The welcome was friendly and helpful even though we were a little late. The apartment was large and comfortable in a very lively district of Paris. Main stations and Metro were very close. There were plenty of shops and cafés in the vicinity. No attempt had been made to hide the fact that this was someone else's flat and it was as if they had just popped out and were due back at any moment. This took a little bit of getting used to, but added to the authenticity of the "Paris experience".