For starters, Wayne is a phenomenal host. He provided a chicken dinner for us on our arrival, as well as a number of breakfast items (bacon, eggs, and bagels were waiting in the fridge). He gave us a slew of tips on ways to get around the city, and places we might want to see if we hadn't already had a big list. He invited us upstairs to his apartment to have a couple of drinks and just chat for a bit. He helped me to get a visitor parking permit for our car. He really just went out of his way on every front I can think of.

The apartment overall is comfortable, well-sized, and well-maintained. For the cooking we did, the kitchen had pretty much everything we needed, as far as both cookware and spices. The shower's great in terms of both water pressure and in terms of getting four adults through showers without running out of hot water.

The queen bed has a foam topper that makes the bed very soft, but also traps a lot of body heat. My wife and I found we slept better by taking the topper off. The second room has a futon that seemed to be more on the hard end. Both bedrooms get a little warm in the morning. But that was probably only an issue because our group tended to sleep late. If you get up at a more reasonable hour than we did, it probably won't be a problem.

As for the neighborhood, the apartment is admittedly not in the most affluent part of DC. And the fact of our staying in that neighborhood did elicit some cautionary comments from some of our friends in the DC area.

But while it's sensible to take the same precautions that you should in any urban area (e.g., don't walk in dark areas alone, don't leave your valuables unattended in plain sight, don't scream threats at people you don't know, etc.), the actual residents of the neighborhood with whom we interacted were nothing but friendly. My pregnant wife, who can't stand large cities, never felt unsafe at all! Still, in keeping with the precautions I mentioned, we did typically take a cab directly to the apartment (instead of the metro or bus) on nights when we were returning late.

Overall, we found this to be a great place to stay, and found Wayne to be an amazing host.