The England Journal-Day 3-Part 2-Central London

The National Portrait Gallery

Journal Entry 5
December 15, 2011-10:39 PM-London Time


          We made it back around 9:30 after spending all day in Central London. 
          The alarm went off at around 8:15 this morning, but I was the only one who heard it and I immediately turned it off and went back to bed thinking, "I took a shower last night so Pearl or Nicole will probably get up." The next time I looked at the clock, it was 9 AM, so I finally woke the others up.

          The first night at the Clink was actually not that bad. We were so exhausted that we slept fast and hard and were only woken by drunken people in the hall once or twice (this made us exceedingly happy that we had opted for the 3 person private room rather than the dorm style room).
          We got a late start the morning of the 15th, but we managed to make it to the continental breakfast downstairs in the hostel kitchen. My stomach got a little queasy because I was still getting used to the London water, but I felt better by lunch time.
          We met Dr. M at the the National Portrait Gallery, which was our first official stop on our London tour, and had lunch at the cafe there (which I must say that the pre-packaged sandwiches are incredible England). I loved both the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery next door. I saw the portraits of some of my favorite authors, actors, and political figures and that is only scratching the surface. The paintings by Claude Monet that the National Gallery had on display completely blew me away. Monet is my favorite artist and to see so many of his works in a single room was overwhelming. I have a print of the "The Waterlily Pond" in my room and to see the original was beyond description!
           Pearl and I also took pictures in Trafalgar Square while Nicole and Dr. M were in the National Gallery cafe. A very nice man saw me trying to pose Pearl and he offered to take our picture :) I was also able to view the Clock Tower (aka Big Ben) for the first time in Trafalgar Square.

 

My first view of Big Ben

          After our museum hopping, we decided to try to find the original Twinings Tea Shop so we could have afternoon tea. We thought we had the right address, but it was not long before we realized that the numbers on other side of the street were going by a complete different system. We trekked on in confusion until we finally caved and found a Starbuck's to figure out where the actual address was. It turned out that we would have had to walk the entire length of The Strand to get to the tea shop and by that time it was getting dark (the sun set at 4PM) and we were getting hungry. Before we started on our journey to find tea, we had decided to go to the The Sherlock Holmes Pub for dinner which was in the opposite direction we were heading not far from the Trafalgar Square. Our hunger won over our desire for tea and we made our way back to down The Strand.
          When we arrived at the Sherlock Holmes Pub, I for one was a little terrified. It seemed like a lovely establishment on the outside, but inside was so packed it was standing room only. There was no one to seat us, no one to take our orders, and no apparent place we could even order food if we wanted to. A nice man and woman finally scooted over so we could cram ourselves into a table with a bench. Pearl, Nicole, and I had to shove our backpacks in a corner so that they wouldn't be knocking into people. We found a menu with some amazing food  items listed, but it bewildered us that we didn't see anyone eating! Finally, one of us spotted some stairs across the room from where we were sitting. I was sent to investigate because we were sorely in need of a bathroom and I could get out of where we were seated the easiest. I dodged the people crowded around the bar, brushed accidentally against a few backs and who knows what else, and made my way up the steps as fast as I could without actually breaking into a sprint. Lo and behold, there was a restaurant upstairs that was blessedly empty yet open for business! I joyfully returned from my mission to inform the others and we gathered up our belongings and made our way as quickly as possible up the stairs.
          It was heavenly! To go from standing room only to a quiet, tranquil setting was one of the biggest sighs of relief I have experienced in my life! On top of the relief, right next to our table was a museum of sorts of all the famous objects and mementos connected with Sherlock Holmes. We loved peaking through the glass while we waited for our dinner. I ordered a small dinner of ham and cheese and vegetables, but Nicole let me taste some of her Yorkshire pudding.
          After dinner, Dr. M parted ways with us and made her way back to her hotel. We hung outside of Starbuck's to use the internet because we needed to check on some things regarding our itinerary. We were literally sitting on the sidewalk outside of Starbuck's using the internet until someone leaving the coffee shop looked at us and remarked, "It's ok if you don't buy anything; they won't care." So we found some empty seats and made ourselves comfortable while we finished researching. We actually did end up buying a drink to share when we left. When I went to pick up our order, the woman at the counter told me to, "Say hi to Obama." :)