This is a beautiful, just-renovated apartment, spacious, light, and uncluttered, with dramatic chandeliers and a few surviving panels of original stained glass. Louis is an attentive host, lent us his bicycles for the duration of our stay, and during our first few days he spent time perfecting small matters such as locks and bathroom lighting. The location is amazing--just steps from the bus stop on Ku'damm, around the corner from one of the very few grocery stores in Berlin that stays open late (Kaiser's--open until midnight--a boon if you are working as opposed to on vacation). It's also right across the street from a small park, and a short walk away from the well-known Schaubuhne theater, located in a famous mid-century building with a varied, constantly changing program. (We saw an interpretation of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, performed by four men in gorilla suits, punctuated by disco numbers).

The ground-floor location is especially convenient if you want to bicycle--the foyer of the apartment is large enough that you can wheel your bike directly inside--much easier than bringing a bike through extra doors and steps into the courtyard of the building. At the same time, although it's on the ground floor, it's private: slightly above grade, set back from the street, and there are bushes outside so that curtains are not needed.

Willmersdorf is not the most exciting neighborhood in Berlin--it's quite quiet and bourgeois--but it's beautiful, with tree-lined streets and wide sidewalks. It was not much damaged in the war so many of the buildings date from the turn of the 20th century--art art nouveau influenced.

It should be clarified that this is not really a two-bedroom apartment: although it accommodates four people, one of the beds is in the main room, between the kitchen and the dining room. While this room is spacious enough to accommodate the double bed (fold-out sofa) it does not provide privacy.

The bedding and towels provided are of high quality. We paid 40 euro extra per week to have someone come to clean and do laundry (arranged by Louis, who also provided the washing powder) and the machine is in the apartment so we could easily do our own laundry at other times.

One other things to note is that the induction stove has only two small burners, so cooking large meals is a challenge, but there are plenty of inexpensive restaurants in the neighborhood.

It was a great stay. Thanks, Louis!