the #2 walking bridge, the Golden Gate, in our home town.

The Pont des Arts is my favourite bridge in Paris. This elegant metal bridge, with its nine arches, crosses the Seine river and connects the Louvre with the Institut de France. The best part: it’s a pedestrian bridge. Take a leisurely stroll across the bridge in the evenings to watch the Paris lights and be temporarily blinded by the cruise boats as they pass by below!

[From Ten incredible bridge walks | velvet escape's blog - StumbleUpon]

A pithy review by John Talbott on a restaurant that sounds a lot closer than it is. We’ll still call it “in the neighborhood,” since it’s about 4 métro stops away.

Le Marcab in the 15th; still very nice.

Le Marcab, 225, rue de Vaugirard in the 15th, 01.43.06.51.66, open 7/7, has a set of menus for 16, 25 and 35 €, plus a la carte items. We have friends who live a short walk from it and invited them to joing us today.

Three of them had the 4 course forced choice “menu” for 25 E which is a real bargain and I had the 35 E 3-course one.

[From John Talbott's Paris: Le Marcab in the 15th; still very nice.]

We haven’t gotten any shots out here in far-flung San Francisco, so we’ve been waiting anxiously for a wave of swinish flu to break over our shores. So far, lot’s of other childhood coughs and sniffles, but no porcine fevers. However, to be on the safe side, and be four more defense links in the chain, I’d love to get us all innoculated. I doubt France is selling these through Amazon though.

France wants to sell millions of surplus flu shots
PARIS
Sun Jan 3, 2010

PARIS (Reuters) – France is looking to sell millions of surplus vaccines for the H1N1 flu strain after ordering many more shots than it actually needed, officials said on Sunday.

[From France wants to sell millions of surplus flu shots | Reuters]

We’ve also had a very good meal at the Maison du Jardin. This is an adult neighborhood restaurant, which is really a bit too quiet to take kids, which we did. The staff though, was very friendly and the food very good.

This lovely little restaurant is a gem in Paris. It has delicious food, not a thing we ordered was anything worse than outstanding. Our hotel recommended this restaurant after the concierge had personally eaten there. He was not wrong. Very nice wine list, even if it is rather limited. The duck was amazing, but so was the “plat du jour” venison. The pumpkin soup was divine. The rabbit terrine was superb. The cheeses are sourced form a local shop called Rouge Creme and were all delicious. The service is impeccable. All in all, a real delight and highly recommended.

[From What a joy! - Review of La Maison du Jardin, Paris, France - TripAdvisor]

Actually, kind of wish these were universal. While to some the French may seem snooty, the world would be a nicer place if people followed a lot of these simple suggestions. with some of their etiquette rules

Face it, no one wants to unknowingly embarrass themselves by being the ugly American. Here’s our short list of etiquette tips that function well throughout France and actually translate fairly well to your microcosm back home. Thanks to Renee from Travel Geeks, who also contributed a conversation that influenced this list – and to Imei for editing an compiling it:

1. A profuse use of “please” and “thank you” goes a long way. You will hear people constantly saying “merci beaucoup” or just “merci” even more than you hear “you’re welcome”.

[From Etiquette in Paris, France ~ Chris Pirillo]

As reported in NYT,

PARIS | Nearly all of France’s main museums and monuments were open to the public on Wednesday, including the Louvre, after a museum workers’ strike had shut their doors. The Musée d’Orsay was also open, with protesters blocking access to ticket booths. At Versailles, the royal apartments and temporary exhibitions were open at full price, though some rooms, like the Dauphin apartments, were closed. The Pompidou Center, the Arc de Triomphe and the Château de Compiègne remain closed.

[From Most Paris Museums Reopen After Strike - Globespotters Blog - NYTimes.com]

I hope the strike at gave some tourists motivation to see some of the “second tier” museums in Paris, many of which we would build a temple around if they were in the U.S.