I feel extremely blessed to have amazing friends all over the world, and although it is hard not seeing them for months or years at a time, when I do get to spend time with them, it’s like no time has passed. Last weekend I got to hang out with four of my closest friends, who I met 10 years ago (to the day, last Saturday!), when I started at their school after moving to England with my family. We have so many funny, embarrassing memories from the time we spent together, and we’ve also shared some really difficult and sad times. After 7 or 8 years (we tried to work out exactly how long – either way, it’s a long time), the five of us were once again laughing together, and getting along as if no time had passed.
With so many years of life to catch up on and good times to reminisce about, we hardly stopped talking; although we did manage to head out on Saturday afternoon. We started at a crêpe restaurant near South Kensington tube station called The Kensington Crêperie.
banana and milk chocolate crêpe
Half of the restaurant is really cozy with a European atmosphere, and the other half feels more like an American ice cream parlour, with lots of white tiles and stainless steel. We sat in the ‘European side’, and ordered both sweet and savoury crêpes to share. We started with the savoury choices: smoked salmon with spinach, chicken and mushroom, and ratatouille with cheese. We quickly graduated to dessert, with a choice of lemon and sugar, milk chocolate with banana, and a delicious creation involving apple, some kind of alcohol, maple syrup and ice cream. We thoroughly enjoyed all of our selections, and we were impressed with how tasty and generously filled the crêpes were.
Victoria & Albert Museum
After our indulgent lunch we crossed the road to the Victoria and Albert museum in the hope of browsing the fashion gallery, but it was closed (and will be for some time, apparently) so we wandered around the sculpture rooms, reverting back to our schoolgirl silliness and laughing at the marble bottoms. We didn’t spend long at the V&A but I’ll certainly head back there one Saturday when I am looking for something to do: not only is it filled with amazing exhibitions, but it’s also free, which is pretty amazing considering that it’s in central London. And next time I’ll try to stifle my nudity-induced giggles!
marble bottom; cause for much hilarity
We strolled from there toward Sloane Square, past a number of very expensive looking boutiques (through a window of which I fell in love with a pair of undoubtedly overpriced Chloé shoes), and found ourselves in the middle of a farmers market, which I have now discovered is known as the Duke of York Square Market. We spent a few minutes sampling and admiring, but after the lunch we’d just devoured, we just couldn’t bear to eat more yet! We tore ourselves away from the spicy chorizo samples and pretty marbled meringues and popped into Peter Jones for a cup of tea and some shopping, where I spent a whopping £8 on a pair of slippers (not just your average slippers though; they have memory foam soles!)
With not much energy remaining, we made our way back home to enjoy some cheese and wine, manicures, a chick flick and perhaps just a little more fond reminiscing…
meringues
I am so grateful to have good friends in my life; friends who I have known for years, who know all about me and who have always been there for me, and although I hate always being on the other side of the world to some of these friends; I know it will always be so good to see them again and catch up on missed years. I count myself lucky!
