Forewarning: I do not recommend staying here until Debbie has fixed her water heater.
- I stayed here for the last two weeks of December in which temperatures dropped down to 27F/-2.8C and hot water would not last for more than two minutes. (I timed it.) I take 8-10 minute showers, and had to run out of her shower at least 4-5 times to "reset" the water heater. By the end, I was so fed up that I would just take cold showers.
- She was fully aware of this issue before she left for the holidays. In the two nights we overlapped, I would yell from the shower and she would "reset" the water heater for me. Of course, the other 12 days of my stay were quite miserable for showers as I was on my own.
- The heating, however, thankfully worked great.
Aside from the lack of continuous hot water, antiquated/broken furniture (VHS in your room, broken shelf of drawers, broken standing garment rack, poor lighting - her photos are outdated), orderly clutter with stacks of books and papers everywhere (which I don't mind but some people do), the mountainous pile of items next to the toilet (I feared for the day it avalanches on me), no microwave, and a packed freezer (her Thanksgiving leftovers filled up her freezer - good luck to those who don't cook), I did enjoy my stay. Her apartment is cozy, with issues of its own as with any home, area is safe, and location is decent - close to several buses, 7min walk to the RER C, and 10min walk to the tram or Metro. Definitely loved its close promixity to Carrefour City (supermarket) and its 2euro red wine! She has a lovely kitchen (2 moka pots!), packed to the brim with cooking supplies (she makes great cookies) and tableware, perfect for her dinner parties (which she kindly send me an invitation to one after my stay). She also has cable TV (no internet subscriptions), a washing machine (no dryer), and the sweetest neighbors and friends. Oh! And she is very flexible with check-in/check-out, which I greatly appreciated.
In terms of communication, I flew to London for Christmas weekend with family and she asked me to leave my keys with neighbors to pass to the housekeeper before I left (not sure why the housekeeper couldn't come another time). I texted her (she was visiting the US) from London asking about how to pick up the keys, but heard no response from her. I arrived in Paris, panicked, wondering if I would have a place to stay that night/ resorted to calling her neighbors in broken, terrible French. Thank goodness I asked Debbie for their numbers just in case, that they were so kind, and that I had a phone plan that could call French numbers. It was just so poorly coordinated and I thought I was going to be stranded.
Overall, if I wasn't a struggling graduate student who booked this trip very last minute, I am not sure I would stay here again. Do your research and figure out what you're okay with.