Staying at Faina's place was a great choice. We were close to two subway stations and a great city center with nice cafés and restaurants. During my stay with my best friend, we were greeted by her lovely friend Judith who prepared the room for us and walked us through the apartment and explained what was to be expected of the stay and how to use the shower (since we are from the U.S.), how to work the stove and where the bathroom was. The apartment itself was very safe which I really appreciated and had an elevator! We were there only a few short days and wanted to see nearly all the "touristy" arts and exhibits and luckily Faina had an entire book filled with maps to the monuments and museums and recommendations. Our stay was very easy and we enjoyed it very much! I will say the floors are a bit creaky so if that is a problem for some that may be something to note, otherwise the cozy apartment was a perfect addition to our Parisian vacation.