Portsmouth: Unfinished Business

 PORTSMOUTH: UNFINISHED BUSINESS 

May 1

Portsmouth Naval Memorial and city skyline from Southsea


Although the main focus of our trip was Dunkirk, there was a place we had missed and needed to see from earlier travels. It was not a diversion like Operation Quicksilver, when the Allies created a "ghost army" around Dover and the Pas de Calais to deceive the Germans in northern France into believing the anticipated invasion of France would occur there instead of ~235 miles away in Normandy http://www.americainwwii.com/articles/pattons-ghost-army/ . Trick! Ground Zero for the invasion (or Debarquement, as the French prefer) was instead the English port city of Portsmouth, where Eisenhower had his headquarters for Operation Overlord, and the prime point of departure of the landing force which left in the wee hours of June 6, 1944. It was another place we wanted to see and to be able to say we had "been there," and none of us had. So after breakfast (those at the hotels where we stayed are staples of Maria's planning and very convenient for travelers ... and also consistently very good in both England and France), we Ubered to Waterloo Train Station and took a scenic ~2 hr. trip to Portsmouth Harbour Station. It was an easy trip, and we even passed a couple of castles in the distance along the way.  

Unidentified castle between London and Portsmouth

In Portsmouth our primary sites to visit were the D-Day Story Museum; the Historic Dockyard in the harbour, home to a number of ships and museums from England's storied naval past; and the Spinnaker Tower, a 560' tower overlooking the harbour and the nearby Isle of Wight that is more or less the UK version of Seattle's Space Needle. When we began planning the trip, another compelling reason to make the out of the way trip to Portsmouth was the see the Map Room at Southwick House, which was Ike's HQ for D-Day. It is on a British MP base, but tours and tourists had been allowed to visit daily. With no change in publicity from the tourist websites the decision had recently been made to limit tours to a whopping one day per month. [So to family and citizens of the UK, U.S., France, and other Allies who served and sacrificed on D-Day, TFB!] To no one's surprise we hadn't planned to be in Portsmouth on the 1 day in May tours are allowed, and unfortunately we learned of this change after we had made our train and hotel reservations to travel to Portsmouth. 

Portsmouth, an historic and busy port city, has plenty to offer tourists nevertheless. First on our list was the D-Day Story Museum, which is in the area known as Southsea. Having walked the 6 minutes to our hotel and left our bags, we called our friends at Uber and headed to Southsea. Before touring the museum, we detoured to the nearby highly recommended seafood restaurant The Briny and were glad we did. One thing on all of our lists was fish and chips, and those at The Briny were hands down the best I've ever had ... accompanied by a cool, refreshing beer with the curious name of Doom Bar.😕 

The Briny's fish & chips ... and grog

A great location too, right on the water, along a wide promenade bordered by a gravel beach (and not pea gravel either; rocks that little David could've used to good effect on Goliath!). 

Portsmouth's "pebble beach"










We spent at least 1 1/2 hrs. at the D-Day museum, helping us jump ahead to the "rest of the story," the world-changing event that followed 4 years later, and was greatly enabled by, the evacuation of nearly 400,000 troops from Dunkirk. Although the D-Day Story Museum lacks the glitz and grandeur of other similarly themed museums in the U.S. and France, it has an air of authenticity. There's also the Overlord Embroidery, a much more contemporary version of the Bayeux Tapestry that, like its predecessor, tells the history with art. I'm glad we went. 

Horsa glider at D-Day Story Museum

 Panoramic view of a couple of walls of the Overlord Embroidery 

We made our way to the Historic Dockyard, which has restored ships and replicas of some of Britain's storied maritime history, e.g., Henry VIII's 400 yr. old ship, the Mary Rose; Lord Nelson's flagship, the HMS Victory; and the 150 yr. old steamship HMS Warrior. 

HMS Warrior

We arrived too late to take the harbour cruise to see some of the historic vessels up close, but we enjoyed our stroll through the Dockyard. Afterward we walked about 1/4 mile to the Spinnaker Tower, where we took the elevator up to the observation deck, restaurant and bar, relaxed and enjoyed the views. Even though I'm not a fan of heights, my fellow travelers and I enjoyed the views of the harbour and city.

  

Ferry leaving the harbour for Isle of Wight



We wandered through the Gunwharf Quays, a shopping center with a nautical setting and theme near our hotel. We found what we presumed to be a traditionally English pub and restaurant, The Old Customs House, and had an enjoyable meal on the patio. It had been a full day, but tomorrow we'd spend most of the day kicked back and riding trains.

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