Adventures with Anna

Just under 2 weeks ago, the fabulous McGarry couple graced London with their presence. This grand occasion coincided perfectly with my day off, and so Anna and I took to the streets with cries of sisterhood. We took a speedy stroll through Camden, stopping in Costa to pick up our coffee tradition, where we left off in December. The steam from the warm drinks wafted through our gossip and talk of future dance plans.

Outside of South Kensington Station, we stopped at Le Pain Quotidien, to indulge in tea, orange carrot soup, fresh bread with Nutella and an excited conversation about event planning.

Afterward, we wound our way through the wondrous halls of the Victoria and Albert Museum. We admired paintings, stared at stairs, tried on armor, bounced through a room of Buddhas, and marveled at Margot Fonteyn’s Black Swan tutu.

      It was incredibly refreshing to walk through a museum with someone who accepts and enjoys my comparisons of busts to bacon sculptures, and how I bestow praises of fine craftsmanship with phrases like, “That piano’s baller!”          

                             

Weary from our journey around the world and through history, we dragged ourselves to the Hilton. Collapsing onto the bed, with only enough reserved energy to trudge to the downstairs lounge, we refilled our tanks with tea and mini herb sausages with lavender honey.

In the final hour, I sat on the bed, while we had a conversation, sprinkled with talk of hair, makeup and clothes, but primarily consisting of overwhelming content: how I’ve changed over the years and what I have to look forward to. I’ve spent close to ten years growing from being Anna’s student into being her friend as well. She can relate to me in a way that no one else quite can, and I am so lucky to have had a day to spend with her in London, joking around, expanding dreams and soaking in her wisdom.