London Calling...

So where the hell have I been for the past few weeks? On holiday, of course! Ye Olde Dayjobbe kept me busy throughout the summer, so this was the first chance I could get to escape. (Plus, it was an easier time to spend my Virgin Atlantic miles for two round-trip tickets to Europe in the fall than in the summer.)

As some of you may know, I used to live in London, so we definitely wanted to go back. I took my partner there for his first visit ever about seven years ago and he found it overwhelming, exciting, and loads of fun. So we were overdue for another visit.

After staying with some friends, we checked into the Zetter Townhouse in trendy Clerkenwell. It was amazing--the regular Zetter Hotel is a large warehouse conversion just 21 steps across a cobblestone courtyard, but the Townhouse is a smaller, more intimate place made up of two converted Georgian townhouses. It's been written up in design circles for a good reason--each room is different in a quirky, coloful, eccentric (and eclectic) British way. Here was our room:

 

 

  

(There was an interesting little window into the bathroom from the bedroom!)

 

 

(And here was the view from our room.)

 

 (The hallway of our floor had pictures hung on a diagonal slant. Clever!)

The lobby was decorated to look like an elaborate parlor, with multiple seating areas you could reserve in the evening for drinks or meals. 

 

Of course, the best part was the cat by the parlor fireplace mantel--she had on a blue dress the evening we checked in (you can sort of see her in one of the photos above) but one morning we awoke to find she had been changed into holiday finery!

We knew we were in the right place.

Next week--photos from Berlin!