Portsmouth

Sunday, 24 November - Monday, 25 November 2019

Sunday, 24 November 2019

We left the B&B just after 10 AM and drove towards Portsmouth were we are going to check out the Historic Dockyard.  As we were driving, the road starting looking familiar and then we realized that we were driving right past Stonehenge.  Yes, you can see if from the side of the road.  Tim was able to get a pretty good video as we drove right by.

We arrived in Portsmouth, checked into our AirBnB, and walked to the Historic Dockyard which was a pleasant 30 minute walk.  There is much to see here, but since it is already after 2 PM, we only have time for one sight...the Mary Rose Museum. 

The Mary Rose Is a 16th-century warship that sunk 2 miles off the English coast in July 1545 killing about 370 sailors.  She was located 1971, and in 1982, after 437 years underwater, the ship was raised.  The ship we saw in the museum is the remains of the Mary Rose after 35 years of conservation.

Before visiting this museum, I have never heard of it before and wasn't totally interested.  Tim had seen a show on PBS about it, so was excited to see it.  Needless to say, when seeing the ship along with all the displays of all sorts of items found inside the wreck, I couldn't get enough.  Here are some highlight photos of the Mary Rose Museum.

Lot of longbows were found inside the wreck:

By the way...here is a model on display of what the Mary Rose looked like:

We wound up visiting the museum until they kicked us out at 5 PM, almost 3 hours after arriving.

On the walk back to the AirBnB, we stopped at the Brewhouse & Kitchen.  This is a small chain that we have been to before, but each location has a few local brews that they make, so we had a flight:

We then returned to the AirBnB and looked forward to tomorrow when we get to see some more of the Historic Dockyard.

Monday, 25 November 2019

We woke up, had breakfast, and headed back to the Historic Dockyard.  There are multiple ships here that we can tour including the HMS Victory, HMS Warrior, and HMS M.33.  First stop, HMS Warrior.

The HMS Warrior was the first ironclad warship and was built in 1860.  Interestingly, HMS Warrior was never in a battle since its very existence was sufficient to keep peace since the enemy knew it was unbeatable.

Down below

There were tour guides in character throughout the ship.  This guy told us what it was like to be a fireman, the guy that shoveled coal into the furnaces. 

Next stop, the HMS Victory, the historic warship captained by Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson during England's victory over Napoleon's feet in the Trafalgar campaign in 1805.  Unfortunately, Admiral Nelson was hit by a sniper bullet and died onboard.

It is kind of cool how the ship is dry docked:

The plaque on the deck says "HERE NESON FELL 21st Oct 1805."

This is the spot where Nelson actually died.

Next is HMS M.33, a M29-class monitor built in 1919 and is one of only three surviving Royal Navy warships of WWI and the only surviving ship form the Gallipoli Campaign.  By the way....the modern looking aircraft carrier in the background is the soon to be commissioned HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier...more to come later.

We did go inside this ship, but it wasn't very exciting, although they did have a multimedia presentation about teh Gallipoli Campaign which was very interesting.

After walking around three ships on land, it is time to take the water tour on the Solent Cat.  The tour was about 1 hour and took us up and down Portsmouth Harbor passing the Portsmouth Naval Base.

This is Spinnaker Tower.  It was originally called Portsmouth Millennium Tower, but due to delays the construction didn't begin until 2001 and was completed in 2005.

The HMS Prince of Wales was commissioned on 10 December 2019, just 15 days after we took these photos.

This is the HMS Bristol, a Type 82 destroyer commissioned in 1973.  It served in the Falklands War and now serves as a training ship.

Other random photos taken during the harbor tour:

We returned to the dockyard and continued our walk around the area.  We took a quick peek inside the Making of a Royal Marine Commando exhibit and thought we were done, so we headed towards the exit.  But then we came across Boathouse 4, so we went in to check it out.

Boathouse 4 is a working Boatbuilding Skills Training Center where historic boats are restored as well as it being the home to the International Boatbuilding College Portsmouth and Highbury College.  Tim was quite enthralled by this building.  Here are some of his photos:

I was so done by this time and had to drag Tim out of the building kicking and screaming.  For dinner we went back to the Brewhouse & Kitchen since tonight was buy-one-burger-get-one-free night.  We then returned to the AirBnB.  Tomorrow we drive to Rye with a couple of fun stops along the way.  Until then...