A Typical English Summer Day

Thursday we landed in Southampton a big port city on the south coast of England not too far from London. As we had previously been to London and the Olympics taking place there now we had decided to stay locally. Now from the title of this entry most of my readers will know what a typical English summer day is like and that' s exactly what we had here today.

But first we awoke to celebrate our 44th wedding anniversary and our daughter Lisa's "Jack Benny" birthday. Deen gave me a very nice card and I had to admit that I had very cleverly left her card and gift at home in a drawer. She of course doesn't believe me so I'll have to prove it when we get home in about 2 weeks.

After breakfast we walked in to the City of Southampton and wandered for a couple of hours. Interesting place and I took some pictures of the early fortifications. A nice open mall and I was able to take some time to call my Aunt Daphne (she's 90) in Yorkshire . I also tried to call friends Bill and Mary in Lancashire but they're never home.


Southampton as a port city is famous for the Titanic and as a staging place for the D Day invasion of 1944. Many cruise ships pass through here.

Lunch time we returned to the ship for a fantastic pub lunch. Good question if you're wondering why we didn't stay in town for an actual pub lunch. However we were pressed for time as we had an excursion to the town of Winchester and it's beautiful Cathedral. Feel free now to start humming the old song about Winchester Cathedral. The cathedral was started in 1079 by William the Conquerer and Winchester was the capital of England for a time starting around 828.



They had two giant TV screens set up outside the cathedral showing the Games. Lots of people standing around cheering especially when Great Britain won two medals in mens pair slalom kayak.

Some of my more attentive readers will realize ,hey he hasn't been reporting on gasoline ( or petrol as it's known here) prices lately. Well fear no more. Here in this area petrol is going for a mere £1.34 per litre an equivalent of $C2.09 per liter. I never saw a gas station in Amsterdam ,probably because everyone rides bikes. I'm told that gasoline is about €2 per liter which is about $C2.47. Yikes!

Anyway I digress. When we returned to the ship quick showers and change of clothes then hurry up to the Crows Nest on deck 12 to meet our Happy Hour buddies. Much to our surprise the 4 of them (Phyllis ,Harry, Abra, and Shel) plus our bar steward Melanie had signed an anniversary card for us. See para. 2 above to guess at my guilt at this point. After drinks Deen and I had dinner in The Pinnacle Grill, the upscale restaurant on HAL ships. Excellent dinner - I had Steak Diane and you can see in the picture it's final stage of preparation. Deen had lobster mac and cheese which should not surprise anyone who really knows her.


They also presented us with a lovely cake that we are saving to share with our regular dinner companions Friday night. When we returned to our stateroom after dinner our two attendants here had left us the towel animal arrangement in the picture. Very nice and as Deen does not want it disturbed I have to sleep on the couch tonight.

Next up Friday ... Plymouth!

Location:Southampton and Winchester, England