Highlights-Winchester to Portsmouth
I drove to Portsmouth to visit several museums. Today it was just two: the Royal Navy Submarine Museum and the D-Day Story museum. The submarine museum has a diesel submarine next to the building, with tours given by retired submariners. I surfaced from that museum and drove an hour to the D-Day Story Museum (around the bay). Not to be outdone by the submariners, they have an LST with tanks! The only reason it wasn’t scrapped like thousands of others after the war was that it was used as a dance club. All the machinery was missing because it got in the band’s way during performances. Later it sank at the pier, proof that nothing floats forever (the naval architecture version of “what goes up, must come down”). At least they knew where to find it when the museum came calling! “Yes, we still have the LST. Where is it you ask? It’s at the pier. You can’t see it? It’s right there, under the water.” There was a D-Day embroidery exhibit modeled after the Bayeux tapestry (not a tapestry). Parking at my first AirBnB of the trip was very tight (see photo). The rental car bumper sensors were screaming, “You’re gonna hit something!”
Very cool!
Combo soaper, washer, dryer (at least I thought it was cool)
We only want well-behaved dogs
All others stay in the car
Me on D-Day
I’ve just been told that I’m in the first wave!
It’ll never fit!
Notable Items
The Royal Navy Submarine Museum included all the standard descriptions of the technology (much safer than it used to be), life aboard submarines (so cramped people shared toothbrushes, ick), weapons (torpedos yes, but some could deploy mines), and hygiene (notable by its absence). One of the guides on the HMS Alliance submarine-out-of-water shared the insight that, after being submerged for weeks sharing toothbrushes and goodness knows what else, he noticed that fresh air smells bad (who knew?).
The gift shop had the standard Royal Navy Submarine Museum pencils (who buys those?). The HMS Victory “Navy Strength” gin caught my eye. Apparently, sailors need really strong gin after all the grog they consume.
After nearly driving an hour around the bay to the D-Day Story Museum, my first stop was the toilet. The English are very direct with bathroom fixtures, in contrast to our “restroom” term. Who the heck *rests* in there? They do sometimes say WC and “the loo” (not to be confused with “in lieu of”), but I seldom encountered those terms on this visit. Speaking of bathroom equipment, this one had an automatic, single cubby to insert your hands, handwashing (“hand washing” on the label) dryer. It seemed like a neat idea, but I’ll wager that it breaks frequently.
One of the first things I notice in the U.K. (which includes England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland), is that English speakers tend to speak more indirectly than Americans, using more indirect or mitigating language for requests, disagreement, criticism, etc. In England, they might say, “I’m not entirely sure that would work” when an American would be more likely to say, “That won’t work.”
The LST (Landing Ship Tank) parked outside was my second museum stop. I *know* that common terminology for floating vessels is that they are moored or anchored, but it wasn’t floating. There were docents positioned in several places so you could ask strange questions like, “Where were the toilets?”
As noted, I was dubious about parking at the AirBnB due to the narrow access gate. Before the door was blocked, I got out of the vehicle to confirm that “you’re going to scrape your sides” sensor was being overly protective. Only just.
The room was over the garage. My laptop station was a director’s chair and a TV dinner table. I’m a minimalist so it worked. What didn’t work was that the room was cold. I tried manually setting the thermostat control (conveniently located on top of the armoire, unreachable until I stood on the director’s chair), but the host had created a program that lowered the temperature right after. I will have more to say about this in another post.
I passed up opportunities to consume English staples like fish and chips and curry for sashimi (Minnie’s Sushi). What better place to get fresh seafood than in a seaport? I don’t eat sashimi at home because it has to be frozen to get to the desert from the coast. When thawed, it feels like I’m eating a sponge.