I did not meet Nicolas in person; however, our interactions online were very pleasant. When I made the arrangements for my arrival time Nicolas told me I would be meeting Lucrezia at the apartment at appox 16:30. There was some confusion on her end about my arrival time and she thought I was arriving 2 hours later at 6:30pm. I suppose this is a reasonable explanation (even though all of the times we discussed were in 24 hour time, not using am or pm), but I was rather surprised when she asked me to come back 2 hours later because she was entertaining guests in the apartment. In the grand scheme of things, it was not a huge deal, but just was not the best first impression. I did find her to be somewhat condescending in my other interactions with her, but chalked it up to a language/cultural difference and also ensuring people staying there understand the house rules.

The apartment was very nice and pretty much looks like the photos; however, I do think it should be noted that the photos are very strategically taken and do not show that there is a door on the upstairs level of the apartment that goes into Lucrezia's apartment. I do not believe she needs to use this door to gain access to her apartment, but it definitely is something I would have liked to have known about beforehand since it is not shown in any of the photos nor did I read about it in any of the reviews.

I did not use the kitchen much because there was a bowl of fruit in the window that was crawling with ants. I ended up throwing most of the fruit away, but that did not get rid of the ants.

The neighborhood is not the most exciting; however, if you are arriving at Midi Station it is a very short walk from there (about 5 mins), which was convenient. The Grand Place is about a 20 minute walk from the apartment.

All in all, it served its purpose for my friend and me, which was really just a place to sleep and shower, but I am not sure I would stay here again if I return to Brussels.