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We spent a week in Paris recently. We have had excellent luck with the site vrbo.com (Villa Rental by Owner). There is always a little twinge no matter where or what we have rented - from houses to apartments -from Hawaii to Florida - it might not be there when we arrive. In this case our apartment at 169 Rue du Temple was there.

When we arrived we called the Manager, Joanna, and told her we would be there shortly. She had to meet us to show us around and give us the keys. We each got a set of keys along with a key to the post office box which we didn't need. The owner's name is Marshall. My husband had very good dealings with him over the few months before we arrived.

Like many apartments in Paris this one opened from a front door abutting the street. A long hall with a light that went on automatically but stayed on for a very short time - led us to an open area. I suppose if there were plants, trees or anything pretty I would call it a courtyard. The apartments in this building surrounded the "courtyard" area. On this floor were the trash and recycle room and a room to keep bicycles. It was kept clean. Many nights we would walk in to the trash overflowing but the next day it was all cleaned up.

Also like many apartments there is no elevator. We were on the second floor. There were renovations going on to the apartment across the hall but other than wet paint this didn't bother us at all. Luckily (and we knew this ahead of time) this apartment did not face the street so it was very quiet. The windows opened with no screens on them but we never found anything flying around the apartment.

Pros:

The apartment could sort of be called charming in a French sort of way. I liked the way the door opened in the front.

The apartment was clean but quite small. There were two twin beds which we were able to push together to make one bed. There was something in the closet that allowed us to do that. The closet was quite large and accommodated all our clothes. I found an iron and ironing board in the closet as well. A very small night table sat on one side of the bed.

There was a refrigerator with a separate freezer, microwave and toaster oven. There were a tea pot, pots and pans, a sink, a three burner stove (no oven), dishes, and eating utensils. The supplies that might be needed (paper towels, for example, were only there if the people before us had left them).

There was a table with two chairs.

A large flat screen TV was on the wall.

Best of all we had Internet access via the computer in Marshall's apartment and a landline that could be used to call anywhere (The United States!) except no calls could be made to a cell phone.

We liked the location. Right across the street was a large playground with sections - sand, swings, duck pond, and ping pong tables. No dogs were allowed but the kids were having fun.

This apartment is in the arrondissement three (arrondissement is a section). This is a residential area with lots of open markets for fresh fruits and vegetables, cheese and bread. Although there are patisseries on every corner having then in the open like this was different. We easily walked to this area. Going the other way we were a short walk to the Metro station and another area of restaurants, a large supermarket, and shopping. It was about 1 mile from Notre Dame so we often walked there.

Cons:

For the first few days of our stay the lock was broken so anyone could walk into the "courtyard." It did get fixed and then we used a code.

All the maintenance problems were not fixed. For example there was a washing machine (no dryer) whose handle was broken. A very nice man came over the day we arrived to fix it and other miscellaneous items such as the broken handle on the bathroom door and lightbulbs that didn't work. He couldn't fix the handle though. We still could have used the machine but never did.

The apartment was damp and hot. We had no heat on but when we came in at the end of the day the first thing we did was open all the two windows. The walls felt damp but I didn't see or smell any mold.

For a week's stay the bathroom was small. It would have been nice to have a drawer or medicine cabinet. In addition the shower which seemed new had half of a glass screen meaning water had to end up in the bathroom from the other half of the open shower no matter how hard we tried not to let the water out.

We were each given one shower, one hand and one wash towel for the entire week.

There was a double sized chair from which the TV could be seen but that and the uncomfortable kitchens chairs were the only place we could watch CNN in English.

The toilet ran but Joanna showed us what to do to stop it.

The lighting was terrible. They really need some overhead lights.

The walls are thin so although we couldn't hear the street we heard everyone leave in the morning and one night my husband was woken up at 3:00a.m. by noise.

In summary:

My cons probably make 169 Rue de Temple sound horrible but it wasn't and we would stay here again especially for the $50E it cost us (One Euro is about $1.27.) it was a great deal. No one came into clean. We had the option of cleaning the apartment before we left (Which really doesn't make sense because someone has to come in and change the sheets which we were told to leave on the floor, etc.) so in the end we left $50E for a cleaning service.

If you have serious interest in this apartment let me know and I can give you the contact information..