Arrival In Paris (or Oh No...Not Another Dump!)

We arrived at the Gare de Lyon, then took the metro (two trains) to the apartment I found in the Latin Quarter.I first considered renting the apartment we stayed in almost 3 years ago. It was great, very charming and very French feeling. The only negative was that it was on the 4th floor of a building with no elevator. Because the person who was supposed to go with us, but ended up canceling, has health issues, it was determined that all those stairs would be difficult. The place we decided on has only one flight of stairs and is in a prime location. It is located on a street around the corner of Notre Dame (we can hear the bells) and just off Boulevard St. Michel. It is tourist central, but we are tourists after all. I thought it would be within walking distance of almost everything. This place got glowing reviews from people who had stayed there.
 
I knew the building would be old. There is old, and there is old and in some disrepair. This is the second one. We were met by two sisters who work for the owner, Pascal, who I had been communicating with by email. We had to pay our balance and I needed cash. One sister went to the ATM with me and one stayed with Marie. I came back and handed the money over. Then Marie asked if I was afraid of mice, because she saw one running back and forth. Are you kidding me? If that was it, I would be okay. It gets worse.

We left right away go to the store, because it would be closed the next day. We then went to get some dinner. The plan was to settle in when we got back for the night. We put our things away and I discovered there were no sheets on my bed. I have stayed in a lot of vacation rentals, and when they include linens (which this one does), the beds have always been made. Okay, great. It's been a long day and now I have to make the bed. Ummm...where are the sheets? That's right, there were no sheets. There was a bottom sheet for the sofa bed, which is a full size bed. My bed is a twin. I used that and put the duvet cover from that set onto the questionably clean comforter. Marie is sleeping in the mezzanine. She has a queen bed with a mattress pad and a fitted sheet that she is using as a top sheet. Her comforter is also questionably clean. And the towels, well they were no better. It was as if someone folded wet towels and left them to dry. They smelled of mildew. We threw them in the washer/dryer (yes, it is one machine), but they were still wet in the morning so we couldn't shower. And there is the noise. I mentioned this is tourist central. The description on the apartment's website describes it as being in a quiet courtyard. I think calling that cement slab area a courtyard is delusional, and it is far from quiet because we are right above a restaurant. Thankfully we have earplugs.

We were busy all day Sunday (that will be in another post), so that night I called Pascal and left him a message about my displeasure about the bedding, etc. I called him back the next morning and left another message. After being gone all day Monday we returned to find new sheets had been left on my bed. No, the bed had not been made. It was a brand new set with a bottom sheet, a duvet cover (which I am using as a top sheet) and a pillow case. The cardboard was still folded into it. I guess it's better than nothing. The real question though is - why did they have to buy new sheets? Why didn't they already have some? I have never heard from Pascal regarding any of the other issues, including our new pet mouse that Marie has named Maurice. I can't even begin to express my regret that we didn't rent the other apartment. But...we are in Paris and we will have a fabulous time! Really, how much time will we spend in the apartment anyway?