We came to Paris on December 28th to spend 9 days in Irina's apartment. She couldn't be there to welcome us and give us the keys, so she gave us the telephone number of her neighbor/house cleaner Mylene. It was agreed that she will be at the apartment at 10.30am.
We came to the apartment around 11am and we rang the doorbell as we were instructed. No one answered. We tried to call Mylene and we got sent to voicemail. Same thing happened when we called Irina’s cell. We stood there, in front of the building for about 10 minutes. We were just about to go to find other accommodation when we saw a postwoman. She saw we couldn’t get in so she opened the door for us. I came up by the elevator and knocked the door of the apartment it was Irina’s. Mylene opened the door of the apartment next door and let me in. She clearly couldn’t speak any English. All we got from her was her opening the calendar on her phone, pointing on the January 5th and saying something like “this you bye-bye”. She left shortly after.
We are still wondering if the doorbell wasn’t working or we just rang the wrong apartment. After Mylene left we needed to try it to see if everything was ok. It was.
The apartment wasn’t cleaned for a while. The floor was covered with dust and hairs in the living room and in the bathroom. Bathroom sink was covered with mold and dirt, so were the surfaces in front of the sink. The only thing is that along the mold it had some brown substance covering it. It was so nice one morning when I was brushing my teeth and something nasty started to come out of the drain. It was jar of hairs. I found something to unclog the drain and did it.
And the shower… The shower was great, also covered with mold and hairs. The bottom of the shower curtain was disgusting as if it was never cleaned. That thing needs to be thrown out. We got 2 towels per person so bring your own.
The kitchen is small. We got two pots to cook in, one knife, 4 plates, 4 cups, 4 forks, spoons…. It was full of old food that someone left and appliances that someone forgot because they were never cleaned too. The food that we found had expired 2-5 years ago.
If you don’t mind the cleanliness the apartment was well secured, quiet neighborhood, settled really close to the metro station, food stores and the Notre Dame.