The apartment was indeed elegant. It was also comfortable, quiet, spacious and cool -- in both senses! Mark was a charming host. He made us welcome, answered our questions, went out for a beer with us when we invited him, and otherwise left us to our own devices. He picked up that we were quite a private pair, and we mainly communicated through notes left on one another's doors, which might sound eccentric but it worked for us. On the day of departure, when we were in a rush, he offered to call us a cab to the airport. The neighbourhood was great; quiet and safe, with lots of corner stores from which to pick up groceries, and a brilliant restaurant/tapas bar/bakery called Saraghina a couple of streets away. We went there for a great meal on my birthday; the music was clearly chosen by an anglophile and featured the bands of my youth. It's not often you get to hear Joy Division in an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn. Getting to the subway involved an enjoyable ten-minute walk down elegant Stuyvesant Avenue and through a small park full of pushy squirrels. The only word of warning I'd give is that the apartment is close to a fire station, and sometimes our peace was disturbed by the sound of sirens. but for me that just added to the drama of being in New York!