Within an hour of arriving in Paris, we were taking on large mouthfuls of a rather sumptuous French organic red in our rented apartment and devouring a crumbling, very tasty, baguette with wide slabs of sharp artisanal cheese. “The shop keeper shook his head at my selection and asserted, in no uncertain terms, that I wanted this. Not that I really understood what he was saying,” my partner Peter explained. It melted on our tongues, paralyzing them, so consumed we were by the flavor.
The taxi driver had found the apartment easily. We had let ourselves in with the front door code and waited only a few minutes for our helpful concierge, Maite, to arrive. Peter, not much for waiting, had slipped out and discovered this bounty around the corner. “There’s more too,” he’d said, as he ripped off another piece of baguette, “chocolate shops, restaurants, cafes”. He’d found the treasure trove.
But the find wasn’t all to do with the food. I looked around at my family enjoying themselves in this simple but stylishly appointed place. Our son reclined on the sofa while our daughter danced around. Peter and I sat at a chunky wooden table refilling our glasses. The row of high windows let in good light and opened out for a view of the everyday street life of Paris below. We’d been traveling for some time already, so we were appreciating having this place to kick off our shoes and, later, make some phone calls, do laundry, have a simple meal, and just be in a place where one or two of us could hang back from the occasional outing yet still feel like we were making good use of our time in Paris. The apartment provided for us what the combination of hotels and restaurants could not.
We were only in Paris for four nights, but we found the location of the apartment to suit us well. It was central and was close to the Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Seine. The buildings in the area are some of the oldest in the city and the street where Peter found our bounty was a cobble stoned pedestrian only area flanked by wholesale and retail fashion shops. It was removed from the tourist areas so we were able to see Paris as Parisians do.
We found Rue de Clery through Trip Adviser. Similar places asked for a bank draft. We opted for Rue de Clery because of the many high ratings it received, but also because we could make our payment through PayPal with Visa. If you have the chance, I’d recommend you do the same. For us, we can’t get back soon enough.