We dragged our luggage up the steep steps at the St. Michel station, and then through the streets to Hôtel le Régent just a few blocks away. It was about 9:00am when we arrived.

We had chosen this hotel for its location, perfectly situated in the heart of the Artists Quarter, just off the Boulevard St. Germain and the little shopping street, Rue de Buci, with its colorful open market. It looked like an ideal choice.

When we arrived I was surprised to see how tiny its lobby is; in fact, there is virtually no lobby area at all. The photos made it look much larger. The entry to the hotel consists of a reception desk, a small sofa and a stairway to the upper floors.

We were allowed to leave our luggage, which we did, and then went for a walk around the quartier, stopping for coffee and pastries at a bistro not too far away.

We were exhausted from our flight, jetlagged, and badly in need of a shower. The hotel was able to accomodate us at around noon.

Our room was what I call a "buttbanger." You can barely get out of bed without banging your butt on something. We had grown accustomed to these types of rooms in Paris, but mostly when we stayed in one or two-star hotels. This is a three-star hotel, so I was surprised at the "petite-ness" of the accommodation.

The room size alone would not have chased me from the hotel, but there were two other factors that did: First, it faced an airshaft, and second, it was dirty.

The room measured approximately 8 feet by 10 feet and had a single window which looked onto an airshaft that was perhaps 4 feet square. Someone had painted something on the wall opposite our window, but there was no mistaking that it was a WALL with walls on either side of it, and with the small size of the room, the feeling of being closed-in was too much for me. There was barely room to maneuver around the bed; a small dresser sat opposite the foot of the bed, and on that wall was the doorway into the room. There was a tiny table with a lamp on one side of the bed. On the other side was the doorway to the bathroom, which was oddly quite spacious and well equipped.

The room walls were covered with a yellow fabric which I am sure was quite lovely when it had been installed. Unfortunately, it was old, and streaked with sooty black marks, particularly around the heat vent.

This is not a "cheap" hotel; its price is fairly typical for a three-star accommodation in this district. I had paid what I considered a fairly large sum to stay at Le Régent, and I expected three-star quality. The price did not include breakfast, either; I paid extra for it, and had it delivered to our room, where the tray was plunked down on our bed, the only place it would fit. It was hard to juggle the coffee, hot milk and hot chocolate while sitting on the bed; the crumbs from the baguette got all over everything. We usually love having breakfast in our Paris hotel room, but this was not an enjoyable experience.

I didn't think that our room was three-star quality, so I asked the front desk to move us to another that was less claustrophobia-inducing. They were unable to find one for us, claiming that the hotel was full. We checked out after one night and moved to Victoria Palace. We didn't like the location nearly as much, but for the same price we got a four-star hotel with a four-star room, breakfast, and a nice big window that looked onto a courtyard instead of at a wall.

To their credit, the Le Regent staff did track me down to report that I had left a pair of shoes there, and I was able to recover them.

I would consider staying at that hotel again if I could be assured of a room of quality, with light and more space than we had; in any event, I wouldn't choose to stay in the room we were given even at a severe discount. It felt like a windowless closet with a nice bathroom.