Helene and her children were gracious host, particularly during our arrival. Our flight from Washington, D.C. arrived at 7 a.m. and though check in was at 3 p.m., Helene allowed my wife and me to drop our bags at the apartment that morning. The location of the apartment is superb, within 20-minute walk to the Hotel des Invalides, and next to Rue de Sevres a street filled with shops and restaurants. Though our stay occurred during the national rail strike, we found this to be a strategic location to walk or take an Uber/taxi to most places around Paris. There was an ideal café across the street that we visited every morning for breakfast. We also felt very safe in the neighborhood.
The apartment is open and spacious, with electronic shutters that mitigated the noise from the busy Boulevard du Montparnasse. I’m sure it would be ideal during the summer when the sun comes up earlier. The apartment also had a high speed WiFi system that allowed us to connect to our laptops and smart phones, but also to streamline movies during the evenings. The three bedrooms were sufficiently sized. The kitchen had a Nespresso machine for expressos or coffee. The apartment had a dish washer’ but only a clothes washer, no dryer. You need to hang dry your clothes.
There were several areas that could be improved or was not clearly mentioned on the website. First, the pillows should have been replaced about 10 years ago. There was no firm support, just pillow cases covering air. Second, the Airbnb website indicated the apartment had two bathrooms, however, the number wasn’t true. The only full bathroom (with lavatory, water closet and shower) had a water closet that you couldn’t flush toilet paper. The only other bathroom with a water closet that allow you to flush toilet paper was off the entry and didn’t have a sink to clean your hands which we felt was unsanitary. The third bathroom had a shower and sink, but no water closet. For us, it was juggling using the three bathrooms for different usage; particularly in the morning. Third, though Helene and her family still live in the apartment, closet space to hang clothes were not existent. We assume that hanging space was located behind locked closets for the family. So we had to improvise to find ways of hanging our suits and dresses. Fourth, though not Helene’s problem, the lift to take you to the fifth floor was erratic. There were times it would not accept three people, two people, even one person. In fact, on one occasion, my wife and daughter were stuck on the second floor for several minutes before the lift decided to proceed to the main level. On the day we left, it look as though management of the building was working to repair the operations of the lift.
Overall, the apartment was spacious and in a perfect and safe location, but we wished knew beforehand about the bathrooms.