Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Our Parisian Apartment

After we left Corbie, we headed back to Paris by train. I was excited to start the last leg of the trip as we were going to have our own apartment for the next 6 days. I had picked out a two bedroom that I thought would be closest to all the sights we would be visiting most often.
I spent a month going back and forth over which apartment would be the best for our multi generation family. Plus my mother wanted the apartment to be in a typical Parisian building so she could get the full effect. 
Our driver picked us up from the train station and took us to our apartment. The lady from the rental agency was already there waiting for us. She took us to our apartment and went over everything with us. Instead of a door code to get into the building, she handed us two magnetic key fabs that we just needed to swipe over a pad near the door, and the door unlocked. I think that feature is extremely handy. When we rented an apartment in Paris two years ago, every time we would arrive back home we would fumble over our door code, have to look it up in email and I was always in a hurry to run up and use the bathroom since I do not like to use public bathrooms. So right off the bat I was impressed. The building did have a small elevator on the second floor (which is called the first floor in France.) my dad used it for the larger luggage. 
The pictures on the website of the apartment are EXACTLY how it looks. Click HERE to see the stock photos of our apartment!
The kitchen, wow. I mean this kitchen has upgraded appliances I didn't even know existed! The stove top has touch buttons on the actual range! 

Touch Pad on Stove top

The oven had a digital programming menu that you turn the nobs to control

Beautiful Wood counter tops
The toaster was Electrolux. All stainless steel appliances. I loved the wooden counter tops.
Large sink
 Everything we needed was provided. They had pots and pans, plates, bowels, coffee mugs, glasses, wine & champagne glasses, silverwear, large utensils, bottle opener, cutting board, strainer ect. Right off the kitchen was the laundry room. It had a large washer and dryer separate units. Most of France has a small washer & dryer combo unit. 


Also there was an iron and ironing board and a Dyson vacuum! We were very excited about the vacuum as we had brought vacuum seal bags for our clothes in our luggage. I had never used a Dyson before but I am now sold. I thought it was crazy to spend hundreds on a vacuum, but I am now saving up for one!!! There was a huge difference in the sucking power between the Dyson and my old Hoover back home.
We planned on my parents taking the smaller room and Brian and I having the larger room since we would have the baby's bed in our room. I planned for Aubrey to sleep in the living room. Online it stated they had a couch bed, but I am used to the older cabins at the Lake of the Ozarks and when they say sofa bed it means a four decade old couch with a piece of foam covered with a fitted sheet and older piling blankets to use. So I had rented Aubrey a children's blow up mattress to use in the living room. The first night she slept in the blow up mattress. The second night she wanted to see what the sofa bed was like so we made the bed up for her. It had a Mattress just as thick as the one on our bed!! She loved it and it was so much more comfortable than her blow up mattress. The owners of this property have spared no expense. Every item in the apartment is high end luxurious. 
The bathroom had a large soaking tub and also a shower. It had a towel warmer, but I was unable to figure out how to turn it on. I honestly didn't give it that much effort though because I didn't want the baby to burn her fingers on it. There was a lot of counter space, enough for three girls to put there stuff on. I loved loved loved the style of the bathroom. It was very handsome and sophisticated. A bathroom can really make or break a place and this one was nicer than my own bathrooms! 
Storage under the sink
The toilet is in a separate room, which had an antique mirror that I loved. The only thing that was not provided for our stay was hand soap in the WC (what the French call the room with the toilet) and soap at the kitchen sink. No big deal though. It allowed me to go to Monoprix and buy the brand I fell in love with at our home in Amiens, that Brian said I couldn't buy to bring home since it was too big and we were running out of luggage space.
My favorite soap for the kitchen
Very excited over the pink scented toilet paper
 I also ended up buying toilet paper. It was provided, but one of the silly things I love about France is, they have colored toilet paper! You can find it in almost any color, even black! And not only is it colored but scented! So I had to go buy pink toilet paper to feel Parisian. 

In our bedroom, we had a very large double wardrobe with shelves and drawers and lots of hanging space including hangers. There was a digital safe also in it. We had beautiful tall double French windows that opened up to the small courtyard. I just love sleeping with the windows open (in May.) 

In the bedroom my parents stayed in, there was also a single wardrobe. Their bed also had end tables that looked like high end antiques. 
The pretty end table
They also had a beautiful window as well as the living room. 
The floors were a beautiful square brick looking stone. 

Flooring


The window in the living room looked out over an enclosed pool where during the week in the afternoon you can hear the instructor counting down the laps of the students. I felt like I was truly a resident of France. 
On the fourth night of our stay, the street that the apartment was on had some kind of block party. Our street was filled with mostly art galleries and high end home furnishing stores. At night they closed the streets to cars and rolled out the red carpet over the entire length of the street. Businesses opened their doors had parties. The art gallery right next to our apartment was literally pouring thousand dollar bottles of champagne. On down the street there were live singers and a band later on. A soccer team was making Mojitos to pass out. The Chocolate shop gave out mini chocolates and the best hot chocolate (and the recipe to make said hot chocolate!) 
Our neighborhood Red Carpet Block Party
I knew our street was in a very fancy area of town but it wasn't until this night that I realized how exclusive. The people that were there were very very wealthy. It made me feel pretty cool to be walking these particular streets everyday to get our fresh baguettes. There was several smaller markets very close to the apartment and just a 5 minute walk away was a large Monoprix. We also had several bars and restaurants nearby to choose from. My favorite being Pont Royal. 
The Louvre was so close to us. We walked to it everyday. The metro stop we used was the Louvre palace stop. So everyday we walk to the Louvre in awe that this is the neighborhood we lived in. On the last day I was taken back that we had become use to this view and had almost taken it for granted as we saw it at least twice a day. On our way to and from the metro. 
If I were to pick a part of the city to live, I would definitely not hesitate to call this neighborhood or this apartment "home."
I am already dreaming about our next stay at this apartment!
There is not one negative thing I can come up with about Escalea and their apartment rental service. I believe they only choose high end flawless apartments. You can follow them on Facebook for contests and discounts at their Escalea Facebook Page . Their Pinterest page: Pinterest
Take a virtual tour of some of their properties at Escalea YouTube Page







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