A new flat in Paris
We’re just back from a long weekend in Paris, where we spent the weekend searching for an apartment. My company arranged a relocation service to do the majority of the legwork for us. It was an absolute Godsend, and they did a fantastic job of working to our brief. I’d expected to see one or two decent places, half a dozen barely acceptable places, and two or three disasters but in truth we saw three serious contenders, five or six perfectly acceptable if unremarkable places, and only one “disaster” – and a qualified one at that. It was nearly €750 under our budget, and was presumably put on the list to show us what we could get for less than we were asking. It wasn’t a bad place, a little bohemian, but the chief problem was that it wasn’t available until 1 March, something the renting agent didn’t mention to relocation agent until we were actually in the property.
Our relocation agent was typically Parisian – turning up half an hour late for our appointing, a flurry of Chanel perfume, Hermes scarves and overly-coiffured hair. She drove (and more importantly, parked) a la parisienne, which was exciting, but I can’t fault her work. It was the most painless flat-hunting I’ve ever done, and we got a great result.
In the end, we took a place in the 6me arrondissment, totally redone and with a brand new, fully fitted kitchen – unheard of in Paris, and presumably designed to appeal to the expat market. For the first time since living in Europe, I’ll have a proper, American-style tumble dryer. Inside of which, knowing my cats, Daisy and Calypso will learn to sleep. One day we’ll throw in the sheets and hear a terrible noise, and we’ll discover two very fluffy cats. My money is on Daisy being the first one into the dryer.
Downsides to the flat are a single dining / living room (but we’ll work around it) and the fact that there’s no separate guest room – so if you want to crash at our place, it’s going to have to be on the couch in the living room.
