There's Victorian, and then there's VICTORIAN

Photo Week, III: For the first part of our San Francisco adventure last month, we stayed in a lovely flat in Cole Valley that I'd found on Vacation Rentals By Owner.* It was tastefully decorated and conveniently located in a nice little residential/retail district (there was a wine and cheese shop directly across the street ... what more could you ask?). The plan was for our family to stay there from Saturday through Thursday, and then I'd decamp to the W for BlogHer and Jeff and the kids would head home.

When we had to extend their stay because Jo was in the hospital, we couldn't remain at our nice apartment, since it was already promised to some other lucky vacationers. The children's hospital gave us a list of hotels to try. We eventually found a room at a place near Japantown. It was small, clean, friendly, reasonably priced, and apparently had been decorated by a refugee from Lady Mildred's Victorian Theme Park and Former Brothel.

A sampling (with apologies for the poor quality--my husband went snapshot-crazy):






That last one was on the ceiling. Thankfully not in the bedroom. Be sure to notice how the "gold" "leaf" is flaking off.

*Highly recommended. If you are going away, with kids, for more than a few days, and won't be staying with friends or family, consider renting a house or apartment. For the same price as a hotel (often less) you get a full kitchen, separate bedrooms, a living area, and sometimes even laundry machines, a yard, and extra bathrooms. We've done it successfully in San Diego, San Francisco, and even Paris (before kids).