We went to go visit Seb in Portsmouth last month.
The city is 15 square miles, population 208,000, 75 miles to London.
The ferry leaves from Ouistreham,
a town 15 minutes from Caen.
Here's some shots of our ferry ride over.
Friday night left at 11PM arrived at 6am Sat, we got a cabin.
Outside on the deck, dark and windy.
Here's the ride back. Leaving at 8am arriving at 3PM.
No cabin, but breakfast and sunshine.
Same shot of the deck....
We made it!
The pub, lookin' a wee bit tired.
Last night there, different pub.
This vintage clothing shop we hit was too crazy for us.
Felt like the walls were closing in. Too bad, some cool stuff, just too much, even for us.
This just made me smile....
The simplicity of Herts, Beds, Bucks...
Tiny, tiny door.
Serious amout of thorny blackberry bushes here.
Not sure this place is lived in.
I didn't know either, but I can tell you that after spending four days here,
you do get the impression that it's a poorer, working class city. It was winter, cold, grey and raining as well, so I'm sure in summer the tourists and sun do add a bit of pizazz to the city.
Most of the headstones dates from the early 1800's.
We had lunch at this pub.....
The little counter looks so innocent until....
you catch a glimsp of the underneath. Gum grossness.
Fish fry with "mushy peas"
Both were good.
We took refruge from the rain and went to the Portsmouth Museum. The building dates from the 1800's and served as military barracks.
A smalish museum, free to the public with various different exhibits. History of Sherlock Homes, life during WWI, an entire area dedicated to the Arsenal soccer team, historic info on the life of sailors and the port....
The city was pretty much flattened during the war.
Can you guess what this is ??
A copper ale-warmer from the 18th century.
You would shove the toe part into the embers to warm up your beer.
I guess the English really are serious about their beer.
These carvings as well as the street art were located in the back gardens of the Museum.
Collection of eggs from Portsmouth and surrounding areas from about 100 years ago.
There was also an art museum section of the museum.
This plaster statue was my favorite.
The mold was done by placing small squares of cardboard on the clay figure, hence the joining lines.
On to the Naval section of our post.....
Don't know what whelks or pinks are.....
The HMS Victory (His or Her Majesty's Ship, abbreviated HMS, is the ship prefix used for ships of the navy in some monarchies, for those of you like me who aren't in the loop) dates from 1759. I was to cheap to pay 50£ to visit it, but looks impressive.
These boats are in the "working man" port, not the tourist part of the town.
Junk pile of misc. fishing and boating stuff.
Who needs a driveway when you can just moor your boat in your back yard.
