Monic is charming and, from my American point of view, delightfully French. Spend time to get to know her. Her story is fascinating and engaging! She is rightly proud of her apartment, and all week she was very helpful offering options in Paris.

The neighborhood is fantastic and alive. One does not need to explore elsewhere to feel the French way of life. Cafes, boulangeries, patisseries, fruiteries, and markets within the immediate area. Also, lovely galleries, boutiques, you name it. It felt like a very safe neighborhood.

We love walking, and we walked all over Paris from here. Direct line to airport from a nearby station - map it out on Google Maps before you arrive. There are a couple of metro stops within 5 minutes walking.

The apartment is smaller than I imagined. The photos are accurate and well composed. I estimate, though, that with the folding table down (something we did for lack of almost any other surface area), there is maybe 4 square meters of standing room. There is room to stow one or two carry-on suitcases. The bathroom door could not close when I was "sitting" - my knees protruded a bit into the hall. The stairs to the loft bed are very steep and require full alertness before descending. The kitchen space is small enough that we opted not to do any cooking on the single electric burner offered. My wife and I called this the "tai chi" apartment, because we moved very slowly to avoid bumping things and elbowing each other. :-)

However, do not let that deter you. The apartment is well organized - very clever use of space. The shower is comfortable (for one person). The kitchenette sink doubles as the bathroom sink. The table folds down from the wall. There are shelves under the stairs and a closet to stow your clothes and other items. The windows are large and airy. The loft bed was comfortably spacious for two, both vertically and horizontally. The loft was consistently warm (hot one day) and did require the fan she offered, but the rest of the apartment was cooler than I had expected and very comfortable. (We had mild weather that week - upper 70s to upper 80s.)

An unexpected inconvenience was the lack of internet access. Monic was very distraught to find it not working when we arrived, and she called in a repair order. She kept us updated, but it was not repaired by the time we left -- supposedly it is working now. She provided us existing credit to a local computer cafe, but they don't offer Wi-Fi. We used my slow cell and the local Starbucks.

Another surprise: Our initial request to stay prompted a reply that the price listed was incorrect, and Monic requested a modest increase before booking us, which we accepted. However, she was very accommodating when we wanted to change our dates.

Summary: Charming host & apartment, some quirks, small but recommended. We enjoyed our stay.