Take that, fate



16/12/2009 - our first 'real' date - my horoscope told me I was bound to be a lonely bitch for eternity.


Due to fate, a planning error or possibly just Cyril and I being selfish, only a few days after le copain left London, I am boarding the 17.30 Eurostar to Paris this Friday to spend a long weekend with him. I feel so spoilt it's unbelievable, I just wish my bank account felt the same way!

This weekend marks Hallowe'en as well as my parents 17th anniversary (cool parents huh? married on Hallowe'en!) so the mood is going to be fabulous. Anyway, I will write more about Paris while/after it happens. Today I want to talk to you about our last weekend!

On Friday night at about 19.40 my lovely boyfriend arrived at St. Pancras (which in itself is a landmark, you must simply see for yourself!) and was in my arms. We went home and had a quiet night with home cooked risotto and Guillermo del Toro film Cronos. Bit creepy, not that I expected anything less. The rest of the weekend, I promise you, was more exciting.

On Saturday morning we awoke early and headed to Vapiano on Great Portland street (Nearest tube: Oxford Circus) to meet an old friend of Cyril's from his university. Vapiano, I highly recommend for first dates or cheap parties. It's a (very chic) canteen-style layout, the food is fresh (it's cooked in front of you!) and simple Italian and the best part? It's fairly cheap and you have your account billed on separate chip cards, so no quarrels over the bill. Lunch was lovely and very filling, and after bidding goodbye to Cyril's friend, we hopped on the DLR to Greenwich. Oh, Greenwich.

Need I say more?

I have a sick confession to make. Up until last weekend, I had never visited Greenwich. There are a few reasons for this, the main one being I passed it off for a museum and a line on top of a hill. While there is a line and a museum and they are on a hill, I should never have overlooked this view. We arrived at about 15.30 and, to dodge a rain spell entered the museum, which is free and not as boring as I imagined. Then, after a quick look at the meridian line, just lost ourselves to the view. Highly recommended.

After a tumble down the hill, we spent a little while looking around Greenwich itself. The cold, however, was creeping in and we had to escape back on to the DLR. We happened to discover Oliver's jazz bar at 9 Nevada street. A tiny, 'blink and you'll miss it' kind of place (in fact, all you can see is a small door with a 9 on it, the rest of the pub is down some stairs) it has live jazz bands play most nights at about 21.00. Impressive stuff, I wish we hadn't been there so early (a note: we arrived at about 17.45 and it was completely empty).

After a quiet Saturday night (inside to avoid the rain) we awoke on Sunday to strangely lovely (but cold) weather. We went to Soho to buy cupcakes before going to Bloomsbury festival. Bloomsbury is an affluent area stretched between Holborn and Kings Cross, the epicentre being Russell Square. As soon as we arrived  we were charmed by exhibitions, craft stalls, book shops, gourmet food & live music. London has many of these mini-festivals and I  can't tell you how 'worth it' they are. After a grinding week at work, Londoners really know how to chill out.

And so ended a lovely weekend. In conclusion, I can't recommend Greenwich enough. I shall report from Paris!