Blogs from Hampshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 12

August 31 Friday National Museum of the Royal Navy Today I visited the National Museum of the Royal Navy. It was a beautiful day and nice and cool for walking. It is actually on a Royal Navy base and there are several museums and it was so big that they said I could come back on Saturday again and use the same ticket as I probably could not see it all, which turned out to correct. It was really a great collection of museums and seeing how those ships were put together as well as loaded with such attention to the smallest detail left me with a great respect for the English navy. There are several museums as well as a harbor tour for my £20 (senior rate) ticket. I am going back today but still ... read more

August 30 Thursday Portsmouth - I rode the train Yesterday (Wednesday) from Coventry thru London and on to Portsmouth. Riding the train is the most convenient way to get across the country but you really can’t see anything. All you see from the train is the sides of the railway embankment, trees, and the backs of buildings. Every now and again something comes into view but not usually. I think busses, while not being near as comfortable of quick are the best way to see a country as they usually go through some of the towns and villages. In any case when I meander my way to Coventry next week I will work around London. I will save London for a trip of its own. Right now I am looking at getting to Coventry next Wednesday ... read more

All the while we are getting around, we try to pop in on people on the off chance and we had been lucky so far, but what does seem to be clear is that after the initial welcome all our conversations just continue where we left off and most people comment that it is as if we left the room 5 minutes ago and just wandered back in. How true that is, but no matter how easy it is to pick up, saying goodbye is a hard thing to do, what makes it easier at this stage of the trip is the fact that we are still on holiday and still have a few weeks ahead of us, I know from past experience that it will be harder the closer we get to going home. Oh, ... read more

With the first part of our trip underway, we said our goodbyes in Welwyn Garden City (Hertfordshire) and headed South around the M25 toward Basingstoke and the next stop on our schedule. We have been working with our excel spread sheet that identifies all of the stops on our tour, detailing where we are morning, afternoon, evening and overnight. Without it I think that we would find this trip quite difficult, Andy says it’s like being on tour with the Rolling Stones. We had wondered if we should find a base and make our visits from that base, but that is quite a tricky thing to do unless we rented a house somewhere so we will see how this trip works out, equally by staying with friends and family we had dedicated time to spend with ... read more

England Segment Winchester Aug 19 – 22 We took the Heathrow Express to Paddington then the Bakerloo to Waterloo Station. After fumbling around a bit to validate our train ticket I noticed that the ticket was good for anytime that day. After Ross verified that we caught the very next train that left in 9 minutes. Saved us an hour or more waiting and it was a direct train. We had a late lunch at Porterhouse and then taxied to Giffard House B&B. Very nice place – we have a huge room with 2 bathrooms. We went walking and most things were closed as it was Sunday. Bed early. Monday was spent walking, shopping, sightseeing and shopping. Excellent lunch at Ginger Two and a bargain dinner at The Slug and Lettuce. Tuesday we rented bicycles and ... read more