Goodbyes, unsignificant love and a babyccino

My last week in London were obviously filled with feelings and goodbyes. I started already on Monday, having a goodbye dinner at Del' Azis in Clapham Common. It's a really nice place and we had a great evening with loads of yummy food and even yummier and gigantic desserts. On Tuesday I went to the gym one last time and then finally managed to pack my bags the right way. Wednesday I left Siri with Nikolina during the afternoon and met Pia and Alena for a last coffee and carrot cake at Bertie and Boo. Even though I was so close to tears I kept them in even while saying goodbye to my dearest friends, I'm not very good at crying in public. In the evening I helped puting the kids to bed and then had a very nice dinner with Nathalie and Julian. Because of the other rather special occasion we had fingerfood and champange. Luckily champange makes me rather sleepy, otherwise my thoughts probably would have kept me awake.

I spent the days doing the regular things, both to show Nikolina but also just to do it one last time. The park, coffee at costa, rhymetime at the library, playhouses and playdates. I picked up Lukas by myself twice, leaving Siri with Nikolina, which was nice considering I was able to pay my full attention and really talk to him.

Thursday and my last day in London:

Siri and I started the morning at Costa where I for the first time ordered her a babyccino together with my regular coffee. I think the concept is so hillarious, but obviously she loved it, chocolate and warm milk, it can't get any better. At 10am we met Nikolina and went to the playgroup. There was loads of goodbyes and Petra kept telling me "don't start crying now", kidding of course but I actually wasn't even close. Until we got home and I sat with Siri and ate lunch, she asked me to sing all sorts of songs and while doing it I started thinking of everything beeing the last time. I managed to keep it together until Siri had her nap and I was doing the dishes but by then the tears were flowing down. It felt good tho, to not cry at all when leaving so much would have been weird.


In the afternoon we picked up Lukas and went to sainsbury's for ice-cream. Everything to make them remember me as the best nanny. Well actually me and Lukas had started a chart regarding using cutlery while eating and the price was to get ice cream and since he was almost nearly done and it was my last day and very warm and sunny I thought we all deserved it. Then we walked down to the riverside together with Firdo's and some other nannys/mothers and stayed there for about half an hour before walking back to meet Nathalie. I got ready, collected my things, said goodbye and walked down the street hearing Lukas yell all sorts of unsignificant things after me, which I can only guess was a way to make me stay. Already before the train station a man offered to help me with the bags, he waited while I bought the tickets, helped me aboard the train in Wandsworth town and off in Clapham Junction and then all the way to the platform where the gatwick train went. Even though he was going to a completely different platform. That's one of many things I will miss with London, that people always are so extremely helpful.

xxx

Yoghurt jars, pastel colours and birch trees

Way to soon and finally my last weekend in London arrived.

Friday:

Me and Pia started the day with some last days shopping in Southside. Converse and Body Shop products to bring home, check. Then we went on to my absolutely favourite foodshop Whole foods. Lip balm for mom, check.


Outside they'd made a flag out of youghurt jars and inside it was full of amazing food, just as always.


Opposite of Whole foods there is a church squeezed in between the traffic and the houses and just below in the corner is a tiny flowershop. I always thought that looks so sweet.


We continued walking up north and passed by this amazingly british pub full of flowers.


After a short walk we ended up in Notting Hill with it's colourfull houses.


And a couple of walls with street art, like "Made you look".


What I like the most tho are the houses in different pastel colours. Why don't we use a bit more colour in Sweden as well? It makes the world seem so much brighter.


We ended up in a little shop with all sorts of fun stuff: stickers, framed photos and sayings, and bags that we bought two off. One for me and one for Alena.


In the evening Karolin and I had tickets to see "Comedy of errors" at National Theatre. It was a Shakespeare play which made it a bit hard to understand at first but as soon as we got used to the language we got quite a few laughs.


In the pause we sneaked out on the balcony and found an absolutetly amazing view over the river thames and both of the banks.


We also found one of the eggs from the big easter hunt. They're really scattered all over London.


After the play we walked over one of the bridges and finished the evening with a nice dinner on strand.

Saturday:

Since it was my last Saturday in London we of course had to start with Borough Market. And by we I mean Pia, Alena, Sanni and I.


It's one of the thing I'll miss the most, to walk around among the stalls and look at and try everything.



Then when you've decided what to eat you can sit down by the big church, eat your food and enjoy the sun.


Since the spring had just arrived and the cherry trees had blossomed it was the perfect day to do exactly that. And maybe find something little special in the tree.


I also found this frog on one of the walls of the market and realised right away that it must be marked after me. All of you who know my middlename and some swedish can figure out why.


After walking about the market for some time we continued along the southbank. We passed by Tate Modern with all the birchs, the millenium bridge and St Pauls Cathedral on the otherside.


We took a tiny break on the sweet little yard hidden somewhere between London Bridge and Waterloo.


And we found the egg that must be the most London of them all, before ending the day with a brownie and coffee by the water in Waterloo.


Even if it was the end of the day the Saturday most certainly continued. After a quick shower I took my beloved 87 to central london to join Karolin's birthday dinner and then back to have one last night out with my girls. I manage to snap a photo of the Opera house, but I'm afraid that's it for the evening.

Sunday:

Unfortenately but as planned I had to spend most of the sunday trying to pack all of my thousand belongings in one big and one small suitcase. Can't exactly say that I managed but I did get all of my stuff to the family's place and then most of my stuff to Sweden. Luckily for me I had my amazing friends helping out so the day didn't feel quite as wasted. I also had time for a lunch with the family and the new aupair Nikolina and in the end about half an hour to sit outside in the park and enjoy the beatiful wheater.


Still in the evening it was nice to forget everything about packing, walk three minutes to the closest pub and together with Emelie, Nikolina and her friend Jona try to answer the unbelievable hard questions in the Pub quiz we'd decided to try out. We won the last place with 6 out of 40. Our name was "Don't blame us, we're from Sweden".

xxx

Pigeons, old books and ballons

Another sunday. Not just a regular sunday though. It's the sunday before my last sunday in London. One week left until I'll pack all of my things and move out of the flat to spend the last days at the family's place. One week until I will have spent my las weekend in London. One week until I'm writing my last weekend update.

Friday:

I started my weekend with a delicious breakfast: Youghurt with applepure, bananas and blackberries, two knäckebröd with sprouts or jam, apple and mango juice and tea. Perfect before working out at the gym, which even though I just had a bad cold went quite alright. After a shower I got on the train to Balham for lunch and coffee with Pia, Alena and Sanni. Then back on a train, tube this time, all the way up to Camden Town to meet Judith who I used to go to primary school with about ten years ago. She had her flatmate Sara with her and we walked around on the Market for a while, freezing, buying food and looking at all the weird stuff they sell. When we were so cold that we could barely stand it we took a bus to their place. We drank tea and talked about nothing special and suddenly it was evening and time to go home, which can only mean that we had a really nice time.

Saturday:

Saturday started with a brunch with Karolin by Covent Garden. The place seemed very promising but turned out to be amazingly slow and with coffee that only tasted of milk.


But even so we had a really nice time and at the end got served some delicious pancakes and bread with compote.


When Karolin needed to go home to study I met up with Pia (surprise?!) at Piccadilly Circus.


We sat at the foot of the statue for a while enjoying the sun and looking at tourists and pigeons.


Then we walked on to Green Park, bought some food and enjoyed it outside.


The predicted rain was very hard to spot on the sunny sky.


We went on a bus and ended up by a gigantic building that I've never seen before, apperantly Westminster Church.


Then we went on another bus and came to Waterloo.


Just by the river they have flea market where they only sell old books, I always feel like buying a book when I'm there but have so far not found anything I want.


On the way back home we passed by The royal waterloo for children and women. I'm guessing that it's now opened for all people or maybe not opened at all. Anyhow I think it's really nice that they've kept the exterior.


In the evening we went to Koko in Camden. It was absolutely crowded and almost only french people in there, kind of weird.


On the dancefloor they threw out gigantic ballons that everybody tried to catch. It was fun seeing the ballons bounce against the walls of the old theatre.

Sunday:

Since I'm moving and have lots of things to take care of next sunday I of course had to spend this one at my favourite sunday place Brick Lane.


Sanni, Carla, Alena and Pia (who were sitting next to me) came with my to enjoy the amazing food. I had the best thing you can have there: Turkish gozleme (which is kind of like a bread) with spinich and cheese.


I also finished the weekend with knäckebröd with sprouts, this time together with a butternutsquash soup. After skyping and writing this it's now time for bed to get some energy for my last regular working week.

Sleep well! xxx

The time, easter eggs, diagon alley and a basement

I want to have every weekend documented when I move back to Sweden because it is so much fun to look back at it later. So even though I know that it's already a new weekend this is all of the photos from last weekend. I must warn you if you're planning to look through all of them though: there are loads! (Almost never ending)

Saturday:


Without planning so we got stuck at Pia's friday evening, watching movies and laughing about absolutely nothing and since just the thought of getting to the train made me unbelievebly tired I decided to stay over. So in the morning we could just walk straight to Bertie&Boo for a coffee and flapjack to take away.


After a short busride to Elephant and Castle we walked on towards the river and passed by theese blue men climbing up the wall. We tried to join them but didn't really manage...


A few more steps and we were at one of my favourite places, Borough Market. We bought a juice and a baguette each, sat down on a wall and enjoyed the sun and food.


Then we went on to the next market with train. It was Greenwich Market and I found a pair of nice sunglasses, prefect for the sunny day.


We walked through Greenwich and watched the old buildings...


...parked bikes...


...and british flags on lamp posts.


Until we ended up in Greenwich park with a rasperry sorbet each in our hands.

"Hmm, which one looks yummier, mine or hers?"


It was an absolutely amazing day with a blue sky, sun and 16 degress. Two tiny little kids were running around chasing a boll and all around us were people having picnics.


Even so we got a bit cold after sitting in the grass for to long and decided to "climb up" the hill. The view up there was quite remarkable.


Besides it's the very place were they keep time, and not just any time, The time. Also known as GMT. Suppose you all know what it means?


There was quite a few people up there as well. Tourists, inlines-trainers, and sun seekers.


And of course there was loads of beautiful, big, old buildings which most certainly is remarkably important in some meaning, no idea in which tho.


Some of them were even harder to know in which way they were important. Actually I'm not even sure if this is a building, maybe just a gigantic sculpture?


In the evening Pia, Alena, Sanni and I went to see the "Legally Blonde" musical as we gave that to Pia on her birthday. It was quite funny, very similar to the film except from that they had a whole song about "Bend and snap". Since we already were in central we of course also had to take a glass after. First on the most british pub you can imagine and then on a very fancy bar in soho.


While walking through London we found about five easter eggs spread out on different places. It's a big easter egg hunt all over central London now, apperantly you can win quite a lot of money.

Sunday:

Probably the day when I've been up and away the earliest on a weekend. Up at 9.30 and in central before 11am. I had a very good excuse tho, another thing we've been looking so much forward to, the Muggle Tour (Harry Potter for those of you who are not that in to it). This is our guide Hana outside 12 Grimmauld Place, the Order of Phoenix's headquarters.


This flower shop were used to film the entry to the diagon alley. By the way, about five photos forward are only about Harry Potter so unless you're a total nerd like me you could just scroll down a bit.


It was really nice cause Hana brought photos from the film so that we could actually recognize the wall that they used.


Apparently they used the stairs inside of St Pauls cathedral (in the background) many times, for example walking up to professor Trelawney's class.


Westminister tube station were used in Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix when Harry and Arthur Weasley are going to the Minister of Magic but are not aloud to use magic. They closed the station for a whole day while filming which is quite remarkable considering how many people that are crossing there everyday.


To be honest I don't really know what she said about this specifik view, but of course the Thames and many of the bridges are used in the fifth film when they are bringing Harry to Grimmauld Place.


Here they filmed the sixth Harry Potter. Ron is standing at that corner when they are using polyelixir to become people that work on the Ministry of Magic.


And just around the corner is were the guest entrance to Ministry of Magic is, it's suppose to be a telephone box, but unfortenately they just brought it there for filming so it's no longer there.


We finished the tour on a very small street with almost only bookstore which was the inspiration for diagon alley. Sorry about the photo, I know it's a bit weird if you look at the girls, something with the camera I suppose.


Alright, anyone who scrolled down, I'm done with the nerd things now. To be honest it's mostly for me to remember, might not be very intresting for you.



After the tour we bought some food and sat down in St James Park for lunch, we ate and talked for about one hour...


...until walking further in to the park.


Even there we found a couple of eggs, one in the middle of the pond.


We ended up, well we actually intended to end up, it wasn't by mistake, at Buckingham Palace.


Sanni, Alena, Carla and I. Pia were the photograph. All of us more or less Harry Potter nerds.


After walking through St James Park, Green Park and parts of Hyde Park (yes, it is kind of far) we decided to go to the Museums. First we took a peek in the Victoria and Albert Museum.



Even though just walking in the entrance gave us these amazing views we felt like it was way to much to comprehend in the single hour we had before closing. So instead we walked to the science museum just around the corner and did a test to find out who we are. Would have been convenient if they would have told me what I'm gonna become as well, so I don't have to figure that out by myself.


My plan was to go home after the museum and have a quiet evening but since I didn't feel like going home at all I instead ended up with the other girls on a pub were I ate a vegetarian sunday roast. Also something you should try in London, just beacuase it's so british.


After dinner we went on to another pub and ended the fabulous weekend with listening to a fantastic band called "Robbie Boyd Band" down in the basement. Do I have to mention that I was pleased with the weekend?

xxx

Chai the, cottage cheese and cosmetics

Haven't had any nap today, for some reason I didn't manage to fall asleep. But it's rather nice to just lay down and rest for half an hour as well and now I can have some quiet time with a cup of chai the before waking up Siri which is not to bad either. I also had time to call and book a play for me and Karolin for next Friday.

Just so you know, I tried to make a post about the weekend last night but I realised that it was loads of photos so I couldn't finish before bedtime. Since I'm having a cold I needed to get in bed rather early. Anyhow I'll do it as soon as possible.

Today it's 14 degrees and sunny, absolutely amazing. Since we had the playgroup this morning we have mostly been inside but we'll probably spend the afternoon in the park.

Now my little sweetheart is breathing on my neck, all snuggled up in my arms. Wasn't very happy about waking up so we'll take some time to just sit. Then we're having cottage cheese, cinnamon and apples for snacks.

The photo is of my dinner from yesterday. They have so nice soyabolls and things like that over here. With that I just had pasta and a tomato sauce with mushrooms and fresh basil, and some salad of course. Yummy and simple. Maybe I should buy some soyathings with me to sweden? That and cosmetics from body shop.

xxx


RSS 2.0