Some people are so rude

That's sad. Has this soiree been going on all night? I understand someone wanting to be a gracious guest, but rudeness is rudeness, and there are reasonable quiet hours pretty much anywhere! Are there other neighbors in the building, also being disturbed? Someone should say something to the ravers, in the name of decency. Of course, you'll probably be disturbing them if you make any noise today at 2 in the afternoon. Hope the rest of your trip is good & you're safe.

Walk upstairs, knock on the door, explain your situation and ask for their help in addressing it - at least that gives you a chance of success

At the risk of stating the obvious, complaining on a travel forum is 100% ineffective

11pm till now at 5:20. My mom refuses to let me go upstairs out of fear. The music is some French and another language I can't understand. It's sounds like a nightclub. The neighbours don't seem to have said anything to them ??? Why ??? I have no idea. We need sleep but from what I gather online there is no bylaw police and with what is going on I would not bother them at this time. They have to much on their hands. Omg I can't take it.

Can you call or text the landlord or agency who rented the apartment to you? You should record some of what's going on upstairs as "evidence". Is this the type of rental where you'll be writing a review. I know the type of wall shaking music you're talking about! Ear plugs do nothing.

Sorry for this added stress and trouble for your stay.

The owner is at her parents home in the country. Her cell reception has been real spotty when she has called to check on us. I would hate to bother her because she has been so caring and helpful.

What gets me is that it doesn't sound like there is more than 4 or 5 people up there but my god even 20 years ago when I could party with the best of them my ears could not take 6 hours of that much super loud music.

About 15 minutes ago I could hear someone go down the steps. And someone else use the elevator. Then I heard really loud knocking and thought the neighbours finally had enough. Well, nope. The door opened. The person went in. Music continued.

And your sleep has been ruined now, I suspect. Are you there for more days? They might pull this again. And I imagine the owner has past knowledge about the ravers, if this isn't an isolated incident. Even with Paris experiencing a major tragedy in the last 36 hours, there's such a thing as noise terrorism, even if your lives may not be at stake. If they can't turn down the music after you ask them S'il vous plait, then they are jerks, and you'll have done what you can, without contacting the police. Bon chance - good luck!

5:58.......Music not on.....god I hope this is the end of it.

photo,

If this continues again tonght, I suppose you have two choices....

1. Go upstairs and hammer on the door (although if they only speak French, you may not be able to discuss the problem with them).
2. Move to a hotel for a night.

Good luck!

6:17. Music seems to have finally stopped. Goodnight all.

Photo,
It's too bad that there are rude people in this world... sorry this happened to you...

Regarding Ken's comments above; I don't think hammering on their door will do any good.
I'd vote for choice #2 though...
Hope you can get some rest now.

Well, there'd always be option #3 -- barge in and join the party! Maybe you could sidle over to the stereo and turn down the volume, or "accidentally" disable the speakers?

Hope it doesn't come to that, and the music bombardment, along with the random acts of murder against innocent people, were each a one-night situation. Peace!

what a nightmare. I am so sorry!!

Sorry this happened.. might point out this is one issue with renting an apartment.. you seem to be at the mercy of neighbors .. and I totally agree with you its not a good idea to phone authorities.. besides the issue that they are busy now with the horrible situation.. there is the matter of having to speak in French ( can you ?) .

At least this likely will not happen again.. as you said its been fine all week.. perhaps just letting off some steam ( inappropriately ) after last night horrible problems.

If the music stops at 6.17am then it is time at 7.17am (when they have fallen asleep) to go and hammer on their door for as long as it takes to wake them up and ask them to be more considerate in future.

So here is a downside to apartment rental that we haven't heard of before. Noisy neighbours! Very difficult to deal with unless you speak French well, and even then, the long term tenants are unlikely to cooperate with the visiting tourists. We rented a Paris apartment one year from a French friend, which turned out to be so uncomfortable, so lacking in amenities and under-prepared for us, that we had to move to a hotel. She was extremely insulted when we told her about this and is now a former friend, unfortunately.

Not that they would be a help in this situation if the music is that loud, but earplugs do come in handy on vacation. Maybe some of those ear protectors that construction guys use (tongue planted firmly in cheek)? I hope you get a better sleep tonight. Nothing like a horrible nights sleep to ruin your day - I've had a few on vacations.

In light of the horror of the attacks...it seems very odd to be having a party. I believe that I would have to get the attention of the cops and have them investigate... Could they be celebrating. I know, I am too suspicious but this is not normal behavior...

Sherry I know it seems like odd behaviour.. but then again.. when I was in my twenties my friend was murdered.. and her sister, her other friends and I went to her grave.. drank wine.. even poured wine on her grave( to giver her share to her) .. oh I know it sounds so odd and weird.. but really people do handle mourning oddly and differently.. you never know.. the boys may have been celebrating being alive.. or mourning the lost of a friend.

There is no normal.

I like MPH's idea. A 7:17 visit to them!! (not really advised, but wouldn't that feel good?!!!)

It does seem inappropriate to be "celebrating " with loud music, etc. but this is a reaction to surviving a tragedy or at least the way some people handle being that close to death. Maybe looking at it this way might make it more understandable but not a lot easier to handle. If it happens again tonite, THEN I would have to do something. I'm thinking they are very young and not even thinking of others.

Like Pat, Emma and Chriss, I can sort of understand the seemingly inappropriate behavior. When we buried our best friend at 27, the whole lot of us friends went out to the country where he'd been living, built a huge bonfire, drank to excess, laughed, cried and played all of his favorite tunes LOUD all night until the sun came up. It was the only way we could handle the grief, and what he would have wanted.

So it's possible that was the case with your neighbors. And not that it excuses the lack of regard for others but it's also possible that their flat was their home (versus a holiday rental) and the comfort of some temporary tourists wasn't high on the priority list. I have read that Paris has a housing shortage and there are many apartments which are being let illegally so there is some prickliness around the issue - not that your rental was necessarily one of those.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30580295

I'd be surprised if it was anything other than blowing off steam. We were up all night here in the 4th and it was going on everywhere. We were up until 5 too just because of the adrenaline rush. If everything is closed not sure there's any other safer options than someone's apartment. We just got sent home from a cafe running because of a false alarm. If you aren't being physically harmed I'd just let it go and chalk it up to a life experience. I was on a diverted plane with a terrorist suspect and had someone mug me and try and drag me off a train in Italy. Stuff happens. It's how you react to it that counts. Don't get me wrong, I sympathize completely. But such is life these days.

What a nightmare experience, Rebecca. The OP should pay attention and "get thee to a nunnery" .... I mean a hotel, asap.

I think you did the right thing by not confronting the neighbors. I'll bet emotions are so raw in Paris that confronting anybody about anything could be extremely risky. Depending how many more nights are left in your stay, maybe you should consider getting a hotel room and letting the landlord know why you want to leave early and that, under the circumstances, you are entitled to a refund (if you have paid in advance).

Really? There's a Disco!Disco! going on next door to me as the bells were tolling at Notre Dame. We drank beers on the bridge with some locals at 3 am. I'm not sure middle America values apply right now.

Ditto Emma.

You aren't here. You arent a young person dealing with grief. Stuff happens and its a good practice to put yourself in somebody's place once in a while. I can't relate to it but I'm big enough to know we aren't all the same.

At an apartment in central Paris back in July 2008 for several nights, there was one night with a blasting stereo until "only" about 2 AM. We had foam earplugs. The open courtyard had apartment buildings on all 4 sides, and without A/C, we had the windows open on those warm nights. No way to identify who was creating the noise among 4 buildings and 7 floors and who knows how many apartments. Fortunately it was just the one night and it wasn't all night. Blowing off steam is one thing, but -- and this isn't just a Middle America viewpoint -- someone's rights end when they interfere with another person's (or lots of other persons') rights. A night without wall-shaking music in a residential apartment building is a reasonable expectation. Asking neighbors nicely to be reasonable isn't being an Ugly American. New Yorkers, rightly, wouldn't hesitate to ask to have the blasting music turned down. Same with Coloradans. The offending party might not comply, but in some situations if you don't ask, you definitely won't get. If they need to party or commiserate, maybe they could go outside like so many other Parisian apartment-dwellers and do so with the others, among the pealing bells and bending elbows.

If reacting to the terrorists in certain ways (really? music THAT loud, til 6 AM?!?) causes mayhem and disruption for others, then on some small level, the terrorists win. One BIG wrong doesn't justify other wrongs.

Since the place has been awesome for a week it makes me wonder if the people having the party are short term renters too. Though I haven't heard of any incidents of this magnitude this is one of the reasons that there has been a backlash at short term rental companies such as AirBNB, that is people on vacation moving into a residential complex and making noise till late into the night and disturbing the residents. All I can offer is keep doing what you're doing by being a respectful guest/renter and advise the property owner as soon as you can. Contacting the police such a short time after the events in Paris probably wouldn't have done much good, too many other things to worry about, and I agree it would have been a bad idea of notifying the police that they may have been celebrating the events, it would have more than likely prompted a response that would be well above what was needed.

Ditto Emma's post.

Since we don't have any specific details about this apartment and how it was rented it's hard to make any assumptions. Maybe it's not other renters that are making the noise. Maybe it's just as likely that the noise makers are residents who are fed up with other people in their bldg renting out their apartments and this is their way of discouraging the 'transient renters'.

I'm dumbfounded as the poor woman next to me is crying and the courtyard in my apartment is full of young people drinking and consoling each other. Yes it's loud. No, I'm in no way annoyed.

I expect photo will get a good sleep tonight, as the partiers may have to work on Monday morning.

Got 4 hrs of sleep and this afternoon we went to see Notre Dame and Ile St Louis. Had a good day. We rented through AirBnB. Hoping for quiet tonight but if not I will call the landlord and see what they suggest. They are really nice people and it's a great apartment 8 minutes walk to the Tower.

We are hoping it was a one time thing. Our cab driver said we should have called the cops. We (polite Canadians) Kept thinking it would get better.

You didn't call the landlord today to tell them what happened? You'll wait and call if it happens again? I don't understand...

Photobearsam, you've got to at least call the landlord!!! I wonder whether she really has spotty reception or is just avoiding your calls.

did any of the Airbnb reviews of the landlord mention neighbors?

What if photobearsam is not using a legal apartment? Remember Paris is one of the cities that has been battling with airBnb. Complaining could open a whole new can of worms.

It's 2 days after the first post, and photobearsam has been through another night...
Bear, how did you sleep? :O)

I'd agree with other who advised against confronting the noisy neighbors or contacting the authorities.
There are all sorts of reasons why neither was a wise idea in this particular situation and at this particularly sensitive time? Let's face it; nothing has been 'normal' in Paris the past few days so locals and visitors alike are needing to roll with unusual circumstances.

I realise that the rest of the week was lovely, but I don't understand the reluctance to notify the landlord.

From the rant on here it sounds like it was a dreadful night, one for which you paid, and the landlord should be appraised, and perhaps assist with a partial refund or a talking to their neighbor.

After all, it is their neighbor, not a visitor's neighbor.

Hope the ravers don't repeat things & the photobears, husband, and Mom have a good rest of their trip.

Sounds at least like the next time we go to Canada, we shouldn't experience anything like that, the neighbors being polite and all . . . :-)

Nigel.. there is no landlord in the world that I know of that would refund money because of a noisy neighbor.. I know as a landlord I would not.. sorry.. not my fault..

If however my rental was over a bar or nightclub and I KNEW it was going to be noisy but advertised it as "quiet " then perhaps someone could make a claim.

Since this appeared to be a one off situation.. ( rest of nights were quiet) .. the renter has no claim at all.

However I do think you advise to at least let the landlord know there was a problem is good.. she must talk to them if this was a habitual thing.. but if it was truly unusual , I would say nothing myself.. she is the illegal landlord.. and all the neighbors have to do is complain and you get on the radar real fast. Many apartment owners who have been fined for renting illegally were in fact turned in by annoyed neighbors.

It was just a one off situation thank goodness. Our landlord called to check on us a few times to make sure we were ok. Once on day 2 to see if we needed anything else and twice after the attacks to make sure we were ok. Her cell kept cutting out. We didn't bother calling her to complain because we know that it is out of her control. It's a great apartment and the reviews were all 5 stars so I know this was not normal. We are leaving this morning. It's bittersweet. We never made it to the top of the Tower but feel like we know the tower very well anyways. We have seen Eiffel normal, Eiffel go dark and now Blue, white and defiantly red. Having the view from our apartment made it all more real. Thanks everyone.

Photobearsam I am glad you feel resolved after your visit...no doubt changed to have been there at this time also.

I thought/ hoped it was a one off and I am glad you u derstand there may have been extenuating circumstances that made people behave badly.

Thanks for posting back

Thanks for checking back in.. you were certainly there during a momentous time and you will never forget it.. ( not that anyone forgets Paris)..
The stories you will have to tell.