I know I%26#39;ve asked about apartments before and beg your indulgence. This is my last apartment post! My husband and I have narrowed down our choices of apartments in Paris for our April 2010 trip. We%26#39;ll be there five nights. This is the %26quot;romantic%26quot; part of the trip, winding down and relaxing after 9 nights in Italy.
The first is a 2nd floor walk up on Il St. Louis. It%26#39;s roomy, on a side street, has no view. It is quite lovely, newly refurbished in 2008, lots of wood and marble. The fireplace is not functional.
http://www.iloveparisapartments.com/a_SL1.htm
The second is a 2nd floor with elevator on Ile de la Cite%26#39;. It comes highly recommended by a poster here on Trip Advisor. It%26#39;s less expensive by about $200, has a great view. It%26#39;s also much smaller and doesn%26#39;t have nearly as nice of a kitchen.
http://www.vrbo.com/160070
Both have Murphy beds. Both face the street. We%26#39;re really up in the air about these. If the one on St. Louis had a view it would be the winner hands down. We%26#39;re not concerned about having to walk 5 minutes to get to the shops on St. Louis from Cite%26#39;. We don%26#39;t have a busy schedule of things to see in Paris, just a side trip to Versailles and the Louve being must-do%26#39;s. The main purpose of this post is so folks may point out things I haven%26#39;t noticed yet. I did the same type of post on the Rome forum about the two we were looking at there and got lots of interesting things pointed out.
So, if you don%26#39;t mind, what are your thoughts on these two apartments?
|||
You have 2 excellent choices. I like the look of the 1st apartment better, but if the killer view of the 2nd is for you, go that way. Have a great trip!
|||
NO CONTEST!!! I would take the one on Ile St Louis!! I have lived in lots of apartments with and without a view and noticed that in those with a view I hardly spend time looking outside. And the great view one may get just around the corner or a few blocks away become more precious and beautiful when seen only briefly.
I have also lived in both big and small places, from a small cottage to a whole wing in a 17th century mansion where each room was 25 ft X 25 ft and other places in between, and the big ones have always been my favorites as SPACE IS THE ONLY TRUE LUXURY, not marble or gold or very expensive furniture.
I would choose Ile St Louis because chances are that you will be out and about all day long so when you are home it will be early in the morning or late at night when views are less important, so being able to have enough room for both of us is paramount.
One major advantage of the St Louis place is that you can leave the bed open all the time, as it is 1/2 hidden by the screen, AND there is still enough room in the rest of the apartment.
There is a roomier kitchen, a bathroom with a toilet in its own separate cubicle! oh joy!
PLUS you have these gorgeous wood beams..we Europeans--well, most of us anyway-- are crazy about these..and everything is nicer, more refined.
|||
Hi Lillion, I also love the apartment on Isle St. Louis. Gorgeous!
What street is it located on?
|||
Lilion,
I like the looks of the Ile St. Louise apartment better and I like its roominess. But I%26#39;m a sucker for a view. I really really like to be able to look out at a view as I%26#39;m relaxing after a long day out.
So I appreciate the difficulty you%26#39;re having in making a choice. I don%26#39;t think you%26#39;ll be disappointed either way. I don%26#39;t see any obvious drawbacks to either unit.
I%26#39;ve looked at another apartment on Quai des Fleurs--http://www.parisbestlodge.com/quai.html--the web page has a link to a few photos of the street that are interesting.
Let us know what you decide! Good luck.
|||
A recent email we got on the St. Louis property, when we asked about noise, etc. was as follows: %26quot;To answer your questions regarding location, the apartment is located at 13, Rue Bude on the Ile St. Louis...you will note that this is one of the quiet side streets off the main street of Rue St. Louis en L%26#39;Ile. The apartment is located on the 2nd floor, street facing but due to the fact that there is little or no traffic and that it is off the main drag; the apartment is very quiet and pleasant. The building, and those either side of it, are purely residential so there are no shops or restaurants making a racket downstairs. There is only a typical Paris street view.%26quot;
As for view on the Cite%26#39; Apartment - well, leaving the curtains open at night and the lovely lights from the Hotel de Ville is actually kind of a draw for me. We will likely spend more time in this apartment than we will the one we are using in Rome, which we chose more for location than amenities. They have another website with better photos: http://www.paris-view-sur-seine.blogspot.com/
|||
I would definitely opt for the one with the view!
Two flights of stairs may not seem like much, but you have to haul your bags up/down arriving/departing, and when returning with groceries, or just at the end of a long, tiring, day, stairs...especially if they are the typical winding, narrow...
I prefer a tub with shower to just a shower, but the view would offset that for me!
|||
This is a tough choice. I think it matters how much time you%26#39;ll spend in the apartment to weigh (or not weigh) the view. It is nice to have it but to me I%26#39;d count location and the amenities in the apartment more than the view. With the address, I%26#39;d lean to Ile Saint Louis ... you can walk a minute and have some pretty amazing views.
|||
I would go with the Ile St Louis one as it%26#39;s our favorite neighborhood in all of Paris. The view from the other is gorgeous, but in reality how much time do you anticipate sitting in your apartment looking out the windows? Our view from the apartment we rent on Ile St Louis is of the neighboring buildings across the narrow street and a little school yard. Charming and typically Parisian. My biggest concern would be the Murphy bed. Not sure how comfortable they would be. Just my opinion! Either way you%26#39;ll have a fabulous time!
|||
I can see the problem -- I love a view and that would be my top priority
except I also love a bed I can get a night%26#39;s sleep on -- a little dinky %26#39;double%26#39; bed which is also a murphy bed sounds like a nightmare -- murphy beds are rarely comfortable -- and narrow beds are miserable for two --
we just rule out any apartment where we have to sleep on a bed smaller than a queen or a sofa bed or murphy bed -- made the mistake this summer in Amsterdam of choosing a great canal view and a double bed -- one of us spent each night on the sofa bed in the living room because two of us could not stand sleeping on the %26#39;double%26#39;
|||
The double bed isn%26#39;t a problem. My husband and I are big people, but we started our marriage in a double (both pushing 6 foot and %26quot;plump%26quot;) and didn%26#39;t move up to a queen until we%26#39;d been together about 4 or 5 years. We%26#39;re both snugglers/side sleepers, so a double is ok. No way to know how comfy the mattresses are until we lay on them. A sofa bed would be out of the question, what with the bar across the back thing going on, but a Murphy bed should be a regular mattress. I suppose it%26#39;s a bit of a crap-shoot anywhere, huh?
The lack of an elevator does bother me a tad. I%26#39;ve been assured the stairs are not that bad, but do we really want to walk up even two floors after sightseeing all day? I suppose I%26#39;m being lazy there, but my fat, middle-aged legs would probably thank me for an elevator. Then again, they%26#39;ll be nothing after the steps up to the top of Notre Dame. Or maybe the last straw?
No comments:
Post a Comment