from Barnes olympic studios to richmond park

the Stones at Barnes Olympic Studio

All those who know me well won't be surprised to hear that, from the moment my sister moved to London, I've been traveling there every other month.

Sophie and I have always been so close that I often feel she can read my thoughts a thousand kilometers from me.

So for this visit, it was obvious for both of us that seeing Downton Abbey was a must.

Sophie booked a red booth in the outstanding cinema of Barnes and on Sunday morning we headed there.

Being huge (and when I say huge, you can read absolute, infinite, passionate, whatever) Rolling Stones fans, it was just the perfect place to go to the movies together.

Barnes cinema was previously the heart of the London Rock and Roll scene. So many icons have been there to record their albums in the sixties and the seventies, that going to the movies there nowadays is also a rocking experience. We brunched close to pics of Keith Richards, Bowie and Brian Jones, we saw Mick Jagger working on "Sympathy for the Devil" on screen as a pre-ad before the movie; the entire place still breathes with the rhytm of Rock and Roll. Hey lads, so why Downton Abbey there? Believe me folks, Lady Mary can rock a scene, crushing a gun with her high heels in elegance and style. I won't spoil more than that but the movie was just epic.

On my second day of my visit we went for a long walk at Richmond Park. Autumn is slowly and silently winning the heart of the place. Touches of red and copper are appearing in the fern bushes; dust crawls back under the falling leaves and the grass is whispering with the first steps of frost. Birds gather, trees lay down their branches, nuts fall as heavy raindrops would in a summer storm.

We walked without haste, stopping from tree to deer, greeting the season with genuine laughs and plans fot the weeks to come.

And as I type these words, the train brings me back home, and I already long for the sea birds flying above the Thames. Long for my other self, my sister.

Richmond Park