Old houses day 10

Portsmouth, and finally a glimpse behind the paywall to the attractions of the old dockyard. As usual, some of the specifics of the history and names have already escaped me, so it's focused on the visuals.

I think my dad would have enjoyed this part of my trip. I showed my ticket and entered the dockyards, where there are buildings still used for ship repair, others as exhibit spaces, others not open to the public. This, I believe was Dockyard 4, which was newly built and quickly camouflaged and repurposed for WWII duty. Now it repairs all kinds of vessels. Free to wander in to.

Low tide.

Pillars of the British navy: lash, check. No rum. No sodomy, but it is Pride month so maybe it goes without saying

Nice view of The Warrior, their first ironclad.

Dock 4

More Dock 4

Wandered past gift shops and cafes and wooden figureheads toward the main paid displays, which are the Victory and the Mary Rose museum. I believe this drydock has some importance which I failed to document, and the vessel is the HMS M.33, which you are free to look up.

The English, from what I have seen on Antiques Roadshow, revere Nelson like a god, still today. His ship Victory is undergoing restoration and is enclosed in massive tenting. You can pay to visit but I did not. I have to wonder, after so many restorations, when it becomes not the original ship at all.

And finally, the Mary Rose. Henry VIII's flagship for 34 years, sunk suddenly one day with most hands lost. One theory is that the gunports were left open as it turned, and a gust of wind heeled it over too far, letting the sea rush in. My interest is that when the ship was raised in the 1970s and '80s, the anaerobic mud had preserved textiles and personal items from the Tudor period. I am going to show you allll of my pictures, just know that I was focused on textiles. Ready?

Introductory video of Henry in a dubious costume

This is what remains of the ship, after years of restoration. Periodically they dim the lights and project videos of crew members performing their duties in the appropriate locations.

Saturated in authentic Tudor artifacts, I left the dockyard and lazed around the Harbor until it was time to take the next train. Checked my ticket and found out that it had been bought for a week later, so I had to buy a new one, but got it sorted and relaxed with lunch and ice cream.

I think this is meant to be children playing in the water, but I see the girl hiking her skirt while holding a coin, so

I don't even know what some of this seafood is

High tide

Okay, who here recognizes the toppings on the American Hot and American Hottest pizzas? I had the Padana

Yessssss.

This yacht catamaran can be rented for a minimum of £70,000 a week

I have been wanting this so much

The Hard Interchange. Apparently the street here is called "The Hard".

And that concludes my time in Portsmouth. Gathered my bags and boarded the train for Crawley. I was originally going to stay in Amberley Castle, but it's not surrounded by a village and I couldn't find anywhere to get gluten-free food other than the very expensive castle's restaurant, so I asked for an alternative. I researched the town of Crawley, which has hotels for people going to and from Gatwick, and found places I could eat, but it turned out those were not walking distance from the hotel that was eventually booked, so I bought a "free from" sandwich and saved half of my lunch pizza to cover dinner and breakfast. My life when traveling.