A studio in Paris

My wife, Anne, and I spent a week in Paris in April ’12 prior to taking a superb trip with Road Scholar (Boston, MA; 800/454-5768) to the battlefields of Normandy. We rented a studio apartment ($1,395 for the week) from Marie Lefebvre (Newport Beach, CA; 949/433-5110, mariebalboa@cox.net), a frequent advertiser in ITN.

This delightful, ground-floor studio is located on rue Cambacérès in Paris’ eighth arrondissement, and we felt very safe there. The Ministry of the Interior building is across the street, the Élysée Palace is a block away, and it’s close to the American Embassy. Madeleine Church is nearby, and the famous fancy-food store Fauchon is right behind the church. You can also find the most elegant boutiques in Paris in this area.

We took many of our meals in the studio, eating at brasseries the rest of the time, so will provide no restaurant recommendations.

Our plan was to make this a “walking week,” and Rick Steves’ “Paris” book was an excellent guide. We chose to avoid the more obvious tourist attractions, favoring the less-touristy places.

Upon arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport, we hopped on the Roissybus, which can be caught at terminals 1, 2 and 3; tickets (€10, or $13) can be purchased at a vending machine near the stop or from the driver. It goes directly to the Opéra stop in the heart of Paris.

Our studio was about a 15-minute walk from the Opéra bus stop. En route we stopped at Galeries Lafayette, which has five floors arranged around a central open space covered by a large glass dome about 100 feet in diameter. Established in the late 1800s, Galeries Lafayette remains Paris’ most popular department store. The Belle Époque stained-glass dome is most impressive.

JACK DINI
Livermore, CA