Elena was incredibly helpful, knowledgeable, and hospitable. She met us at the train station and walked us to the apartment. The apartment is very very nice. Clean, well-decorated, quiet, and well-equipped. It is in a quieter area of Venice near the university so it does take about 15 minutes to walk to the train station, 20 minutes to walk to the accademia bridge and 30 minutes to walk to St Marks. However, it is much less touristy than the rest of Venice and this will probably be an advantage for most people as it was for us. There is a cafe around the corner and a wonderful restaurant right nearby called Pane Vino e San Daniele, which we highly recommend. Overall, we really enjoyed staying in Elena's apartment.