An Apartment Tour

Our point-and-shoot camera does not have a sufficiently wide angle lens to shoot small spaces, so I'm using some of the landlord's photos. Safe to say the apartment is everything the photos promised.

This is the living room. The grey door is the entrance to the apartment. The flash of red is the kitchen, more on that later. Note the old wooden beams incorporated into the archway.











Standing in the archway & looking along the entrance wall is the computer desk. A netbook with wireless internet is supplied. But....it's all in French, including the dreaded French keyboard. Forget QWERTY. And only Internet Explorer is available, we prefer Firefox. But we do have our netbook.

Cable TV is mostly French but we do get CNN, CNBC, BBC, & a French news channel in English. All of these channels are based in Europe so the CNN/CNBC you see is not the same as we see. We also get Al Jazeera in English. To gain legitimacy, they've pretty much dropped the propaganda angle but their news is geared to what's happening in the Arab world.



Standing by the computer desk & looking back, this is the view. The couch converts to a sofa bed while the two individual chairs become single fold-down beds. The apartment can sleep six but it would be pretty darn crowded.

Boulevard Beaumarchais is very much outside our windows. Three in the living room & two in the bedroom. The street noise is quite loud but each opening has metal shutters plus two sets of windows that close easily blocking out 95% of the noise. It's reduced to a dull murmur, not interfering with sleep.




An overall view of our cozy but thoroughly modern kitchen. A small high top table with four high top chairs make things comfy.

The stove is a 3-burner smooth top, very modern. The controls are easy once you figure it out.

On the left is the black microwave & below that is the refrigerator, handle visible. By European tourist apartment standards, the fridge is quite large.


The routine when checking into an apartment is that you pay, of course. Then you are briefed on the operation of the equipment...stove, dishwasher, TV etc. Problem is you've had a sleepless night & are all jet-lagged out. Info retention is insidiously low. You don't realize it til you're alone & start moving in.




The landlord loves the Eiffel Tower...it's all over the place in case you haven't noticed. You can see the electric teapot & a single cup coffeemaker which he replaced with an 8-cup maker at our request.

We've never seen an apartment so well provisioned...tea bags (3 kinds, no less) sugar, salt, cooking oil, coffee & more.





Standing at the wood beams, here's the bedroom. Queen bed, mirror, the lot.












Standing at the mirror & looking back, the doorway to the living room is on the right & the well lit hallway to the bathroom on the left. Between them is the closet with shelves & hangers. There's a small TV in the bedroom but it only receives a few over-the-air French channels.









Standing in the doorway, the commode is on the left & the entrance to the shower on the right.













From the shower entrance looking back are the sink, mirror & vanity. Unseen is a heater that doubles as a towel warmer...standard equipment in many European hotels & apartments.













And finally, our landlord...the best!!!! Cheerful, funny, cooperative & accommodating to a fault...the nicest guy ever. Today he took our laundry; his wife will do it & he will return with it in two days.