Condo-Fishing 4: Going Zen

Our criterion was so wide that it took us to Jersey City, New Jersey. This is the quiet, little jewel across Southern Manhattan, on the West side of the Hudson River. Jersey City offers undoubtedly one of the best balconies to Manhattan: you enjoy the panoramic views of the island without the craziness and noise of being right in the midst of it. There are plenty of benches to enjoy this low-profile on-going show from up the cliff. Or you can go all the way down to the ferry station and delight yourself in these views while sipping a hot tea by the river. During non-rush hours, the ferry terminal is quiet, so much that you can achieve almost meditative state.

This condo was only fifteen minutes by bus from Port Authority Bus Station. It was a totally refurbished, very pleasant unit in an old building. The owner’s concept of “partially furnished” was a bed and a sofa. There was an armoire but she would take it away. Even if we would have accepted to live in this visually ‘zen’ place, what was far from ‘zen’ was the silence –or lack of. “What’s that noise?” “What noise? I don’t hear any noise”, said the man who was showing it to us. After insisting in disbelief for minutes, he reluctantly admitted that it was the heater: a massive tank that was in the backyard, just under the bedroom window!

And Karen? No news. We were anyway busy enough pursuing alternative moving targets.

Lesson 1: Ask if the place has no noise from any type (either internal or external). Lesson 2: Make sure that definitions and statements are in the same language: usually a ‘partially furnished’ for a landlord means a ‘non-furnished’ for a tenant!

From Inwood to NJC, NJ: 80 minutes. PortAuthority to NJC, NJ: 15 minutes.

Source: GoogleMaps.