This is a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo apartment in a late 19th century brick rowhouse in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. The apartment occupies the entire second floor, 900 square feet (100 square metres). It is three short blocks from the "C" subway line which runs directly to the Wall Street area, Greenwich Village, Midtown, and Upper West Side.

The apartment has high ceilings, two exposures (front & back), many windows, one full & one half bathroom, and a compact but fully-equipped kitchen.

The master bedroom is about 10 x 18 feet and has a queen-sized bed. A master bathroom with a jacuzzi bath/shower is connected directly to the bedroom.

A smaller second bedroom opens onto the living room w/ a sliding door, and includes a crib and changing table for a baby.

The living room is one large room that includes the dining area next to the kitchen, as well as a daybed and seating area and a working fireplace. The day bed converts to a twin-size bed to sleep 1 person.

We have a dishwasher and microwave in the kitchen. We have a combination washer/dryer laundry machine in our half bath. We have high-speed internet access and a Wifi / Airport signal that you can use. We do not have cable TV however.

We have two tabby cats that we ask you to care for. One is a 5 year old male, and the other is a 7 year old female. They are both spayed / altered, and are very friendly and healthy. You just have to feed them and scoop out the litter box once or twice a day. They will love it if you pet them & play with them too!

There is on-street parking if you will have a car, although you definitely do not need one in New York! Our apartment is two doors down from a major arterial street, so there is some traffic noise in the bedroom. It's usually quite quiet at night, but if you are a very light sleeper, you might want to bring earplugs.

Our apartment is located in south Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, and is a quick train ride to Manhattan. The C subway train runs every 8 to 12 minutes, and takes you to the Wall St. area in 12 minutes, to Soho in about 17 minutes total, to Greenwich Village in about 20 minutes total, and to midtown in about 25 minutes total.

We live in a very walkable area, in one of the classic-architecture, and increasingly trendy, Brooklyn brownstone neighborhoods, Clinton Hill. It's an easy walk to the adjacent neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Prospect Heights, north Park Slope, and Bedford-Stuyvesant. Our retail street (Fulton Street), includes the "C" train subway station "Clinton / Washington" just 3 short blocks away, a regular grocery store, 2 organic produce / health food stores, a local-goods store, a bagel shop (coming soon), an amazing French bakery, several wonderful cafes, a post office, a great wine shop, and several restaurants.

Our Clinton Hill neighborhood is home to the famous Brooklyn Flea Market. In Prospect Heights you'll find many great restaurants, cafes, stores, and boutiques along its spine, Vanderbilt Avenue. For example: http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/restaurants-bars/26377/bilt-to-last

We are several blocks east of Fort Greene, another well-known Brooklyn neighborhood celebrated for its diversity, beautiful rowhouses, incredible Brooklyn cuisine (No. 7, Romans, Ici, General Greene, Cake Man Raven) and cultural offerings (including Brooklyn Academy of Music, www.bam.org, which includes a wonderful cinema and live theater and dance shows).

About a 10 minute walk south of us is a main entrance to the beautiful, large Prospect Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, the same landscape architect who designed Central Park. The Park is closed to vehicular traffic on weekends, so it's a wonderful place to bike, walk, or run (it's about a 3 or 4 mile loop around the park). Also at this entrance, Grand Army Plaza, there is a huge, thriving farmers' market on Saturdays. The main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Brooklyn Museum, are also located at Grand Army Plaza.

This apartment comes with 2 cats that we ask you to care for.

We'd prefer that our exchange home have a separate bedroom for our daughter so that we can stay up after she goes to bed, and another bedroom -- or a sofabed in the living room -- for ourselves.

UPDATE: The perfect swap we seek is a 6-month home exchange with us in the Boston area (preferably Brookline, Cambridge, etc. central area near T trains) from March 1 to Sept 1, 2013. We have a great place in Brookline lined up for Sept. 1, but nothing before that. We'd bring our 2 cats w/ us to Boston. We could put our furniture in storage & give you a vacant apartment, or leave it here in Brooklyn for your use. Actually you could rent our apartment long-term after Sept. 1 if you want.

In 2013, we're interested in considering France, Italy, Germany, the UK, or Greece.

We also would like to do an exchange in California sometime in winter, spring, or summer 2013 either in San Francisco / Berkeley / Oakland or Los Angeles, or Santa Cruz.

We are interested any time in weekend and holiday exchanges in the northeast US -- especially Hudson Valley, Fire Island, Montauk, Hamptons, upstate NY, and other places.

Also, since we have family in Boston and RI, we are interested in exchanges any time in southern New England (especially Boston/Cambridge and Providence) during weekends and over holiday weekends.

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Diana is a graphic designer. She runs her own design business and works from home. Mark is a technical director / web developer. We are in our early 40's. We have a baby girl and 2 cats.

Diana speaks French, but it's a bit rusty!

We do not smoke.

We've had a few wonderful experiences with HomeExchange already, with people from Paris, Milan, New Hampshire, Boston, and Rhode Island, and we hope to do it again! We love to explore a new place by walking and biking, poking around bookstores and design stores, sitting in cafes, and eating our way around town. We prefer to explore everyday neighborhoods and local hangouts rather than go to the super-touristy destinations. We are a very quiet and considerate couple, and we will take good care of your home. We would be happy to take care of any pets you have in your home too.

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