UK Trip #34 Museum Attempt/Wild Weather/Dinner Dunking

Tom happy we arrived alive in Portsmouth!

One place we really wanted to work in on our trip was the Mary Rose Museum. It was a brand new museum that was built around a salvaged ship of Henry VIII's that was found and brought to the surface in the 1980s. It took over 30 years to salvage it and build a museum around it. So, after Hever Castle, we got on the road and headed 60 miles south to Portsmouth, England where the museum was located.

ARRIVAL IN PORTSMOUTH - On our way from Hever Castle, the GPS unit we were using for directions mis-directed us again, taking us an additional hour out of the way, and missing the opportunity to get into the museum.  I was so OVER driving in the U.K. by the time we got there. Seeing the parking garage near the docks was a great relief!!
  We found the Mary Rose museum at 4:49 p.m. The ticket man said that the museum closed at 5 p.m. and we were out of luck. It was maddening after that crazy drive.
   So, we walked around the historic dock area (where the Navy base was located). 

 

Portsmouth's Marina in Wild Weather

CONNECTION TO THE OTHER PORTSMOUTH IN THE U.S. -

Portsmouth, England's dock

Portsmouth, New Hampshire in the U.S. is apparently named for Portsmouth, England - at least that's my guess. Both are port towns and both experience some wild weather. Both are also on the Atlantic Ocean... When I got home and did a bit of research, I learned that i wasn't too far off!! Portsmouth, New Hampshire was incorporated  in 1653, and in honor of the colony's founder, John Mason. Mason had been captain of the port of Portsmouth, England, in the county of Hampshire, for which New Hampshire is named!

Rob with hot coffee trying to keep warm in Portsmouth

  

WILD WEATHER -The weather was wild when we got to Portsmouth. Winds were gusting off the Atlantic Ocean at around 40 mph. It was cloudy, cold and damp. It felt like Maine in early March. In fact, the winds blew so hard that it was difficult to walk! 


DINNER DUNKING - We walked around the docks of Portsmouth and found a shopping mall (outdoor). We ordered dinner in "38 Bar." The food was great. Tom had chicken and I had fish and chips. We sat at a table under the winding stairway that went to the second floor. The stairs had open slats between each stair. That's important to tell because as we were about two-thirds through our meal, a waitress was ascending the stairway and dropped a full tray of full drinks on the stairs that poured directly on our table (and some on me, getting me a little wet). Tom fortunately, didn't get wet.

Sign about the Mudlarks

   The manager and waitress both apologized to use and I went to wash off. We weren't upset- accidents happen. When I went to wash off, the manager gave Tom a full refund for dinner.

Mudlarks Statue

WHAT'S A PORTSMOUTH "MUDLARK"? - Portsmouth's mudlarks - generations of Portsea children who performed in the mud flats off The Hard for some badly needed cash.  It's also the design of a bronze statue soon to be unveiled at The Hard as a tribute to the legions of children who played and performed in the area from the early decades of the last century to the early 1960s.

The coastline

NEXT: BACK TO THE MARY ROSE MUSEUM