What a long day! We left Riquewihr this morning for Strasbourg just as the sun was coming up. Good thing, too, because as we got closer to town, traffic was horrible. The rental car return sign at the airport was nowhere to be found, and poor Nancy drove around and around before we finally spotted a tiny little "retour" sign with an even tinier little automobile sign underneath it. Barely made our flight to Paris, but by 11 a.m., with luggage in hand, we found our driver. We then had to fight the Paris traffic, but eventually we were deposited curbside at our home away from home for the rest of the week. The owners of this apartment live in California, but they have an English-speaking manager who met us and showed us around. The cleaning people were still hard at work, so we dumped our bags and walked to a cafe on the corner for lunch: croque monsiers, an omelet, frites, and a pitcher of wine. Welcome to Paris!
This is the first time we've rented an apartment in Paris. They are expensive and small, and it's hard to find a reasonably priced one that has two bedrooms and two full baths (our criteria). After having lots of space at our house in Riquewihr, this one seemed very little, and it was hot, too. But, we opened up the windows and turned on some fans, and now it seems both larger and cooler! It's actually a sweet little jewel box of an apartment on the Ile Saint Louis, that was built in 1652. Juliette was restored by a movie set designer, with no attention to detail spared.
Street-side, all you see is a brown door, and if you look up, the window into our living room.
This is a view straight in through the kitchen and onto the living and dining area.
Here's my room and bath, and I also have a little twin bed under the staircase, in case I want to move around (or in case my daughter wants to fly over).
Nancy and John have the upstairs loft and bath, both very nice!
I think we'll all have a great time...there's lots to see and do, and we are here until Saturday morning. Thanks again for coming along!
