Arrival in Paris

We made it to the Porto airport in plenty of time. We checked in the car at SixT rental. The guy checked the car and notice a small scrape on the right rear wheel. I'm sure it was there when we picked up the car but we didn't notice it in the dark.. Anyway, they guy gets out a ruler and says he is supposed to note anything that exceeds 5 cms (about 2 inches). Jacques was about to get into it with the guy but he told me he would not note the scrape but I should be more careful inspecting next time. Adios, Portugal.

The next day, Jacques drove us to our new apartment on Rue Bourg Tibourg in the Marais section of Paris. It is in a great location with a super market (small) across the street and lots of restaurants and cafes in the area. It is only 1 block off the main drag that runs through the center of Paris. Also, great bus lines and the main metro line through the city.



So, we were happy to see the welcoming site of the Eiffel Tower as we drove into Paris. Did we say it rained a lot since we've been here?


We first had to go to the office of the rental agency to get the key for the apartment and give a security deposit. Paris is cracking down on short term rentals by private parties, so we had to go through an agency to be legal. We finally arrived at our apartment. It is on a very narrow street, so we had to quickly empty the trunk and place our 6 weeks worth of luggage on the sidewalk in front of  the door to the building. We bid farewell to Jacques and we used the key to get us into the hallway of the building.

The building is very old (15th or 16th century) but they managed to retro-fit a tiny elevator in the stairway. This is the hallway with the elevator at the end. Maximum 2 people.

I took the stairs to the apt. 4th floor (3rd floor in Europe). The stairs are steep, crooked and narrow. I don't think they are to code...

But once in the apartment, we were very pleased. It is old but charming. Here is our living room. There is plenty of room and comfortable chairs.  Notice the beams. Real beams. The bedroom is the same size and there is a nice bathroom with a glass shower. There is also second half-bath. We are very pleased with this place. 

You may wonder how people were able to move furniture into an apartment with a stairway like ours. Well we witnessed what people do when neighbors across the street moved into their 5th floor apartment. 

Load the furniture onto a platform and....

 Run it up to the window of the apartment.

Simple enough.

I was wondering if they were moving Dracula into the apartment but noticed they were wrapping all the furniture and boxes in black.

To be continued...