Paris Paris Paris

[stanncie returned]

hi

i've also stayed at absolute. it's not the best place but you can do worse. like other people said the rooms are tiny but you do have your own bathroom in each room. We stayed at a 4 bed dorm. There's virtually no hang out area, just a few tables in the tiny reception area. despite this i made many friends there and two nights we hung out pestering the receptionist while drinking wine till the wee hours of the morning, hehee. The subway is pretty near and like some said the area is not great but i did not feel unsafe necessarily. one good thing is that there is a supermarket right in front and lots of ethnic restaurants that are way cheaper than some of the places closer to the tourist spots.

all in all it was fair and i have fond memories but only cuz of the nice people i met, paris as a city is another story.

[WillTravel]

stanncie, you're back! If it's been a while, I guess I missed it. Welcome back. I hope to hear more about your adventures.

[stanncie]

thanks for the welcome. I came back july 4th. I didn't get to see any fireworks though since i was super tired.
When i get some energy i will post more details. Suffice it to say i had a great time mostly thanks to the great advice i received here

[Jules80]

"And for a hotel alternative you could stay in the following ppension. I have known several people who loved it so much they stayed there instead of getting an apartment in Paris -- this despite the fact they were here longterm. Also, can I mention that the location can ABSOLUTELY NOT BE BEAT!!!!! It's in the 6th right beside one of the gates to the Luxembourg Gardens. You're also right off Rue Vavin with great bakeries, stores, a brilliant little crepe place, and Amorino's gelato. This is definitely a choice spot. Places here can be hard to find. Email the owner for info (doubles - last I heard - were at 60E/night):

www.pension-marronniers.com/

If full the owner will often send you to another pension in the same building. Supposed to be not as nice but still great (about same price)."

- i went to email the owners and you get an email error message saying the address doesn't exist... it sounded perfect!

[WillTravel]

Jules, I haven't been to that pension, but I'd suggest telephoning, which you can do very cheaply with a telephone card from the local corner store. Perhaps the owner doesn't check her email very often and something happened to it.

Or is it possible there's a typo in the email address? I think it should perhaps be info@... rather than infos@... .

[CuriousToronto]

Jules:

That sucks!!! I agree with Will's advice though. What ends up happening in Paris (a lot of the time) is that they like to do things either by phone or snail mail. They're not really big on email or faxes.

So the email addy being wrong or even no longer existing doesn't surprise me that much.

I'd suggest giving them a ring!!! As an aside, Paris is also starting a B&B initiative so you may alternatively want to look into that.

Cheers!

CT