LOCATION: convenient - just outside (approx 10 min walk) to the very beautiful Old Town which has been restored to an elegant splendour including the stylish, main cafe/restaurant area. It's also close (approx 5 min walk) to a tram stop (avoid rush hour as very hectic & crowded). The location is grungier (although not what you'd call dirty as the rubbish is collected regularly, etc) compared to the more prosperous/glowing (sometimes touristy) Old Town but we always felt safe even at night. The tram stop is nearby.

THE MEET & GREET + DEPARTURE (we stayed 4 nights). Lionel and Corinne, were kind enough to contact us via email to let us know the apartment was ready a little early. That suited us as we were waiting at a nearby cafe (with big suitcases) until it became available. Lionel can speak English and spent 10 min with us explaining how things work in the apartment - that was also helpful. We had a number to call & an email address if we had any problems - we didn't see him again after that although he did send an email asking if all was ok. It would have been good to get more advice on good cafes, bars, restaurants, tourist info centre (partly our fault as we didn't ask) but we worked that out ourselves.

There was a minor problem on departure - Lionel had agreed to us leaving at 12 (our train was at 2) but Corinne turned up at 11ish ready to clean. With our limited French & her limited English, it took a few minutes to explain the agreement with Lionel - would have been good if they had communicated with each other but ended up being more their problem than ours.

Everything else worked well including a well appointed modern kitchen - no dishwasher but that didn't bother us at all. From the photos you can see that the apartment is historic and comfortably set up with fresh/modern decor...living space with TV & iPod dock for music. For phone you need to stand next to the window - there's no outdoor space just a view to the stone wall. So while interesting, there's hardly any natural light or feel of connection with the outside world - to get outside you need to go up steep steps & through 3 doors. For those use to living similar to this, it probably would suit fine but for us (use to big windows/open spaces) it felt closed in. However, it didn't matter too much as we were out most of the day...our desire to see the day/sky also prompted us to leave early and get back late. So maybe we didn't make the most of this apartment - beautiful in some ways...check out how the cream stone walls glow at night. That plus the appreciation for a quality restoration of a fascinating old site - a 13th Century armoury we think Lionel mentioned?