"Jolly Old England" Isn't So Jolly...

"my own BIG seat!"

In the Lounge Before The LONG Flight

We're here!

It is bleary 6 a.m. as we arrive in London and we are as bleary as the country --- owl-eyed at the very least.  But little Iris is sunny all by herself!  And when she gets tired, so gets more excited and silly, much to our disgust and admiration.  But, after a 45 minute jaunt into the city, we arrive at our hotel,  The Milestone.  If you wanted to know what ol' England looked like centuries ago, this hotel would be the definition!  It is what is called a boutique hotel, which means "small".  There are only 45 rooms.  But the bonus for us, a family of 5, is they also have 6 separate individual apartments and as apartments, it is like we have our own "flat" in the middle of Kensington!  We have two bedrooms, 2 and 1/2 baths, a laundry room, a living room, a dining and a state of the art kitchen.  And our flat takes up a whole floor of the apartment-hotel's addition.  It even has an elevator!  And a fireplace. And a balcony overlooking Kensington Park, where Price William and Princess Kate live.  Pretty posh, actually.  A minor glitch -- they had a bring a rollaway for Iris in her parents' bedroom, but that makes her even sillier-happier!! And she was happy that there was a "kids sink" in the main bath. (see below)

Lovely living room

Iris' special bed! & Our own kitchen

The Milestone did Rose petals on the bed, bath with champaign
an all for our 50th!!  Candles here and in the bath.

Why is this not so jolly??  Well, the weather is dreary.  And rainy.  And supposed to be all week rainy and dreary.  And every time it looks like the sun might be trying to come out, it starts raining again.  It only dampens me, however!  Everyone else is forging on in the good old British tradition.

Balcony With View

Iris's "kids sink"

I must say the staff of the hotel has been extraordinarily nice.  They had a group of teddy bears waiting for Iris and a list of dinner places and a schedule of activities for all of us for the week.  Now only if the sun would peek out and we could put away the umbrellas -- which also are available from the hotel!