Day Three of London, Amsterdam, Paris (Part 1)

Saturday

We set our alarms for 5:45a and didn’t get out of bed until 6:30. Jet lag was kicking our butt still, so hitting the snooze was too easy. After both showering and eating some eggs and toast, we finally got out of the house around 7:45 and headed to Putney Bridge underground station to head into the city. We didn’t have a super clear plan on what we were doing today, but we definitely needed to get our London Pass and this morning was the first chance to do that. The pass pickup wasn’t open till 10a, so we had time to kill.

The tube ride wasn’t bad, though we had to make a train switch to get to where we wanted in the city. We eventually exited at St. James station and began walking to Trafalgar Square. Walking anywhere in London is crazy because there’s this ridiculous mix of super old and super modern side by side on every street. The city has continued to function while also managing to hold on to so much of its history. That has led to the funniest of neighboring buildings, it’s wild. On top of that, there’s also the strange feeling of every corner turned revealing something you never would have imagined.

St. James Castle

While we walked towards the square, we spotted an old building at the end of a corner. We walked towards it, we realized it was St. James Castle. No big deal, just a castle built by Henry the 8^th in 1530. We followed the wall around it, snapping photos and googling facts. It’s wild. It wasn’t even on our radar, but that’s how London is, you never know what you will spot. That was just the first instance today, more to come!

When we got to Trafalgar Square, there were few vacationers, due to the time of day, around 9a. The National Gallery sits against the square and it, like everything else, didn’t open until 10a. We took some photos of the area, eyed a protest group that was setting up (Iranian expats protesting the current government in Iran), and decided to walk across the street to a church. That church would be Saint Martin-in-the-fields. Built in 1722, the Anglican Church was stunning, particularly the simple, but intricately patterned window overlooking the congregation. Certainly looked to modern to be that old, but that’s London! After leaving the church, we spotted an interesting looking structure outside a tube station and walked down to see it. That was Charing Cross station, which had a strange wooden structure topped by a cross, which turned out to be a 20^th century reconstruction of a monument destroyed hundreds of years before. Disappointed in our find of something ONLY 100 years old, we headed for some coffee.

Random art, beautiful woman.

At Notes (Coffee shop), we sat down, only to realize we were supposed to order before sitting down. So I went up front and ordered. We got a couple of croissants (don’t know why that’s so hard to spell), a cold brew, and a mint tea. We sat down and enjoyed our second, albeit smaller breakfast of the day. The coffee was so tiny for a large, but I suspect I have "everything is bigger in Texas" syndrome. Adjusting to the local approach to portions, diet, food, etc is part of the fun of travel. Lola's tea was particularly good, made with a healthy portion of fresh mint in a tea pot that she used to serve herself. Once we completed the meal, we headed out to pick up our London Pass.

The office that hands out the Pass was incredibly difficult to find, as it was underground, beneath another shop of a different name and almost zero signage. When we walked down, the lady behind the counter seemed shocked we couldn't find the place. I guess she hadn't heard that complaint before. We got our Pass and the 25 pound oyster card (transit pass) that we had purchased and headed upstairs to go into the National Gallery.

 

The Gallery was impressive, but not at the scale of some of the places we will visit later in this trip. Going up against the Louvre or the Van Gogh museum is a hard task, no matter what your pedigree is. The maze of rooms was a little overwhelming at times, with each one blending into the next. There were some of the big names, Serrat, Van Gogh (three), and Klimt. There was a Rembrandt I had always wanted to see, so that was exciting. After an hour both of us were a little burnt out, so we picked a couple of highlights we wanted to catch and mapped out a quick approach. After another 30 minutes or so, we decided to bail on the Gallery. I'd guess we were there for just over an hour and a half.

- Dan