London with the Melinhos

A few weeks back, when I realized that Gorda’s bachelor party was coming up soon, I had the bright idea of trying to keep myself busy during those days. Most of my INSEAD friends were travelling to Lebanon for a week, in a trip organised by Tony, but I had classes until Friday late afternoon and back on Monday early morning. Skipping classes to go to Lebanon was a no go. I am such good friends with Chantal and Tony that I am sure I will go to Lebanon at some point. I then decided to get train tickets to London and visit my hun Carolina Almeida Pires, instead.

Carolina was supposed to be by herself during weekend, as Ricardo had planned to be in Austria playing an European Tour tournament. We were excited to spend a bride & bridesmaid weekend on our own. He changed his schedule last minute, and we ended up having a lovely weekend all together. They did not seem to mind having me and Carolina’s youngest sister, Beatriz (aka Bitinha) as third and fourth wheel, whatsoever.

After a stressful journey to Paris Gare du Nord (had to leave class early, almost lost the train from Fontainebleau, and then thought I would not make it through Eurostar check-in on time due to extra security checks), I made it to London around 9 pm. Carolina, Ricardo and Bitinha picked me up at St Pancras, and the festivities started right away.

We had a drink and a small bite in a typical British pub in Soho and then went to a super duper restaurant for dinner: 2-Michelin star restaurant Yauatcha… Really good and very cheap for a 2-Michelin star restaurant. The golfer paid dinner to the girls. Ricardo had to practice the next day, and the three girls were pretty exhausted from a busy week, so we went to bed right after our late dinner.

On Saturday, we woke up to a very sunny and warm London. We put on our fitness clothes (as pretty much any other person that lives in Chelsea), and left home for breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien, in the sun. Ricardo left to the golf course, Carolina and I jumped into London’s bike sharing bikes, and met Bitinha. We checked Chelsea’s Saturday Food Market, walked around King’s road, and ended up sitting for a while in the terrace of a cool place called Joe and The Juice. At 1 pm, Carolina and I did a killing fitness class at her gym, and around 3 pm, we met Bitinha again for a yummy lunch at Chelsea Market. We jumped in our bikes again, and rode all the way to Portobello, where we walked around for a bit. On the way to and from Portobello, we crossed Hyde Park, which was full of Londoners, enjoying the (rare) sun. Ricardo met us back at 7 pm, and we dressed up for a Saturday night in the city. And what a fun night: hipster rooftop in Shoreditch (Queen of Hoxton), dinner in a Spanish restaurant in Soho (Rositas) with a couple friend of Carolina and Ricardo, cool bar already close to home (Goat). At 1 am, exhausted from all the physical activity and fun, we went home.

Today was a chill day. The bride and groom did not wake up until after 10 am. When they woke up, I had already finished my home workout and packed. We had a very nice brunch in the sun at Bluebird Chelsea, walked around King’s Road again, and biked until Hyde Park, where we walked a bit and then sat for a while. We then biked back to Chelsea, had an amazing healthy lunch at L’Eto, helped Bitinha deal with a guy in charge of eliminating all the ants in her house, and then drove to St Pancras, where I had a train waiting for me.

Favourite part of the weekend? Noticing that good old friends will always be good old friends. It’s been a few years since the last time I spent a weekend with Carol and Ricardo. Our lives changed quite a lot too. Despite all that, we were together as if years haven’t passed through us nor if our lives changed.

Thank you Melo Gouveias for such a warm weekend. It is a honour to be a bridesmaid in your wedding this September. 

I promise to come back, next time with my Gorda (who, by the way, survived a few days in Puerto de Santa Maria). Check some pictures of my weekend in London and his weekend in Spain below.