Highlights-Portsmouth Day 2

I visited the Portsmouth Historic Dockyards. It is three museums in one: the dockyards, HMS Victory, and the Mary Rose. There is nothing like a shipyard tour to get a former Navy Engineer’s heart racing. HMS Victory, ADM Nelson’s flagship during the Battle of Trafalgar, was under repair with large sections of timber removed, and covered by scaffolding. I was in my element on that tour (except no needle guns making deafening noise). The Deathbeetle is wreaking havoc. Not like a beetle from “The Mummy,” but a wood-boring menace. I did a quick tour of the Mary Rose building (in a building because only half of the hull was preserved in the mud). The short version: capsized in 1545, found 1971, raised 1982. Finally there was a short harbor tour that went past several Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers (Daring class, not so daring in practice, more like maintenance nightmares) and the Prince of Wales ski jump aircraft carrier. I had a very interesting conversation with three ladies returning from shopping (them not me) on my way back from the dockyards. FBI interrogators don’t ask so many questions. Normally, you are supposed to be cautious about giving away lots of information in foreign countries, but they didn’t look like terrorists in drag.