We have stayed at Home Away and VRBO properties in France, Italy, Spain and England for 25 years - alone, with our children, and with them and their children - so we've learned a bit about selecting really fine houses and apartments to rent. When we walked into this apartment, however, we were stunned at its quality. From flatware to furniture, kitchen knives to closets, art on the walls to a kitchen which includes a built in espresso machine and a wine cooler. It is all very clean, appears to be very recently renovated with no compromises made, and everything works. Honestly, it is similar to a fine hotel room but about eight times the size and just steps from an entrance to the Bordeaux's favorite city park which includes a cafe and a serpentine lake. Think a glass of wine as children play or watch a puppet show, or a teenage Shakespeare troop and tango dancing couples practicing on the belvedere. If you've done these rentals before you will understand how that first trip to the grocery requires heavy bags and equally heavy expense. Not here. The kitchen is completely stocked with fine condiments, oils, spices and herbs - most likely nuts and cookies and ice cream, too - and that first trip will require nothing more than your dinner for the night. Even with hip problems, we could walk everywhere in the city, and we did. And then there is the property manager, Charlotte, simply the best of the best. Along with a seven bedroom villa outside Siena rented for our whole family (since purchased by a film producer, taken off the market, renovated and featured in Architectural Digest), this apartment ranks at the very top of our list. Stop looking; rent it.
John and Kathy, Seattle