Have found apartment for our family of five on the corner of these two streets - is anyone familiar with this area/apartment?
Many thanks
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Quiet area. A bit of an Expat American ghetto. rue Cler has a market street.
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We stayed in this area (actually, right on the other side of the Champ du Mars) after reading Rick Steve%26#39;s with our kids 2 years ago. There is a man named Pascal that rents flats right on the Rue Cler if I remember right, and we found some nice Rue de Grenelle ones on vrbo.com . Try Googling %26quot;Pascal Rue Cler Apartment%26quot; and see if you can find them. They%26#39;re small but might fit you all creatively.
Now.......we%26#39;re going back to France next April and THIS time we%26#39;re going to stay in the Marais area. Here%26#39;s why and see if this changes your mind any.
We loved the Rue Cler/Eiffel area because you got to see the Eiffel Tower up close every day. This was so neat for the kids.
But as we walked around Paris, the areas that really captivated us were the Marais District (nice central location and just so adorable, 3rd %26amp; 4th Arrond.) and the St. Germain du Pres area (6th arrond). The Rue Cler is noisy in the mornings from delivery trucks for the produce of the quaint little street market. Noisy EARLY, like 5 a.m. If you don%26#39;t have an a/c flat and it%26#39;s warm.......you%26#39;ll be up early. The Rue Cler is cute and atmospheric, but not THAT cute and atmospheric to make it worth centering your whole vacation around IMHO. There was really not a great variety of restaurants/cafes or shops in the area. A few, but not many. In the evening, the whole place seemed dead. Safe, but so many times we were the only ones on the street at night. Compared to the 4th and 6th which just exude happy urban energy, it didn%26#39;t feel all that %26quot;fun%26quot;. Also, the sites in the area are much more limited. In the 3rd/4th and 6th there are many more sights close by and within walking distance. Staying in the Rue Cler our first thing each morning was to jump on the metro to head to the more central area of Paris.
Don%26#39;t get me wrong, we enjoyed it. BUT......this time we%26#39;re looking for a more lively, %26quot;Paris%26quot; feeling area.
If your children are smaller and would enjoy the gardens you might want to look at the www.vacationinparis.com flat that is near the Luxembourg Gardens. I believe it is a 2 bedroom, and sleeps 2 more on a foldout sofa that would be fine for kids. We haven%26#39;t stayed there, but that one tempted me. We%26#39;re going to be in www.vacationinparis.com their %26quot;Marais Beaute%26quot; 2 bedroom (we also have a group of 5 with my mother-in-law going along with us and the 2 kids).
Please let me know if you need clarification or have any other questions!
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Last year we rented an apartment one block from there and loved the area. IThe area is beautiful and super convenient to stores and sights whether walking or jumping on the Metro. The Rue Cler market is great for a quick breakfast and for stocking up the kitchen. The area is quiet but I enjoyed going home to a quiet neighborhood after a day and night out.
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Thanks for the info - we have stayed in other areas but not in this area. The apartment is %26quot;on corner of Rue Cler/Rue de Grenelle%26quot; 1st floor double glazed and the owner has said there have been no complaints of noise. I love St Germain but the difficulty I am having is staying for five nights instead of a full week, in fact all over Paris I have the same problem.
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LandandSea --
First of all - The area you%26#39;re looking at is lovely and it%26#39;s quiet at night - secondly, the Metro is so efficient that any area you like is central enough.
Go for it - you%26#39;ll enjoy it. You can keep an eye out while you%26#39;re there for an area that you might prefer for your next trip (we all have next trips), but while you%26#39;re looking around, you%26#39;ll be based in an area that is convenient in terms of housekeeping, and where you can get a decent night%26#39;s sleep.
Bon voyage.
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I kind of like that area. Not because of who lives there, etc., but because it%26#39;s quiet and calming. It%26#39;s really beautiful too. It is a good break after a day of crowds in some of the other neighborhoods.
Les
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Maybe we yearned for a more %26quot;lively%26quot; area because we were there in February when there were no crowds elsewhere and it got dark early and the weather was off and on drizzly/rainy? So the brightly lit shops and restaurants in the Marais and St. Germain with the pedestrian traffic were so enticing to us. It sounds like you%26#39;ll have a good fit for your family, I just wanted to make sure you knew what the area was like. It really is very nice, just on the quieter side. I remember thinking that a flat on Rue de Grenelle would be even better than on Rue Cler since it was an attractive street. So if you yearn for calm you will love it! There was a hopping cafe/restaurant on the Rue Cler (right smack in the middle) on a corner that had absolutely divine desserts. Nothing fancy, just lovely hot French cakes, etc. Yum! That%26#39;s where my kids instilled the %26quot;dessert every night rule%26quot; that we still abide by in France.
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Everyone here has their favorite area. Assuming the apartment is satisfactory, Rue Cler will be fine and a good introduction to Paris. It has a few restaurants with a cafe right on the corner of R Grenelle, as well as a Franprix for groceries. Cafe du Marche a block down on the corner of R. du Champs de Mars, as well as a few delis, boulangerie, fromagerie, etc. It%26#39;s a good area to stock your apt.
Eiffel Tower a few blocks West, Invalides a few East, and the Seine a few North. Metro close by, and the RER C train to Versailles there as well. Also Rue St Dominique is also around 2 blocks away, and since this is known as %26quot;Restaurant Row%26quot; there are more than a few restaurants in the area, my favorite being Thoumieux.
T
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Cafe du Marche! THAT was the name of the %26quot;hopping%26quot; place!
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DrDebu,
Rochester, huh? My hubby%26#39;s home town. Just got back visiting family, will be out again in October. Paris gets a little less snow in Feb, don%26#39;t you think! LOL
Where do you recommend in the Marais, it%26#39;s one area I%26#39;m not at all familiar?
T
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