Gina's apartment in Paris was a good place to stay. Here's what we liked:
It was incredibly quiet even though it was situated on a busy, vibrant street. I think it helped that the apartment was located on a private and very quiet, long, plant-filled narrow courtyard (or alley) that was behind a large, locked set of doors. The ground floor apartment itself is quite cute and even relatively spacious for a small apartment in a large, cosmopolitan city like Paris. The shower had great water pressure, there was a very useful washing machine/dryer, and a small but efficient dishwasher. The stovetop was easy to use. The apartment was walking distance (if you enjoy walking) from the Ile de la Cite as well as the Marais, the Picasso Museum, the Canal St. Martin, etc. There were also a few Metro stations within a couple of blocks of the apartment that made getting pretty much anywhere in Paris quite easy. The neighborhood itself is incredibly diverse in terms of the people you see and the wonderful food shops and restaurants. We never felt unsafe even when returning home very late in the evening.
Here's what we didn't like:
NOTE: When we chose this apartment, there were not many choices available in the areas we preferred, so this review is written in the context of not quite having found a place we thought we'd love - in other words, we knew we weren't getting our first choice! While the decor and style are fun and interesting, it's a bit tired and worn. We've travelled to Paris a few times and have seen the major sites, and this time we'd wanted to have a "Julia Childs'" experience: going to food/farmers' markets and taking advantage of France's delicious food products to cook up yummy meals. But we found the apartment not terribly appealing to spend much time in, so we ended up shifting our focus and went out for meals most of the time. That was disappointing. Additionally, Gina tended to take more time to respond than all other Airbnb hosts that we've had in the past, and this made planning our trip and arriving there a bit more stressful than it needed to be. We didn't have much communication, but the little interaction we did have was often slow. It's not clear why that's the case. But Gina was always polite and nice, despite not being very available. Her daughter was very sweet and helpful when checking us in.
Overall, the apartment is a good place to stay and is very well located. It definitely gives you a sense of living in a Parisian neighborhood without many tourists at all. And finally, the boulangerie/cafe and the cheese shop just steps from the apartment are really fantastic!