It is Monday, a bit chilly outside and I had a great weekend.

Friday after work, I met Scott at Waterloo station and we took the train to Portsmouth. It took an hour and a hlaf to get there, so we arrived about 9.15ish. Daylight saving is great for that, as it was still light when we got there. We found the hotel we had to pick up our keys from then found the hotel we were staying in (about 300m apart). We stayed in a place called The George. Cheap, not too cheerful, but good enough and cheap enough not to worry.

We got some dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. It was the best Chinese food we have eaten since leaving home we think. Then we fell into bed.

Saturday morning we got up early, had breakfast and went to the Historic Dockyard. We started at the far end and worked our way back towards the entrance. So we began with HMS Victory. We could climb pretty much everywhere on the ship. It was fantastic. Really interesting. It is the world's oldest commissioned war ship (it still has a small crew and a captain). We saw the spot where Nelson fell, and where he died in one of the rooms below deck. I had seen pictures and illustrations of the ship before, but when it comes to life before you, and you can really see and understand how life was like back then on such a vessel, it is quite amazing. It was fun to be able to wander all over the ship. We had to bend quite low in some places, as the lower decks, especially where the guns were, were very low. Not good if you were tall!!

We saw the Mary Rose as well. The remains of the Tudor war ship were raised from the sea floor 2km off Portsmouth in 1982, and they are now housed in a special room. The hull, or half of it really, is constantly being sprayed with something called PEG - Polyethelyene Glycol (hopefully I can spell it). This effectively replaces the water in the wood with a waxy substance, which will preserve the wood. In 2011, they will start drying the ship, which will have been kept damp in the conservation process for 30 years. they hope to house both the remains and the 19,000 artefacts recovered in a combined museum, as currently they are in two separate places. I was truly taken aback by the Mary Rose. She is lovely. The graceful curving lines of the hull are clearly evident, as are the 5 levels of the ship. I heard someone describe it as "half a ship in a car wash". I guess that's true, but not a very romantic way of looking at it!! It is truly an amazing and exciting experience to be able to see something that had been lying on the sea floor for so long, and is now up and out of the water for all to see. Quite breathtaking.

We had a look at the Mary Rose Museum as well, which houses the artefacts from the ship. There were canons, a full medical kit, clothing, weapons. An amazing array of things you would not think would survive being on the sea floor for some 400 years. But silt is a wonderful thing if it allows no air and no sea bugs to get to the atrefacts.

After the dockyard, we took a boat cruise around Portsmouth Harbour. It was amazing to see the extent of the naval area. There were plenty of warships in the harbour that day - from France, Russia, the US (called USS Barry, which made me smile).

Then we went over to Old Portsmouth, where all the prostitutes and the like used to hang out. We had a drink in the sun, then had some dinner in the Spice Island Inn. Then it was off to the Spinnaker Tower to admire the views from 100m above sea level. We were lucky to have a nice clear evening. The sun was on its way down but there is plenty of light over here until about 9.45pm.

Sunday I had the day to myself as Scott had to go back to London in the morning to go to work. I went to Southsea which is the next town. Had a look at some markets, the seaside and the Castle. I was a bit disappointed with the castle, but it was still interesting. It was from there that Henry VIII watched the Mary Rose sink. I was back in London by 6pm.

I promise to post photos shortly!