London is always calling us.


This weekend we went back to our long-time love London. I think we have gone every year since we got together, except last year for some reason. My husband lived there for 5 years, so knows his way around the city. So it was time to return! We took the kid and her step and jumped on the Eurostar. Taking the step with us, was the best idea we had and it made our weekend so easy and pleasant. She 'stepped' her way through the crowds, in underground stations, on Trafalgar square, Hyde Park, as if she did that every day. (The kid only stepped in our living room before this day, imagine that). I'm so proud of her. We did our regular tour - West End, Covent Garden- she was intrigued by all the music and spectacles on the streets. We went for a beer and a Pimm's in the Punch & Judy's, before making our way to Shoreditch to go eat at Dinerama. Dinerama is a Street food market in an old truck depot, with great drinks and food. I had delicious steamed buns with pork belly, braised lamb with a great coleslaw, a Thai curry and a great duck burger with fries sprinkled with truffle salt.
The kid ate 6 doughnuts with chocolate sauce, just like that. It made her night. (Maybe the fact that we passed by the Nickelodeon store and bought her Sky from Paw Patrol also helped)
After a good night rest in our wonderful hotel, we went for Sunday brunch at Blixen in Spitalfields Market. They had some original variations on normal brunch items and great juices (I had a pear, ginger and pineapple juice, so good). After brunch we went to our photo booth in the vinyl shop. We have photos of when we first went to London, photos from when I was pregnant and now photos with our little lady. Then the rain started pouring down, so we hopped one of the red busses and got off at Trafalgar Square and paid a visit to the National Gallery - always a good idea when it is raining, since it is free and they have some great art in their collection. No London without the rain.
Already making plans for next year!
More blogs on London here, here, here, here




 
 
 






 







 




Smoking in the hidden hallway

My old school buildings are getting a new destination, and today they held a open day to visit the school for the last time. It was really good to go back there and see our old playground, the classroom with the hidden hallway where we went to smoke between classes (and then sprayed half of our deodorant bottle to hide it), the window where I bought my chocolate waffle every single day (sometimes 2), the corner behind the mathematics classroom where I kissed for the first time, the smell, the exit through the monastery where we sneaked back in when we were too late. So many memories came back.
 I lived very close to the school at the time, so I left at 8.22 at home to arrive just in time at school at 08.25 - I loved the walk down the hill - with a cigarette - feeling very sophisticated with my skirt and hiking shoes (that was my style back then) 
It was also very cool to see all these teachers again, from kindergarten to the art history teacher - although I got a little -coup de vieux- all of a sudden (I bet they did too). It is a pity that my kid will not be able to go though her school career on the same chairs and in the same classrooms as her grandmother and I, but she will make her own memories in a brand new school.
I have to say that I look back on these period of my life with only good feelings. I made friends for life, I felt good about myself, I loved learning new things, I learned about life and myself, I took my first steps into the real world. It felt like a safe environment to grow up.
It was a happy time and I would not trade it for the world.