London…9 years later

The last time I was in London was in 2011, when I was three months pregnant with Adam. Here was our going away party! Adam was just a tiny bean in my belly, hard to imagine all that would come after this photo- moves to four countries, three babies, trips all over the world!

And I never would have believed it would be nine years before I returned, alone none the less!

But first, because I recently was able to upload a whole lot of old pictures, here are a few of my favorites from our time in London.

This was my first time (I think ever) going away totally alone and I had a whole week to fill. Did I mention the trip was an all expenses paid medical trip to fix a torn retina? Which sounds scary but ended up not being that painful or long to fix. At first I struggled with being away for a whole week. Randy was in Moldova for work that same week, our nanny was sick (she was better thankfully by the time I returned), but we were very lucky because I was told I had to go right away to fix it and Grandma Gertch was still there to watch the kids. If she hadn’t been there I don’t know what would have happened. But since I had to go to London and I had to go for a week, I decided to make the best of it. I had three hours of doctors appointments over 6 days and empty time other than that.

I don’t think I realized how excited I was to be back and how much I had missed London and our time there until I got off the plane and into a black cab. Randy and I lived there for five years together, right after law school. It was where we really first started living together, started our careers, made lifelong friends, got engaged and got married. Everywhere I walked had so many memories for me.

My first stop my first full day was Marylebone our old neighborhood. I even visited our old apartment. I went for a quick look around and ended up spending all day there.

The rounded window on the second floor was ours. So many sunny weekends in that living room, looking out on the cute block we lived on in disbelief that we lived here.

Neighborhood pub on our corner where we spent more than a few nights with friends.

The best butcher I have ever known- The Ginger Pig. Right when I got pregnant with Adam, we took a butcher course here. They took out half a cow and we got to cut it up. Just what you want in your first few weeks of pregnancy! But it was such a great experience and we took home an enormous roast each that we shared with all of our friends.

Ah- Daunt books. I would argue this is the best book store in the world. I spent a good hour in here looking at new books for me and getting two special books for the boys. I picked books that you couldn’t order online and were only available in this special book store for them. A big dinosaur book with popups for Malcolm and a cool robot book from the 1930s for Adam.

Then I headed here, to my favorite local in our old neighborhood, the hotel bar. Randy and I spent many an early night here after work having a glass of wine before dinner. It is still one of the coziest places for me and remind me of those days from a long time ago before kids when Randy and I had hours to just sit here and talk about nothing and everything.

Then….this happened. Steak and frites at my FAVORITE steak and frites place. This place always had the longest line, but luckily I am now trained thanks to my children to eat dinner at 6pm so I was the first one on line when this place opened.

All that was only the first day!

The next morning I woke up and went for a long run. This is probably the first time I had nothing to do for an entire day. No work, no plans, nothing. So a long scenic run it was. The hotel I was staying at was on Hyde park. Which is stunning in the morning.

Then because I had nothing but time I decided to take a super long bath, straighten my hair and spend a bunch of time getting dressed.

I reached out to my old friend Megan who still lives in London. She was one of my first friends in London. She had her first baby while we lived here and then went and had four more. I have missed her and was very excited to see her. I took the tube and even that was exciting (the days when I would take the tube to work every day and hated it are a distant memory).

I took a picture of me waiting for her but then of course no pics of us together. But you will just have to trust me that it was amazing. Her kids were all at school so it was just me, her and her newly adopted dog (yes, Megan has five kids and a dog!). We walked in the Heath for hours talking about everything and I was once again reminded how amazing good friends are. You can not see them for 10 years, meet up and it is like you were never apart. Those are the types of friends you pick up in this lifestyle and the type that make my heart happy and make me realize I have picked the right life for me.

After leaving Megan I headed to dinner at my favorite restaurant in London- Barrafina. This place opened towards the end of our time in London and we used to rush out of work to get on line and wait hours to eat here. It is the most amazing Tapas. I remember coming here with Daphne and MJ for lunch on their last visit to visit me in London when I was just pregnant with Adam. Just as good as I remember.

Then because I still had half a week to fill I decided to get my hair did at a real salon in London.

And then- Don’t judge me, but I headed back to Barrafina for lunch. Yes, it is that good and walking distance from my hair salon. And yes I ordered the same things…because that is the type of person I am and I am not embarrassed to admit it!

Walking home I passed by the Soho hotel. This was the hotel Randy and I stayed at the night we officially got married in London.

Throwback to that night, because why not! They even upgraded us to a suite with an awesome balcony. Amazing this was over 10 years ago.

I headed up to Megan and Dave’s house for dinner with their kids. It made me miss my three a lot but it was so nice to see them all.

More morning runs in beautiful Hyde park.

Followed by this amazing view

And then people, don’t judge me. I met Megan for lunch and guess where she wanted to go…..you guessed it. Barrafina.

We even got one picture together. I will treasure this selfie in all its shininess since it could be ten more years before I am lucky enough to see her again and I loved having this time to catch up.

Then because I had all the time in the world I went back to the hair salon to finish my hair.

On my last solo day in London I went back to our old neighborhood to my favorite Italian restaurant – 2Veneti. This place really made me nostalgic. This was one of our favorite date night dinner places. The poor Italian waiters didn’t know what to make of me alone at a date night place. They didn’t realize how happy I was just to be here eating my favorite dish, that they still had all these years later- veal milanese with rocket on top.

Then it was time to head home to my babies.

I have to say a week alone in London was amazing and I loved having the opportunity in a busy world to take some time to focus on me. But getting home to these faces made me so happy.