Welcome to our apartment on Rue Ordener.

For those of you who want to know what our place in Paris is like, here’s a description:

Our apartment is in a 19^th Century Haussmann building on Rue Ordener in Montmartre. The Haussmann buildings are those typically associated with Paris, with their narrow wrought-iron balconies holding little more than a few flower-pots. (Under Napoleon III, Haussmann razed great sections of the city  to construct its grand boulevards and elegant buildings, giving Paris much of the look it has today.) 

Partly the reconstruction was done for sanitation, since the medieval buildings were crowded and rife with disease, and partly it was done to control dissent—it was easy for protesters to barricade the narrow, winding passages of old Paris—which was not true of Haussmann’s grand, wide boulevards.)

We love the herringbone-style oak on our apartment’s floor and its high ceilings and detailed moldings.  By contrast, the decoration is quite modern, with many playful elements, like the bright pink floor lamp! While that’s not a style I would have chosen, it adds a touch of fun, and I think the owners did a good job of blending the formal old building with today’s look.

The living room or lounge. 

For Paris, the apartment is fairly spacious at over 700 square feet.  It has three bedrooms—one with a king bed that converts into two twins, one with a queen, and another tiny child’s bedroom with a single bed. 

The bedroom with the large bed.

It has a large vestibule for an entry, which adds to the open feeling, a bathroom with shower and bath, a separate toilet room—common in Europe—and all the “mod cons” as some British friends would say. It’s equipped with a flat-screen TV, a washing machine (in the bathroom), a fairly large refrigerator, a microwave, an espresso maker (yes!), a dishwasher, a phone, a computer, a wireless printer, and wifi (pronounced wee-fee in French). 

The second bedroom with the queen bed.

We have four fireplaces (none working): one in each bedroom, one in the living room, and one in the kitchen. The wireless printer sits in the kitchen fireplace!

The high ceilings and ornate moldings add to the charm of this quintessentially
French home.

We also appreciate the neighborhood, with everything from
the grocery store to street markets to a boulangerie (for our daily fresh baguette) close at hand, three metro stations within an 8-to-10 minute walk, and three buslines nearby. (More on the neighborhood later in a separate post.)

The elegant ceiling molding.

One of the most delightful features of the building is its elevator—an ancient wrought-iron masterpiece barely big enough for two people and two carry-on suitcases, as we soon discovered. The inside is lined with beautiful French oak.  I feel like I’m living in a movie every time I use it!

Interestingly, this elevator is much faster than the one or at our condo in Kenmore. We travel the four floors here faster than to the second floor at Inglewood Shores. (Here we live on the troisième étage, or the third floor in France, because what Americans call the “first floor” is termed the “ground floor” in Europe, and the ”second floor,” in US terms, is the ”first floor” here.)

I’m thankful this apartment is everything—and more—that the owner described in her listing on VRBO.  

The sink, stove with oven, and dishwasher.

Although I did extensive online research before we rented the apartment, I couldn’t really relax until we settled in.  Now? We feel privileged to be here.  On only the second day, it’s almost starting to feel like home.

It should be a great base for our explorations and for relaxing with our family and friends.

The European-style kitchen has a hidden  refrigerator/freezer
(partially visible). which is fairly large (especially for France), as well as a  hidden microwave.